New Trimaran for Fred Olsen Express

We’ve got an early version of one of those with 3 engines; what a pile of rubbish.
It brings a whole new dimension to the term ‘vomit comet’ and can’t berth in over 25 knots of wind.
The old Incat catamaran will go sideways in 40 knots.
The worst 50 million anyone ever spent.

Fred Olson has many Austal trimarans in service, including the sister ship of this one since July 2020, the ‘Bajamara Express’. They seem to be happy with them.

The owners should think about where to use these ships. There may be a difference between the southern ‘Roaring Forties’ and the sunny Canary Islands at 28° N.

Fred Olsen uses these trimarans as inter-island ferries in the rather calm seas around the Canary Islands (some even in the Mediterranean).

There may be short periods with very high swell out of the North Atlantic, strong NE-winds from the Gibraltar Strait or strong E-Sirocco out of the Sahara. Then, all inter-island traffic, with trimarans or conventional ferries, is closed for a day…

1 Like

Not strictly trimarans; they are dynamically supported monohulls. The outer ‘hulls’, or amahs, are basically just like canoe outriggers.
What on earth possessed them to stick all the engines in the middle is beyond me, they provide very little if any vectoring effect when manoeuvring so it has to totally rely on a pair of drop down bow thrusters.
Also incredibly fragile.
We are in the Northern Roaring Fifties.

1 Like

The sobriquet “vomit comet “ was well earned down here in the roaring forties. Thankfully no one was game to try one in the frantic fifties.