GONDAN announces the construction of 10 fully electric passenger ferries for the Portuguese company Transtejo.
In mid-October last year, Astilleros GONDAN was awarded a contract for the construction of 10 electric ferries for the Portuguese river passenger transport operator Transtejo – Transportes Tejo, S.A. The contract, signed last January, has received the approval of the Portuguese Court of Auditors, and the shipyard is preparing to start the construction of the vessels in the coming days.
The 40-metre length ferries will be powered entirely by electricity. The Portuguese shipping company is thus committed to an environmentally sustainable fleet, unique in the world. The design of these vessels is based on a catamaran-type hull specifically optimised to make the most of the almost 2MWh of electrical energy stored in its batteries, with extremely silent operation and no CO2 emissions. With a capacity of around 540 passengers, they are expected to transport some 19 million people each year on the Tagus River between the banks of Lisbon and the south of the Portuguese capital.
GONDAN was selected after an international public tender in October 2020, where not only economic aspects were taken into account, but also the technical capacity of the shipyard, which allowed it to present an innovative and extremely efficient proposal that would meet the requirements demanded by the Portuguese shipowner.
With a construction programme of 10 vessels, GONDAN’s GRP Division has a stable workload until 2024, which, together with the recent contracting of 2 wind-powered vessels to be built on steel hulls at its Figueras facilities, allows the company to face 2021 with optimism and a solid financial position. As part of its policy of reinvestment and continuous improvement, GONDAN is in a position to face in the near future its plan to expand and improve the productivity of several of its centres in Castropol; with the consequent positive impact on the generation of employment and revitalisation of the economic activity of the region.
Credit: GORDAN
