35,000GT luxury passenger and vehicle ferry, Kiso

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) has completed construction of the Kiso, a 35,000 GT-class luxury passenger and vehicle ferry for the owner Taiheiyo Ferries Co. Ltd. The ferry can be missed with some of the small cruise ships, but actually is too away from them. The ship was designed and built at the MHI Shimonoseki Shipyard & Machinery Works, and delivered to the owner on Jan. 5, 2005. The Kiso is now engaged in the regular service in Nagoya, Sendai and Tomakomai route. The ship is the largest ferry in Japan and has superior propulsive performance and powerful maneuvering devices. The accommodation area, which is the most symbolic space of the vessel, was planned and designed according to the concept, “Brightness and Comfort of the South Pacific.” This concept was applied to various facilities, amenity equipment and also barrier- free facilities, and passengers can spend luxury time in the areas like a cruise ship. The vessel also has a high loading capacity with 183 units of 12 m length trucks and 47 units of private cars carried simultaneously. The Kiso can offer a comfortable voyage worthy of the description “Luxury” to passengers. The follow ing public spaces are provided: Restaurant “Tahiti,” Lounge “ S o u t h e r n Cross,” Promenade, “Mermaid club” (Piano stage & Bar counter space), Drink hut “Bora Bpra,” “Mauruuru” (Library corner), “Rose room” (Meeting room), Kids’ room, Shop, Game corner, Entrance hall, Karaoke room, Grand bath (with grand view), Drivers saloon, and Pet room. The ferry has overal length of 199.90 meters, length between perpendiculars of 188.00 meters, beam of 27.00 meters and draft of 6.70 meters. the deadweight of the ferry is 7,042 metric tons and the gross tonnage is 15,795 gross tons. The main engine of the ships from this class are usualy strong and realible, and this one is not going away from the well known scheme. The main engine is Mitsubishi-MAN 9L58/64, which is enough for the vessel to realize maximum speed of 23.0 knots.