Ship of the Year 2014 – Three strong candidates

The 2014 Ship of the Year award is approaching, and three strong candidates have been chosen on the basis of a wide variety of nominations by our readers. In the time ahead the jury will evaluate technical information about the vessels in an attempt to decide upon a worthy winner. The candidates are undoubtedly great representatives of innovation.

The 2014 Ship of the Year award will be presented during Hamburg´s SMM trade fair in September. The award itself will most likely be handed over by the Norwegian Minister of Trade, Monica Mæland, at the Norwegian pavilion hosted by the trade organization Norwegian Maritime Exporters.

As usual the jury consists of Skipsrevyen´s Editor-in-chief Asle Strønen, the former Managing Director of The Norwegian Shipowners Association Rolf Sæther, as well as the Managing Director of Norwegian Shipyards Sales and Marketing Organization Birger Skår.

The jury will now focus on the evaluation of the different vessel´s specification and technical complexity. To win this prestigious award the vessels are required to represent a high level of innovation, and must have been built at a Norwegian shipyard. The three chosen candidates are as follows;

YN 361 at Kleven Verft

The biggest size and price tag is not always the best recipe for a Ship of the Year nomination, and M/V “Juanita” built at Kleven Verft, is a great example of this. This platform supply vessel was delivered to the owner Ugland Offshore April 16, and immediately started operations for the charterer Statoil. The nomination is reflected in the new propulsion system developed by Scana Propulsion, Inpower and Salt Ship Design, as well as the cargo tank solution delivered by Framo. 

YN 1696 at Fjellstrand

This autumn Fjellstrand will deliver the world´s first fully battery powered ferry to the owner Norled. This is a pioneer project that has generated a lot of international attention. Siemens is an integral part of the project and supplies among other things the complex power systems. The new ZeroCat design has the potential to revolutionize ferry transport, and the expectations are high.

YN 15 at Fiskerstrand BLRT

One of Norway´s most experienced shipyards in regard to building LNG powered vessels is Fiskerstrand Verft. This summer the yard will deliver the first out of two LNG powered fish feed carriers, the “With Harvest”, to the owner Egil Ulvan Rederi. The vessel will feature a new closed loop loading and offloading solution developed by Graintec in cooperation with the shipowner and the charterer Marine Harvest.

The three candidates for the 2014 Ship of the Year award are completely different vessel types and represent in their own way a high level of innovation. In the coming time the vessels will be presented in more detail on our website.