The two new ships acquired by the Trasmapi shipping company, the ‘Fair weather’ and the ‘Chenega’, will arrive in spectacular fashion tomorrow in Ibiza. Both are being transported by the semi-submersible cargo ship ‘Red Zed 1’, which will submerge its deck in order to ‘free’ the two passenger ships. The unloading process will take several days, due to the complexity of the operation.
For the ships’ anchoring and unloading manoeuvres, “Trasmapi has taken all appropriate measures to prevent any environmental impact, including an on-site inspection of the designated area, which is 33 metres deep, in front of the bay of Sant Antoni, to ensure that the anchoring is done in an area free of posidonia”, the Pitiusas shipping company said yesterday in a press release.
The ‘Fairweather’ and the ‘Chenega’ were loaded onto the ‘Red Zed 1’ in the port of Ketchikan in Alaska on July 4th. This heavy cargo ship, 216 metres long and 43 metres wide, sailed through the Pacific Ocean bound for the Panama Canal, through which it entered the Atlantic Ocean on 10th August. By the time it reaches Eivissa, it will have travelled a distance of approximately 18,920 km
The cargo ship will have to submerge itself to ‘free’ the vessels. TRASMAPI
The unloading manoeuvres will take several days. To do this, the deck will be submerged into the sea to ‘free’ the vessels that were fastened to a wooden cradle. Then the two ferries will be taken by tugboats to the port of Sant Antoni. Once the unloading is finished, the cargo ship will surface pumping the water out of its tanks.
The fast ferries, built by Derecktor Shipyards of Bridgeport between 2004 and 2005 for the shipping company Alaska Marine Highway, are 71.75 metres long, 18.6 metres wide with a keel of 2.65 metres. They can carry up to 250 passengers and 55 vehicles, and reach a speed of 32 knots.
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