Although the World Cup has only been over for a few months, Brazil is already looking forward to another major sporting event it will host: the 2016 Olympics. The Maritime Executive has reported on the construction of seven special ferries for the occasion.
These vessels have been designed for fuel efficiency and will use engines supplied by Caterpillar. The novel nature of this project suggests the importance of international marine insurance for events that will draw large crowds.
The ferries are part of a class of vehicles called Assessoria Transporte Aquaviaro. Altogether, they will use nearly 30 generators, in dual fuel systems that combine gas and electric power. According to the article, the engines currently in development are scheduled to arrive at the shipyards by the end of the year.
In addition, the source quotes Chris Chennette, Caterpillar Marine's Product Value Manager, who described their predictions for the engine systems.
"Assessoria Transporte Aquaviaro will be not only be able to optimize the efficiency of their vessels powered by Cat dual fuel solutions but also operate on the waters with the confidence and product support you can only get from Caterpillar," Chennette said.
Brazil is investing heavily in other maritime improvement projects for the Olympics, including a project to sanitize the Gloria Marina in Rio de Janeiro. More than $6 million will be devoted to the effort total and used to prevent the sewage from leading to contaminated rain.
This is more than a quarter of what the country is expected to spend in total preparation costs for the Olympics. So far the head of the local utilities says that the efforts have been successful in bringing wildlife back to the waters.