Ferry is the first built to a totally new design since Mersey Viking (i)

Corsica Linea has confirmed that Italy’s Visentini shipyard has floated out its new as-yet unnamed ferry, hull number 238.  The new Ro-Pax ship is the first to be built to an entirely new design at the yard in over two decades.  While the 27 previous Ro-Pax ferries have been built to several different configurations, all could trace their basic design back to the original MERSEY VIKING built for Norse Merchant Ferries.  

Changes in legislation and market conditions mean that Visentini commissioned NAOS Design to come up with a new series.  The final vessel to be delivered based on the “old” platform was GNV BRIDGE which was delivered earlier this year.

Visentini’s biggest to date

The new Corsica Linea ship features a new more efficient bow design dubbed FlexBow 2.0.  This is an improved design from the FlexBow introduced with LAGAN VIKING (ii).  That ship later became STENA LAGAN and was rebuilt as STENA SCANDICA earlier this year.   The new Visentini design is also fully compliant with Safe Return to Port (SRtP) and all other current legislation.  This example is also fuelled by LNG and is the longest (206.6m) and widest ship (28.2m) ever to be built by Visentini.  

This latest ship retains a similar overall look to recent Visentini vessels based on the “old” platform including the distinctive funnel design.  As the Visentini building dock at Porto Viro is only 30m wide, a delicate operating involving three tugs was required to move the ship out of the dock.  The ship will now undergo outfitting including wiring, ventilation, and the fitting of public spaces, cabins, crew rooms, etc ahead of delivery in the second quarter of 2022.

Corsica Linea’s new ship will be able to accommodate 650 passengers and 2,560 lane metres of freight in addition to 150 cars on a separate deck.   Once delivered next year, the new ship is expected to serve the Marseille-Bastia and Marseille-Ajaccio lines.  

In addition to the Corsica Linea order, Visentini says it also has an order for another vessel exceeding 30,000 gt for an unnamed Northern European operator.  Earlier this week the company reached an agreement for dredging of the channel from the shipyard to the sea to continue until 2023.