German shipbuilding company will build Ro-Ro LNG vessel for Australian shipping company

The shipping company SeaRoad (Tasmania, Australia) and the shipbuilding company Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft from Flensburg (Germany) have signed a contract for the supply of a Ro-Ro vessel powered by liquefied natural gas, the German shipbuilder said in a press release.
FSG Shipyard plans to start work on a 210 m long and 29.30 m wide vessel in the winter of 2021/22. The commissioning has been agreed for the last quarter of 2023. The deck capacity of the vessel will be 3,792 m for the carriage of cars and more than 100 trucks. The vessel will also be able to carry heavy loads with a total weight of up to 100 tons. The value of the shipbuilding contract exceeds 100 million euros. The project will be co-financed by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

Both companies have been cooperating for several years. The German shipyard delivered the first Ro-Ro vessel (MS Searoad Mersey II) to SeaRoad earlier in 2016. In April 2021, the Australian operator's fleet was replenished under a three-year time-charter agreement with the second MS Liekut, also built at the FSG shipyard.

The shipping company is using its new Ro-Ro vessel to service ferry routes in the Bass Sound between Devonport, Tasmania, and Melbourne, Victoria, on the Australian mainland.

Technical characteristics of the vessel (No. 784): length - 210 m; width - 29.3 m; gross register tonnage - 43.1 thousand tons; main engines power - 2 х 10,300 kW; deadweight - 12.183 thousand tons; speed - 22.5 knots.