 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(January 2021) |
The catamaran Twin City Liner is a link on the Danube river between the two capitals, Vienna, Austria and Bratislava, Slovakia since 1 June 2006. The path between the two European capitals takes approximately 75 minutes. [1]
The first catamaran was built in Norway between the autumn of 2005 and the spring of 2006. The routing was across Skagerrak, on the Northern Sea after the channel Rhine-Main-Danube to Vienna. For this and due to the weight, the shipyard of Norwegian Båtservice Mandal developed a high speed catamaran in aluminium with a hydrojet which can also be used in summer at low tide. The sinking depth in water guaranteed by the contract is 80 cm. To minimize the impact of the waves, complex model tests of the Austrian Institute for Maritime Technology (Schiffbautechnische Versuchsanstalta) took place. The catamaran is totally climate-controlled, and can accommodate 106 passengers and crew (a captain, two sailors and catering staff). On 14 May 2007 the Twin City Liner failed in Vienna, in the district of Erdberg, on the right bank of the Danube Canal and had to be rescued by firemen from Vienna. After repair and administrative authorization, it was returned to service. A similar accident occurred on 28 July 2009, when the captain tried to avoid a floating tree trunk near the gateway Erdberg.
During a press conference on 20 August 2007 the Deputy Mayor for Economic Affairs and Finance Vienna Renate Brauner discussed the acquisition of the second Twin City Liner. This second "Twinni," as nicknamed by the media, was also built by Båtservice Mandal and made the same journey.
On 13 May 2008 the Twin City Liner docked in the central port of Vienna below Reichsbrücke. The maiden voyage of the new catamaran, with the registration number A-40631, was conducted immediately after its christening by President Heinz Fischer and his wife Margit Fischer, and the priest of the Cathedral of Vienna Anton Faber, as part of a state visit to Bratislava. During a stopover in Devín, Slovak President Ivan Gasparovic and his wife boarded the ship and then continued the journey.
Besides minor changes to the technical equipment and form, the new Twin City Liner can accommodate up to 126 passengers: 106 seats forward in the passenger cabin, eight seats in the "VIP" cabin on the upper deck and twelve outdoor seats for travel during the summer. The commercial operation of the second Twin City Liner began 31 August 2008.
There have been studies conducted for the purchase of a third vessel to develop a fast connection based on the Twin City Liner to Budapest or Belgrade. From Bratislava, travelers might go to Piestany or contemporary art museum Danubiana Meulensteen Art Museum to Čunovo.
In January 2019, it was announced that a new, larger Twin City Liner would begin operating on 29 March 2019. This Twin City Liner was built in England by Wightshipyard. It took 62,000 working hours, 25 tons of aluminium, and 60 square meters of window glass to complete the 7 million euro vessel. It is powered by four Di16 V8 Scania 4400BHP Ehardt engines, and four Kamewa Rolls-Royce jets.
Twin City Liner 3
Length : 39.9 meters
Width : 11 meters
Height : 5.9 meters
Draft : 0.8 meters
Dead weight : 70 tons
Seats : 250
Captain's Lounge: 35
Top speed : 81 km / h
Cruise speed : 60 km / h
Power : 4400 hp [1]
Unlike most other ships sailing on the Danube, the Twin City Liner does not leave the port of Reichsbrücke but the station in the city center, on the Danube canal between Schwedenplatz and Marienbrücke (Vienna) to bypass the dam of the power plant Freudenau. In July 2010, a new wharf was opened.
The arrival point in Bratislava is only a few minutes walk from the old town.
The ships sail from May to September four to five times a day in each direction, and in April and October, three to four times. Besides the planned operating hours (evenings and from mid - December to April), ships can be chartered.
Users are mainly tourists and inhabitants of Vienna and Bratislava, mostly businessmen. As seats are limited booking favors roundtrips between morning and evening. In addition, the ticket price depends on the day of the week.
The ship owner is the Central Danube Region GmbH, [2] which initiated and developed the project. The partners are as operators DDSG Blue Danube, belonging to the Wien Holding which includes the businesses run by the city of Vienna.
A hydrofoil is a lifting surface, or foil, that operates in water. They are similar in appearance and purpose to aerofoils used by aeroplanes. Boats that use hydrofoil technology are also simply termed hydrofoils. As a hydrofoil craft gains speed, the hydrofoils lift the boat's hull out of the water, decreasing drag and allowing greater speeds.
A catamaran is a watercraft with two parallel hulls of equal size. The wide distance between a catamaran's hulls imparts stability through resistance to rolling and overturning; no ballast is required. Catamarans typically have less hull volume, smaller displacement, and shallower draft (draught) than monohulls of comparable length. The two hulls combined also often have a smaller hydrodynamic resistance than comparable monohulls, requiring less propulsive power from either sails or motors. The catamaran's wider stance on the water can reduce both heeling and wave-induced motion, as compared with a monohull, and can give reduced wakes.
Shun Tak–China Travel Ship Management Limited, doing business as TurboJET, is a ferry company based in Hong Kong. The company was established from the joint venture between Shun Tak Holdings and China Travel International Investment Hong Kong in July 1999. It operates hydrofoil and high-speed ferry services between Hong Kong, Macau, Shenzhen, and Zhuhai in the Pearl River Delta area.
SS Imperator was a German ocean liner built for the Hamburg America Line, launched in 1912. At the time of her completion in June 1913, she was the largest passenger ship in the world, surpassing the new White Star liner Olympic.
Incat Tasmania is an Australian manufacturer of high-speed craft (HSC) catamaran ferries. Its greatest success has been with large, sea going passenger and vehicle ferries, but it has also built military transports and since 2015 it has built smaller river and bay ferries. Based in Derwent Park, a suburb of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, it was founded by Bob Clifford.
SS France was a Compagnie Générale Transatlantique ocean liner, constructed by the Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard at Saint-Nazaire, France, and put into service in February 1962. From the time of her construction in 1960 until the construction of the 345 m (1,132 ft) RMS Queen Mary 2 in 2004, the 316 m (1,037 ft) vessel was the longest passenger ship ever built. France was purchased by Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) in 1979, renamed SS Norway, and underwent significant modifications to refit her for cruising. She was later renamed SS Blue Lady preparatory to scrapping, sold to be scrapped in 2005, with scrapping completed in late 2008.
Vienna has an extensive transport system that includes roads, railways, trams, metro, and buses.
RMS Celtic was an ocean liner owned by the White Star Line. The first ship larger than SS Great Eastern by gross register tonnage, Celtic was the first of a quartet of ships over 20,000 tons, the dubbed The Big Four. She was the last ship ordered by Thomas Henry Ismay before his death in 1899. The second liner of her name she was put into service in 1901. Her large size and her low but economical speed inaugurated a new company policy aiming to favour size, luxury and comfort, to the detriment of speed.
The Reichsbrücke is a major bridge in Vienna, linking Mexikoplatz in Leopoldstadt with the Donauinsel in Donaustadt across the Danube. The bridge is used by 50,000 vehicles per day and carries six lanes of traffic, U-Bahn tracks, two footpaths, two cyclepaths and two utility tunnels.
Westermoen Hydrofoil was a shipyard located in Mandal, Norway, which has specialized in high speed craft, and pioneered many designs.
A sea trial or trial trip is the testing phase of a watercraft. It is also referred to as a "shakedown cruise" by many naval personnel. It is usually the last phase of construction and takes place on open water, and it can last from a few hours to many days.
The Port of Bratislava is a major port on the river Danube and — in a wider sense — on the Rhine-Main-Danube waterway, located in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. It is a universal inland port consisting of two parts, a cargo port and a passenger port. The former is a key facility for Slovakia's economy as the largest of three international ports in Slovakia, the others being in Komárno and Štúrovo. The port lies at the strategic intersection of the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal with the Baltic-Adriatic Corridor, part of the Trans-European Transport Networks, and it is located near two major ports: Port of Vienna and Port of Budapest.
A ground-effect vehicle (GEV), also called a wing-in-ground-effect, ground-effect craft/machine (GEM), wingship, flarecraft, surface effect vehicle or ekranoplan, is a vehicle that is able to move over the surface by gaining support from the reactions of the air against the surface of the earth or water. Typically, it is designed to glide over a level surface by making use of ground effect, the aerodynamic interaction between the moving wing and the surface below. Some models can operate over any flat area such as frozen lakes or flat plains similar to a hovercraft. The term Ground-Effect Vehicle originally referred to any craft utilizing ground effect, including what is known later as hovercraft, in descriptions of patents during the 1950s. However, this term is nowadays regarded as distinct from air-cushion vehicles or hovercraft. The definition of GEVs does not include racecars utilizing ground-effect for increasing downforce.
Abels Shipbuilders Ltd was a ship and boat builder in Bristol, England. In addition to boat building, the company branched out into architectural sculptures, tidal energy and marine restoration, but closed in 2016.
Austal Limited is an Australian-based global ship building company and defence prime contractor that specialises in the design, construction and support of defence and commercial vessels. Austal's product range includes naval vessels, high-speed ferries, and supply or crew transfer vessels for offshore windfarms and oil and gas platforms.
BornholmerFærgen was a Danish ferry company which connected the island of Bornholm to Denmark, Sweden and Germany. Until 2011 the company was known as Bornholmstrafikken, when it became a subsidiary of Danske Færger. In 2018 Molslinjen took over the ferry service to Bornholm under the name Bornholmslinjen.
Adele was a Swiss cargo ship, later the merchant ship Sunadele. Initiated by Gottlieb Duttweiler and named after Adele Duttweiler, she served in the Merchant Marine of Switzerland.
The Type R ship is a United States Maritime Administration (MARAD) designation for World War II refrigerated cargo ship, also called a reefer ship. The R type ship was used in World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War and the Cold War. Type R ships were used to transport perishable commodities which require temperature-controlled transportation, such as fruit, meat, fish, vegetables, dairy products and other foods. The US Maritime Commission ordered 41 new refrigerated ships for the US Navy. Because of the difficulty of building refrigerated ships only two were delivered in 1944, and just 26 were delivered in 1945 and the remainder in 1946–48. The 41 R type ships were built in four groups. Two of design types were modified type C1 ships and two were modified type C2 ships. The United Fruit Company operated many of the R type ships in World War II. The type R2-S-BV1 became the US Navy Alstede-class stores ship and the type R1-M-AV3 became the US Navy Adria-class stores ship.
MV or HSCSaint John Paul II is a high-speed catamaran ferry owned and operated by Virtu Ferries. Built by Incat in 2017–18, the vessel entered service as a ferry between Malta and Sicily in March 2019. It is the largest vessel of its kind in the Mediterranean Sea, and the second largest in the world.
IRIS Shahid Soleimani is the lead ship of an Iranian class of missile corvettes with the same name. It was built by the Shahid Mahallati Shipyard and is operated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy of Iran.
Media related to Twin City Liner at Wikimedia Commons