Sweden’s ferry operator Rederi AB Gotland has exercised an option for an additional Ro/Pax ferry at Guangzhou Shipyard International (GSI) in China.
Identical to its sister ship ordered back in November 2014, the newly ordered 1,650 passenger Ro/Pax ferry will also be powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG).
The ferries are scheduled for delivery in 2017 and 2018. They will be the first Swedish-flagged LNG-powered ferries.
Rederi AB Gotland has had a successful relationship with GSI Shipyard since 1999, when the contract was signed for M/S Visby and M/S Gotland, which were delivered in 2003. In the years 2006 to 2012 the yard delivered a total of six product tankers to Gotland.
Gotland says that it worked together with GSI on the design of the new ferry to create optimal hull lines for reducing energy consumption and environmental impact. The concept of the ship is a further development of the existing SF1500 ship design.
With a price tag of around SEK 2 billion (USD 242.7m), the ferries are the single largest investment in the company’s 150-year history.