Ville de Bordeaux naming ceremony
Paris, February 27, 2004 – Today, the Ro-Ro vessel Ville de Bordeaux was named
in Nanjing (China), at Jinling Shipyard, by her godmother, Mrs Bussereau - wife
of the French minister for Sea Transportation. The ceremony was attended by
Mr Xi Yongming - Nanjing Municipal Government, Mr Tor Hildan - Ambassador of
Norway to China, Mr Pierre Letocard - Minister Counselor from the French Embassy
to China, Mr Philippe Louis-Dreyfus - President of LDA, Mr Westye Hoegh - Chairman
of LHC, Mr Philippe Delmas - Executive Vice President of Airbus and Mr Laurence
Barron - President of Airbus China.
When seen from outside at first glance, Ville de Bordeaux looks like a state
of the art Roro vessel of 2000 m rolling cargo lanes with dimensions of :
Length 154 m
Width 24.0 m
Draft 6.5 m
Deadweight 5 200 t
But when entering the vessel through her stern ramp, the unique features of
being the Airbus A380 components carrier appear immediately : the vessel has
been built around a whole A380 plane carried in 7 components. A huge cargo space
of 120 m long, 21 m wide and 11 m clear height without any obstacle nor obstruction
is reserved for the plane. Especially the clear height make this vessel the
only Roro vessel of that size in the world capable of carrying the 10 m height
A380 fuselage components. But also this cargo space is heavy strong with a deck
strength capacity of 50 t/m2 that is 5 to 10 times more than any similar vessel.
The main cargo space is accessed trough a very wide stern ramp of 21 m wide
(almost all the width of the vessel) that is capable to sustain a cargo of 200
t weight.
On cargo capacity aspect, in addition to be the A380 components carrier, the
vessel can be used also as standard Roro ship and is fitted with a lower hold
with hoistable car decks and the main garage is also fitted with a full area
hoistable trailer deck. In total the vessel can load about 150 trailers or more
than 500 cars.
Another important feature of this vessel is her high speed capacity. She is
propelled by 2 shaft lines each driven by one 8 400 kW medium speed engines.
This will give her a service speed of 21 knots and she should achieve a speed
of more than 22 knots during the sea trials. The engine and other machinery
systems are fully automated and controlled trough a most modern computerised
system from the Engine Control Room or the Wheelhouse..
Otherwise there are also numerous features designed especially for the Airbus
A380 components trade :
- Very good sea keeping performance. The hull has been extensively tested on
model for performance in sea keeping and special anti rolling devices has been
incorporated in the design to reduce the rolling by more than 90% : 1 set of
passive anti rolling tanks on top of the vessel and 1 pair of stabilizing fins
that are deployed from the hull when the speed of the vessel is beyond 6 knots.
- In addition to the performance in sea keeping of the vessel, she is fitted
with accelerometers that are indicating to the crew on real time the acceleration
received by the Airbus cargo and the estimate of the acceleration they will
receive in the close future. That equipment will allow the Captain to monitor
the course and the speed of the vessel and to avoid imposing excessive stresses
on the plane components.
- Atmosphere in the main cargo spaces is controlled to limit humidity and salt
content : one dedicated stern door is fitted to ensure full watertightness of
the cargo space and, when the Airbus cargo is on board, the air inside the cargo
space is continuously dehumidified and filtered through specific close circuit
ventilation system.
- The Ville de Bordeaux is designed to manoeuvre in harbour and berth herself
without assistance of harbour tugs even in harsh conditions. For that feature
she is fitted with 2 bow thrusters of 1200 kw each and with 2 rudders of flap
fitted type giving a very high transversal lift to the vessel
- The wheelhouse incorporates the most advanced navigation equipment and console
arrangement in order to maximise the safety of her drive, included in very congested
waters like English Channel where she will have to sail regularly.
Ville de Bordeaux is designed to accommodate 36 persons including 12 passengers
or truck drivers in very comfortable accommodation. All crew personnel are accommodated
in single cabins and large and comfortable messes and lounges are provided.
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