Celebrity Silhouette Conveyance

Today, (30th June 2011) in inland Papenburg, Germany, £500 million of luxury cruise ship successfully passed through a hole only 1.5m wider than its hull before travelling 26 miles to the open sea in Emshaven. Not only did it face locks, autobahns and an audience of local cattle, it performed the entire manoeuvre IN REVERSE! It is the latest ship from Miami based company, Royal Caribbean.

Celebrity Silhouette's first journey, termed a 'conveyance', along the River Ems, is by far it's most challenging with the 36.88 metre-wide ship passing through locks and openings of only 38.09 metres in some places. That's a mere 1.5 metres room for precise navigation! This means travelling at a snails pace of less than 4 miles per hour on the 26 mile journey, which will therefore take over 12 hours to complete.

Travelling on an aqueduct over an autobahn (motorway), major infrastructure including power lines and railway tracks were removed for the ships passage, which had to take place at high tide to ensure there is enough water in the river. Perfect weather is also a must as even the most benign gust of wind would cause the ship to scrape its multi-million pound paintwork.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• cruise
• ship
• conveyance
• celebrity cruises
• celebrity silhouette
• sailing
• ocean boat