Egypt Receives Gift Of Saudi Ferries

摘要

Saudi Arabia welcomed delivery of two Austal-built 88m-long vehicle-passenger catamarans, Riyadh and Cairo, in Jeddah last month. The 5,637gt high-speed vessels are a gift to the Egyptian government to improve ferry services across the Red Sea. They will operate on the 100nm route between Dibba in Saudi Arabia and Safaga in Egypt, taking two hours off the current eight-hour trip. The cats have a beam of 24m, draught of 4.3m, crew of 18, and are classified by Germanischer Lloyd. During sea trials, they exceeded the spec and recorded service speeds of 37kt. Both vessels can carry 1,200 passengers, 120 cars and 15 trucks. The ferries made the 15-day, 5,700nm journey from Western Australia to Jeddah, via the Maldives and the Gulf of Aden, under their own power.