New Ro-Ro’s for DFDS to ‘Raise the Bar’ for What is Environmentally Friendly

Danish naval architecture firm Knud E Hansen will be providing the design for two new roll-on/roll-off vessels for European shipping and logistics company DFDS.

The two ships will be built by Jinling Shipyard in China for delivery at the end of 2018 and beginning of 2019.

The vessels are expected to be among the largest and most efficient vessels of their kind anywhere in the world.

Knud E Hansen says it has worked closely with DFDS and Jinling Shipyard for the past 4 months to develop the design. The company says the vessels will also “raise the bar” for what is considered environmentally friendly.

“The ships represent a new generation of environmentally friendly ro-ro ships as they comply with the latest environmental rules of the new IMO-standard EEDI (Energy Efficency Design Index),” DFDS said in a statement announcing the newbuilds. “Also included are scrubbers for the removal of sulphur, ballast water treatment systems and a number of energy efficiency initiatives.”

The new ships will each carry 6,700 lane meters of freight, equivalent to around 450 trailers, and measure 235 meters long with a beam of 33 meters. The ships will operate at service speed of 21 knots.

Both newbuildings are planned to be deployed in DFDS’ route network on the North Sea.

DFDS has options for four additional ships.

Here’s some more views of the design: