"Experience from the first operational season of the Rodriquez Aquastrada
Dott. E. Tripiciano
Commercial Manager
Tirrenia di Navigazione
EXPERIENCE F R O M T H E FIRST O P E R A T I O N A L S E A S O N OF T H E R O D R I Q U E Z A Q U A S T R A D A Dott. E. T r i p i c i a n o
Commercial Manager Tirrenia di Navigazione
The xise o f the fast f e r r y Guizzo o n a v i t a v e c c h i a - O l b i a route f r o m J u l y 15,1993 to September 30,1993 O n July 12,1993 the fast ferry Aquastrada Guizzo was introduced to the authorities and the press i n the p o r t of Civitavecchia.
Three days later the G u i z z o (Flash) made her v e r y first real flash w h e n she completed the r u n between Civitavecchia and Olbia i n three and a half hours.
To say we were - besides pleased and p r o u d f o r boat being the f l o w e r of the Tirrervia button-hole - calm and quiet w o u l d be a b i g l i e .
O b v i o u s l y the attention and care w i t h w h i c h w e f o l l o w e d the construction and preparation w i t h the Rodriquez s h i p y a r d , and then the performance d u r i n g the first t r i p f r o m Genoa were assuring us perfectly of the restdt.
W e were looking then at the very new means of transport - not only because of the new technology used by the shipyard, but also because of the time of delivery the construction s h i p y a r d had to accelerate i n order to match w i t h the deadlines to let the ship start its service at u s e f u l t i m e .
T h e n w e were observing the huge public interest and expectations of b o t h Sardinia and the Continent itself, because we were dealing w i t h the very first case i n w h i c h the travel speed and the high n u m b e r of cars transported was g i v i n g the new meaning to the "territorial c o n t i n u i t y " expression. If, f o r some reason, the use of Guizzo hadn't met our expectations, the disappointment w o u l d have been very h i g h and the company image w o u l d have suffered. T h a f s w h y I was saying w e h a d a lot to w o r r y about, because, speaking frankly, 1993 wasn't the l u c k y year f o r trips and holidays.
For these reasons, now, m a k i n g a resume of the Guizzo operating time, w e can say we are very satisfied. I n fact w e are so satisfied that we have ordered a second Aquastrada class vessel although the n e w craft w i l l have greater passenger and car capacities.
T h a f s w h y w e are e x a m i n i n g the trial p e r i o d i m d e r three d i f f e r e n t , m o s t i m p o r t a n t aspects. The company concentrated o n these three w h i l e m a k i n g the final judgment of the real value of this means of transport and of the answer to the commercial needs.
W e had to evaluate the results f r o m the commercial p o i n t of view, the s h i p behaviour f r o m the nautical point of view and her assurance f r o m the technical point of view.
1. O n the commercial side w e base our analysis o n the period f r o m July 15,1993 to September 30 1993, d u r i n g which time there were a total of 215 programmed runs out of w h i c h there were 199 successful ones ie carrying passengers and cars, w h i c h makes o u t 92.5%, The number of the v o i d e d runs (12 i n total, among them 2 caused by adverse weather and sea conditions, 4 " e m p t y " n m s due to extremely l o n g delays) has been f u l l y understood, also by the clients. I n most cases the passengers booked f o r the v o i d e d or " e m p t y " runs preferred to w a i t a n d travel w i t h the next run of the same fast ferry. Few others, because of overall travel plans, chose to travel o n a regular f e r r y . Very f e w asked f o r the ticket reimbursement.
I n the same p e r i o d (June 15 - September 30) compared the total capacity of transportation o f f e r e d of 90,000 passengers and 24,000 car spaces to the capacity to the capacity s o l d of 60,000 passengers and 17,000 cars w h i c h corresponds w i t h the percentage of use of 66.5% and 72.2% respectively.
Obviously the coverage was m a x i m u m i n the t w o traverse ways i n the m o n t h of August. It is t o be said t h o u g h that i n the m o n t h of July w h e n the t r a f f i c f r o m the Italian p e n i n s u l a t o w a r d Sardinia is h i g h e r , the Guizzo r e t u m runs capacity has been covered i n about 50%. I n September, when the h i g h season is over and the t r a f f i c f r o m the Isle towards the continent gets higher, the use percentage f r o m the peninsula was not that low, either.
A f t e r a l l the forecasts set before the new service started had been p l e n t i f u l l y overcome and the customers had liked the transport speed and the comfort aboard.
A s I said before, m the v e r y f e w cases i n w h i c h the necessity'of servicing the engine systein o r repairine a n d fixing damage h a d caused the canceUation o r substantial delays, the passengers has s h o w n
thek
f u l l understandmg of those k i n d of inconveniences and they h a d accepted them as the u n a v o i d a b l e corollary o f the absolute newness of this means of transport, almost the price one must pay f o r the h i e h
speed benefits. ' . ^ J 0 T h e last observafion of the commercial part: I feel I should m a k e clear that f r o m the company p a r t a
completely new type of passengers and t r a f f i c was expected to r i d e Guizzo. I t was meant to be the client w h o w o u l d like to combine the spaceship speed w i t h the possibifity of h a v i n g his o w n car w i t h h i m . I t h i n k that I can say that the objective has been almost f u l l y achieved, w h i c h is confirmed b o t h b y o u r offices and the travel agents contacted that a great number of passengers have asked specifically f o r the fast f e r r y service and that they d i d n ' t use i t s i m p l y as a replacement f o r the regular f e r r y i f i t w a s
a l r e a d y f u l l . ^ O n the other hand i n a year of economic crisis w h i c h touched, i n a negative way, most b-ansport
services, b u t espedally sea and air carriers, the C i v i t a v e c c h i a - O l b i a l i n e has managed t o keep its forecast levels of runs covered, and actually exceeded them i n the m o n t h of A u g u s t .
Z F r o m the naval p o i n t o f v i e w the Guizzo fast f e r r y has f u l l y met its i n i t i a l expectations of i t . E v e n i n the extremely d i f f i c u l t weather conditions of last summer i t was able t o p e r f o r m the traverse n i n s w i t h o u t an excessive o v e r w o r k of the ship and w i t h o u t any inconvenience f o r the passengers or to the cars carried. The same has been confirmed d u r i n g the r u n p e r f o r m e d i n the critical weather conditions, w i t h the sea force of 7 grades. Also i n that case the passengers, a l t h o u g h unavoidably bothered, were able to appreciate the v e r y short period of time the ship was stroked by the waves. The cars o n the car deck weren't moved f r o m their places of stowage.
The fast ferry Guizzo i n its runs performed i n good or "easy to handle" weather has been c o n t i n u o u s l y achieving the cruise speed higher than 42 knots. D u r i n g the above mentioned critical cruise at the sea of force 7, an average speed of 33.3 knots was achieved creating a delay i n arrival of only 45 m i n u t e s w h i c h makes this result remarkable due to the v e r y bad weather conditions.
The stabilizing system has turned out to be v e r y satisfying, w h i l e i t has been noticed that, caused b y the shape of the h u l l , the ship is " c u t t i n g " the waves w i t h o u t getting the b o w under the water, a n d w h a t actually happens w i t h the regular slow ferries.
W i t h the astern waves, the passengers could feel o n l y the k i n d of r o l l i n g w i t h no other inconvenience. 3. F r o m the technical side, the efficiency of the engine system of t w o diesel engines and one gas t u r b i n e has assured the perfect a n d smooth operation w i t h n o h i g h range problems. This obviously does n o t mean, or could not have meant, that there has been no error at a l l . We have to consider that this o n l y ship i n the w o r l d is able to c a n y both passengers a n d cars at the speed o f 42 knots, requires the project research f o r the construction solutions that could assure the m a x i m u m stiucture lightiiess, but n o t defeat the necessary weight and hardness of a naval means o f transport.
I t w a s necessary to m a i n t a i n the engine and its auxiliary system d u r i n g the operation period d u e to the f a u l t s f o u n d , t r y i n g either to fix them immediately o r to look f o r t e m p o r a r y solutions h a v i n g i n m i n d the final maintenance process after the season operation period.
H o w e v e r i t needs to be said that all the faults causing the delays or v o i d e d h-avels w h i c h h a p p e n e d to repeat due to some causes, w h i c h i n f o l l o w i n g has f o r m e d the s h i d y material f o r the s h i p y a r d and p r o j e c t centre, m o s t l y w e r e fixed i m m e d i a t e l y . ' T h e services s t i l l to be done have been a l r e a d y recognized and are g o i n g t o be effected as f o r the w a r r a n t y and assistance rules.
F o l l o w i n g the results and considering that the H r r e n i a Company was b o t h determined and cautious t o enter the h i g h speed sector has been c o n f i r m e d the great value o f the i n i t i a t i v e idea, a l r e a d y m e n t i o n e d before, to f o l l o w u p w i t h carrying o u t the next fast f e r r y of this k i n d .
I t is n o exaggeration to say that w i t h the fast sea means of transport w e start a n e w era of coimections w i t h the island. W e cannot thirik though that the distances w i l l be cancelled. N o aircraft can d o . B u t o b v i o u s l y there can be cormections so fast and f r e q u e n t w i t h a h i g h transportation capacity t h a t w e w i l l n o t consider the sea an obstacle any longer, b u t w e w i l l see i t as a v e r y convenient h i g h w a y t o be r u n q u i c k l y and thanks to i t the w a y to j o i n and not d i v i d e any more.
