Letter of intent signed for five BGV trimarans

At an official reunion hosted by the Boulogne Chamber of Commerce on November 27, Chikara Shipping and BGV France signed an agreement covering the introduction of five large trimarans on routes from Boulogne to the United Kingdom and Norway.

Chikara shipping is a recently formaed subsidiary of Chikara Holdings International, a company that is registered in Belize. BGV France is developing a range of trimarans for commercial and military operations based on a design that was first made public in 2002.

Speaking at the reception, the chief executive officer of Chikara Shipping, John Paul Airs, explained that his company and BGV had signed a memorandum of understanding on October 27 and were today "finalising a letter of intent". He also signed a cheque for £1 million, which he said was related to tank testing, and presented it to Christian Gautier, the president of BGV France.

A month before, BGV France had announced, "John Paul Airs has signed with Christian Gautier a letter of intent for the purchase of five BGV high speed vessels for ro-ro and passenger services. Chikara Shipping has also taken an option on four more BGV high speed craft."

Chikara Shipping

BGV is an acronym for Bateaux à Grande Vitesse. Prior to the official signing, John Paul Airs recalled that when the French and British governments had signed an agreement to develop the Concorde supersonic airliner, it had been said that in future there would only be two types of airliners, Concorde and the rest.

Paraphrasing this, he said, "in future, ther will only be two types of ships, BGVs and the rest." BGVs, he said, "would change the face of shipping". The initial letter of intent is for two 140m BGV RP140 ro-pax ferries and three 160m BGV C160 fast cargo vessels.

John Paul Airs revealed that Chikara Shipping also plans to take delivery of two more BGV RP140s, another BGV C160 and two 210m BGV C210 fast cargo vessels. He hopes to finalise negotiations for these "in the middle or end of January 2007".

The first two BGV RP140s are intended for service between Boulogne and Sheerness, Kent. The configuration specified by Chikara Shipping is based on 1,500 passengers, 240 cars and ten coaches. The first BGV 160 design is also configured for the Boulogne-Sheerness route, with a capacity of 84 accompanied freight units, 94 unaccompanied freight units or a combination of the two.

John Paul Airs "hopes" that the first BGV will enter service in summer 2008. The first two BGV C160s will appear on the Boulogne-Sheerness route, he announced, while the third one will be introduced between Boulogne and Drammen, Norway.

Chikara Shipping’s plans for the follow-on BGV RP140s and one BGV C160 have yet to be decided, John Paul Airs said, they will either be introduced alongside the first five vessels or enter service elsewhere. He confirmed, however, that the two BGV C210s, which will each carry 150 unaccompanied freight units, would operate between Boulogne and the Spanish ports of Santander and Vigo.

All the BGV designs feature high tensile steel hulls and waterjets, the larger ones have aluminium superstructures. John Paul Airs says that a decision has yet to be taken on whether to install diesel or gas turbine propulsion, it depends to some extent on engine delivery dates, although gas turbines are favoured for the long Spanish routes.

Negotiations for construction of the first five BGVs are currently taking place with five European shipyards. As the cost of each ship will not be known until the specifications have been finalised and contracts signed, John Paul Airs said that "it is premature and wrong to talk about prices".

Chikara Shipping’s plans will obviously require a very significant level of funding. John Paul Airs refuses to reveal financial details, other than to say. "We have well established backers who believe 1,000% in the concept of BGV fast craft. The banks have done due diligence on our backers and are happy the resources are available. We are ready to give the necessary deposits for ships once we have finalised contracts with shipyards."

BGV France

Describing the BGV concept, BGV France says, "The central hull with rear outriggers, immersed stabilizer foils and ground effect winglets combine technological features to give very important advantages in stability, safety and ability to sail in rough seas.

"During the BGV’s development, emphasis was put on combining technologies that interact together for increased benefits. The most obvious are the optimised design, total reliability, enhanced control over stability and high speed powering in rough weather. Worldwide patents have been obtained for these features.

"The BGV design consists of a particularly long central displacement hull with a wave-piercing bow, giving very low resistance and minimal pitching motions. In waves this results in low occurrence of hull slamming and whipping shock. The structural design constitutes an ovoid section shape which guarantees an optimum rigidity, and reduces fatigue stresses generated by movement through waves.

"Carefully adapted machinery offers an efficient package capable of delivering the power to weight ratios needed to push speeds up to 60 knots. The propulsion system is provided by waterjets with diesel, diesel electric, dual fuel engines or gas turbines.

"As the BGV is very slender, control of roll motion is essential. The aim of the symmetric outriggers is to guarantee transverse stability and to avoid rhythmic rolling setting in while immersed foils ensure a high level of roll damping under all circumstances. Also, transom flaps minimise rolling in oblique seas while ground effect acts as an additional stabilizing force, thanks to the channellinq of the air trapped between the hull and the wing arms.

Boulogne hub

Boulogne’s Chambre de Commerce et d’Industrie is investing €20 million in new ro-ro berths for BGV services. The site has been cleared and work is due to be completed towards the end of 2007.

Earlier this year, it reported. "Spearheading the BGV project, the Boulogne Chamber of Commerce and Industry has been looking towards new investment opportunities in the commercial area of the port following the closure in 2003 of the Comilog ferro-manganese plant."

The president of the Chambre de Commerce et d’Industrie, Franci Leroy, added "We are convinced that BGV services can attract road hauliers between the countries they will operate to and from, notably for the transport of fish, seafood and fresh produce. We also believe that this is an important way to support EU initiatives to move some freight cargo from the roads."

When the redevelopment of the ferro-manganese site started, a Norwegian company, NorFerries, was planning to introduce two BGV C180s between Boulogne, Sheerness and Drammen, and one BGV C210 between Boulogne and Santander. First services were tentatively scheduled for june 2007 but NorFerries was unable to raise sufficient financing for the project.

Based on service speedds of 35 knots, the Chambre de Commerce et d’Industrie estimates that BGV journey times would be about 2 hours for Boulogne-Sheerness and 20 hours for both Boulogne-Drammen and Boulogne-Santander.

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