A student group from Bangladesh, co-supervised by me, secured third place in the prestigious design competition arranged by the Worldwide Ferry Safety Association (WFSA). This is the third time in a row; a team supervised by me won the prize in this competition. This year, the students were tasked with designing a RoPax ferry to carry around 300 passengers, many of whom prefer the use of outdoor hammocks, plus vehicles and cargo on the Amazon River between Manaus and Tefé on a trip that is to last 20 hours. Because of the continuing spread of Covid 19 in Brazil and its transmission via river transport, student teams were asked to include features to prevent viral transmission.
The catamaran ferry designed by our group was composed of steel with an aluminum superstructure for weight reduction and had an aerodynamic design. The vessel uses marine LIDAR to detect riverbed shallowing & debris, key Amazon River issues. Other features include solar panels and rainwater harvesting, and electric mosquito repellent and AIS. More details can be found here: https://www.ferrysafety.org/index.htm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zx9WkhrmfhM