Barcelona, 18th November 2008 – ADELTE has recently been awarded a contract by cruise operator Creuers del Port de Barcelona S.A. to design, manufacture and deliver in the Summer of 2009 two new generation Passenger Boarding Bridges (PBBs) of the ‘’CREUERS BARCELONA’’ class to operate at the A and B cruise terminals on the Adossado Quay in the port of Barcelona, Spain.
Creuers del Port de Barcelona S.A. operates five cruise terminals at the port of Barcelona. Cruise Terminal A, which came into operation in April 2008 is similar to Cruise Terminal B (inaugurated in 2005 and also operated by Creuers) and both terminals together have the capacity to handle turnaround operations of current and future mega cruise ships with up to 6.000 passengers.
Since the beginning of 2008, engineers of ADELTE and Creuers have been working on the design of these new generation PBBs of the ‘’CREUERS BARCELONA’’ class as these bridges are destined to service the current mega cruise ships and the upcoming ‘’Oasis’’ Class vessels of Royal Caribbean. The first of these vessels, called the Oasis of the Seas has a length of 360 meters (or 1,181 feet) and the beam of 47 meters (or 154 feet). The height of the vessel Oasis of the Seas is 65 meters (or 213 feet), which is the dimension above the water line, and the draft of the giant will be 9 meters (30 feet). One of the major challenges in the design parameters of the boarding bridge is the 6 meter clearance that needs to be provided for the overhanging life boats, which required a meticulous design phase of the cabin and hydraulic docking ramp.
Carlos Domingo, Vice President of Creuers, commented: “We have been working together with ADELTE since 2001 and in this long standing relationship we have always been challenged to improve designs and create better features. The process of developing the new generation PBBs has been a very inspiring and challenging one as our goal is to reach a design that is multifunctional and capable of serving the dimensions of current and future cruise vessels. With these two new generation PBBs and our two connected cruise terminals A and B, we are capable of managing the Oasis-class vessels currently in construction.’’
