Federico Garcia Lorca Completes First Season
The all-aluminum TMV 115 monohull fast ferry Federico Garcia Lorca built at Rodriquez Cantieri Navali’s Pietra Ligure shipyard in Italy was delivered to Balearia Eurolineas Maritimas on June 22, 2001. The vessel immediately entered service on June 25 and operates between Dania on the Spanish mainland to the Balearic Islands of Majorca and Ibiza.Having completed her first season of operation, Rodriquez reports the performance of the largest Aquastrada class of fast monohull built to date.
Federico Garcia Lorca entered service on June 25, only three days after the official handover from the yard. From then up until November 6, it did not miss a single trip due to either mechanical problems or adverse weather conditions despite experiencing Beaufort force 7 conditions that required other high-speed craft to remain in port. According to Dennis Lewis, marketing director for Balearia Eurolineas Maritimas: The Federico Garcia Lorca displayed excellent sea-keeping capabilities along with the high speed that made her very popular with our customers and in fact we were able to draw those customers that would traditionally choose to fly. Also, despite the fact that she was put into service with very little or no acclimation period, she performed flawlessly throughout the season and was a big hit with the crew and operating staff.”
During the peak season, i.e. between July and September, approximately 136,000 passengers and 39,000 cars were transported. Approximately 85 percent of the time, the garage was filled to capacity which highlighted the flexibility of the upper car decks that can be folded or hoisted out of the way to accommodate up to 300 lane meters of freight / bus traffic.
Federico Garcia Lorca is currently in Genoa, Italy undergoing scheduled end of season service and maintenance under the direction of Rodriquez and is expected to be back in service in December.