After a long ocean voyage on board a massive ship, the new Doeksen ferries which will serve passengers between the Dutch mainland and the Frisian Wadden islands have arrived in Harlingen.
Translation by Traci White
The two new ferries arrived in the harbour of Harlingen on Wednesday night. The Leeuwarder Courant reports that the ferries, which will run between Harlingen, Vlieland and Terschelling, completed the journey from Vietnam, and the final steps of the construction process will be done in Harlingen.
Onze twee nieuwe LNG-catamarans arriveren naar verwachting woensdagavond 29 mei tussen 18 en 19 uur in #Harlingen! Vandaag inspectie en losmaken, morgen afzinken en gesleept 🙂
Meer info op de blog: https://t.co/mPo0AX1zia pic.twitter.com/L0zT3T6Y9Y
— Rederij Doeksen (@rederijdoeksen) May 28, 2019
The two ferries were shipped from Vietnam on a heavy lift ship called Sun Rise on the 8th of March, and they were inspected on Texel earlier this week before being tugged onward to Friesland.
The Leeuwarder Courant reports that the plan was for the ferries to enter service by the end of 2019, but due to financial issues with Triyard, the shipbuilding company, the Doeksen company now says that it will be a few months still before the boats can carry passengers. The final steps of the process to make the vessels ready for passengers will be completed in Harlingen as a result of the financial issues with the other associated companies.
The catamarans – Willem van Vlamingh and Willem Barentz – will make their first voyages in January of 2020 instead, and will run on liquified natural gas.
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