Winners of Ferry Design Competition Announced

Today the World Ferry Safety Association (WFSA) announced the results of its Second Annual international student design competition for a Safe Affordable Ferry.   The goal of the design competition is to elicit new approaches for ferry design in the developing world as well as to encourage designers to enter this arena for which there is a need and a developing market.  Ms. Roberta Weisbrod, WFSA’s Executive Director, said: “The Sewol disaster reminds us that these are all our children.  Their deaths were preventable and we must redouble our efforts to prevent them with stable vessels and safe operations.” The award will be presented at the Awards Luncheon at the 2014 SNAME Maritime Convention on Friday, October 24 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Houston, Texas

The winning teams:

The top prize of $5,000 is to be awarded to the student team from the Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada, which designed a double-hulled vessel using such standard and affordable features as mild (low carbon, readily wieldable) steel, standard components, and a chined hull (how the bottom is attached to the sides) all of which allows for simplified construction.  Diesel electric propulsion while expensive to acquire is cost effective in terms of fuel and maintenance savings.  The team was lead by Edward Moakler with Logan Miller, Nicholas Boyd, Luke Hancox, Bethany Randall, and Aron Ng.  Heather Peng is the faculty advisor.  A rendering is shown above.

The second prize of $3,000 will be awarded to the students from University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. Additionally, two third prizes of $1,000 each to be awarded to Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture de Nantes, France; and University of Applied Sciences, Bremen, Germany. Other entrants were the Apprentice School of Newport News, Virginia, USA and Tolani Maritime Institute, India (second prize winner in the 2013 competition).    The judges were impressed by the professionalism and spirit of innovation of all the competitors, and their staying power.

About the design criteria:

The Terms of Reference called for a ferry with a capacity of 200 passengers and able to transport truck freight from Lae and Kavieng in Papua New Guinea (with several intermediate stops), a distance of 350 nautical miles.  This design would be applicable for a number of other inter-island oceangoing ferries throughout the South-west Pacific region.

The team of judges:

The WFSA Design Competition had an exceptional team of judges: Alfred Baird, Charles Cushing, Joe Hudspeth, Fakhrul Islam, and Nurur Rahman. 

Alfred Baird is professor of Maritime Economics at Napier University Transportation Research Institute in Edinburgh and has published his policy research on ferry transport in the global marketplace.  

Charles Cushing, president of the marine engineering/naval architect firm, C.R. Cushing & Co. based in New York City.  He has designed, built, and/or supervised the construction of over 250 vessels.  He is an elected member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering.  He is the author of the book, Marine Casualty Safety Investigations, published in 2013.

Joe Hudspeth is Vice President of Business Development, All American Marine, in Bellingham Washington.  He writes the Boat Building column for Marine News and is a frequently invited speaker because of his insights on maritime issues.

Fakhrul Islam is the Chief Engineer and Ship Surveyor of the Bangladesh Department of Shipping in Dhaka.  Mr. Islam had drafted the specifications for the first international student competition for a Bangladesh ferry.

Nurur Rahman is Executive Manager of Maritime Operations at the National Maritime Safety Authority (NMSA), Govt. of Papua New Guinea.  He has over forty years experience in both ship management and maritime administration in Hong Kong, the UK, Australia, and Papua New Guinea.   Captain Rahman drafted the specifications for this year’s design competition for a Ro-Pax ferry.