SSTH Ocean Arrow
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The SSTH Ocean Arrow is an SSTH car ferry. Prof. Hideaki MIYATA at Tokyo University developed the Super Slender Twin Hull (SSTH), a high speed catamaran hulled boat, as a joint work with IHI.
It entered service in 1998 between Kumamoto and Shimabara. The trip takes about 30 minutes, or about half the time that it had previously taken.
Previous attempts to bring a fast ferry to Japan had failed (despite their relative prevalence in Europe) due to wake wash and wave damage in the Japanese coastal areas. In Ireland, in fact, a swimmer was drowned in one instance which was thought to be caused by wake wash froma fast-moving ferry.
Specifications
- Length (o.a.) 72.09 m
- Gross tonnage 1,687 T (JG)
- Service speed 35.0 knots (40 miles/h, 65 km/h
- Maximum speed 40 knots (74 km/h)
- Cruising range 950 nautical miles (1760 km)
- Engine output 28,000 kW (37,548 hp)
External links
- SSTH OCEAN ARROW htm (http://kumamotoferry.co.jp/06english/)
- SSTH OCEAN ARROW pdf -1 (http://www.ihi.co.jp/ihimu/images/seihin/pl11_1.pdf),-2 (http://www.ihi.co.jp/ihimu/images/seihin/pl11_2.pdf)
- Performance of SSTH-70 after Delivery and Future of SSTH (http://www.nmri.go.jp/main/cooperation/ujnr/24ujnr_paper_jpn/itabashi.pdf)