Since its establishment in 1991, Color Line had operated various conventional ferries between Norway and Denmark. From 1996 onwards fast ferries were used to enhance the service during the northern hemisphere summer season.[4][5][6] After an evaluation period of several years, the company began the planning process for two new large, fast, ferries in spring 2004, with the concept name Color Line Superspeed. The new ships were planned with a high enough service speed to eliminate the need for overnight crossings entirely and as a result they only include cabins for truck drivers and the ships crew.[2] On 15 December 2005 the construction of the ships was awarded to Aker Finnyards' Rauma shipyard.[7] Aker Finnyards had previously built what was at the time the world's largest cruiseferryMS Color Fantasy for Color, and was at the time in the process of building MS Color Magic, a slightly enlargened version of the Color Fantasy.[8] The delivery times for the Color Line Superspeed vessels were originally planned for December 2007 for the first ship and April 2008 for the second.[7] Due to delays in construction, including technical problems with one of the auxiliary engines, the first ship, MS Superspeed 1, was not delivered to Color Line until 27 February 2008.[1][2]
Design
Both the exterior and interior design of Superspeed 1 was handled by the Oslo-based Falkum-Hansen Design.[2]
Exterior design
The hull shape of the Superspeed 1 has been designed for optimized speed performance and good sea-keeping characteristics.[2] The ship has a fairly high, short bow, a rounded superstructure raising straight up to the bridge. The rear of the ship is relatively long, with a large entry space between the rear of the superstructure and the actual rear of the ship. The hull has been painted in the traditional dark blue of Color Line, with a red decorative stripe on top of the blue area. The blue hull paint raises upwards in an arch from the front of the ship, following the shape of the bow, and then arches all the way down to the waterline at the rear. A wide black stripe has been painted along the windows on deck 8, and the window frames of the bridge and the rears windows on deck 7 and 8 are also painted black. The funnel, located very close to amidship, is of a similar design to the funnels of MS Color Fantasy and MS Color Magic.
Superspeed 1 turning in Hirtshals 2021
Interior design
Most passenger spaces on the Superspeed 1 are located on decks 7 and 8, above the multi-deck car deck complex and storage rooms. A two-deck high atrium is located by the entrance amidship.[2]
Engines
The main engines consist of four medium-speed diesel engines (Wärtsilä type 9L46), each with 9,600 kW power at 500 r.p.m., acting on two Rolls-Royce-KaMeWa propellers. The auxiliary engines for generating electric power are four Wärtsilä diesel engines of type 6L32 each with 3,000 kW. Two bow-thrusters each with 2,400 kW and a stern truster with 1,200 kW are installed for safe manoevring e.g. in the port of Hirtshals.
MS Superspeed 1, without the aft extension of the superstructure, ported in Kristiansand
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