MV ''Rusadir'' is a

roll on/roll off Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their own wheels or usin ...

passenger vessel launched in 2018 by Flensburger Schiffbau Gesellschaft in Germany. She was to have been operated by Brittany Ferries as ''Honfleur'', but they cancelled the contract in 2020 after extended delays. The incomplete vessel was then taken to

Fosen Yard Fosen is a traditional district in Trøndelag, consisting of the municipalities Osen, Roan Åfjord, Ørland, Indre Fosen, Orkland, Heim, Hitra and Frøya. The district is dominated by forested valleys, lakes, coastal cliffs but also shallow ...

at Trondheim, Norway for completion. In March 2023 she was renamed ''Rusadir'' for a six-month charter to

Baleària Baleària is the trading name for the Spanish shipping company Baleària Eurolíneas Marítimas S.A. The company operates passenger ferry services in the Mediterranean and Caribbean. Routes In the Mediterranean region, Baleària operates dom ...

of Spain.

History

Brittany Ferries ordered the vessel, originally named ''Honfleur,'' in June 2017 from German shipbuilder Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft (FSG) at a cost of about €200 million. Construction began in March 2018 when the first steel was cut, followed by the laying of the keel several months later. She was launched in December 2018, and following fitting out was scheduled to be delivered in May 2019 before entering service the following winter season. Once in service, she was to sail between Portsmouth, England and

Caen Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000, The completion of construction and fitting out of ''Honfleur'' was delayed by several years, and she was still unfinished, with up to a year estimated to remain until delivery, when Brittany Ferries canceled their order for the ship in June 2020. According to FSG, the incomplete vessel was under the shipyard's ownership at the time, leaving her fate unclear. Subsequently it was reported that, as part of the restructuring of the shipyard, the unfinished ferry would be acquired by the former owner of FSG, Siem Industries, possibly for completion elsewhere. On 25 October 2020, the former ''Honfleur'' (now simply known as ''FSG 774'' after the cancellation) was towed out of the FSG shipyard by two tugs, the ''Svitzer Thor'' and ''Carlo Martello''. She was taken to the

near Trondheim, Norway, which was tasked with finishing the cancelled vessel, after which she was to either be chartered or sold on to another operator. Upon completion, she was laid up in Poland awaiting an operator. In late February 2023, the Spanish ferry company

chartered the ship for six months, with options to purchase, for their Malaga-

Melilla Melilla ( , ; ; rif, Mřič ; ar, مليلية ) is an autonomous city of Spain located in north Africa. It lies on the eastern side of the Cape Three Forks, bordering Morocco and facing the Mediterranean Sea. It has an area of . It was par ...

route, and on 1 March she was renamed ''Rusadir'', the Phoenician name for Melilla. In May, ''Rusadir'' commenced service.

Design

''Rusadir'' measures 42,400 GT, with a length of , a beam of , and a draft of . She can carry up to 1,680 passengers, with 261 individual cabins, and has a 2,600 lane meter freight deck, with a capacity of 130 freight trucks, or 550 passenger cars and 64 trucks. The ship is fitted with

integrated electric propulsion Integrated electric propulsion (IEP) or full electric propulsion (FEP) or integrated full electric propulsion (IFEP) is an arrangement of marine propulsion systems such that gas turbines or diesel generators or both generate three-phase electri ...

, with four liquefied natural gas engines, with an output of about , driving electrical generators that power two propellers, giving her a service speed.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rusadir Ships built in Flensburg 2018 ships Ferries of Spain