He adds: “The co-operation we’ve had with Volvo Penta is very good, so we are very happy so far.” “It is good for us to require less maintenance with fewer engines, and reduced fuel consumption and minimal exhaust emissions,” says Olofsson. The D13MH engines in the ferry use a 360-degree gearbox and are also both equipped with a selective catalytic reduction (SCR) unit to reduce emissions for forthcoming IMO Tier III regulations. The Svanhild ferry now uses only one 13-liter unit in each engine room, and is installed with Volvo Penta’s D13MH models that provide 441kW at 1900rpm. It previously used four engines – two in each engine room – and was equipped with Volvo Penta’s 12-liter TAMD 122A models providing 203kW at 1800rpm. With an engine room at each end of the vessel, the ferry is able to travel easily between the two ports without having to turn around. It has a capacity of 40 cars and 197 passengers.
The 213ft (65m) Svanhild ferry – on the ‘Bjorkoleden’ route – runs 24 hours per day, making journeys every 10-20 minutes during peak hours, for commuters and sightseers. Trafikverket Färjerederiet operates a number of routes throughout Sweden. “We have been carrying out testing for a year and it has been great.” “We chose to test Volvo Penta’s IMO Tier III solution because our vision is to operate a service that is as environmentally-friendly as possible,” says Mikael Olofsson, the Svanhild’s skipper for Trafikverket Färjerederiet. As such, Trafikverket Färjerederiet has been field-testing Volvo Penta’s IMO Tier III engine package, to see whether a reduction in emissions is compatible with the required performance. Yet efficiency is not the only mark of the ferry’s success as the company is a division of the government’s Swedish Transport Administration, sustainability is also valued. Each journey on the 900m route takes around five minutes, but with such a busy schedule, time is of the essence. The roll-on roll-off (Ro-Ro) vessel makes 57 return trips between the islands of Lilla Varholmen and Bjorko, west of Gothenburg. With 114 journeys every day, the Svanhild ferry has a heavy workload in transporting passengers and cars between two Swedish islands.