By Mark Edward Nero
Bellingham, Washington-based All American Marine Inc. and Long Beach, California-based Harbor Breeze Cruises have announced the completion and delivery of an aluminum catamaran passenger vessel to operate in the Los Angeles and Long Beach harbors.
The new vessel, M/V La Espada, is a multi-purpose catamaran and will provide harbor tours, whale watch cruises, dinner cruises, and charter ferry service to Catalina Island. La Espada, whose name means ‘the sword’ in Spanish, is 83 feet by 29.5 feet and is certified to carry 250 passengers.
Harbor Breeze Cruises previously contracted with the builder to build a similar catamaran, the M/V Triumphant, in 2013.
Both vessels are designed by Teknicraft Design of Auckland, New Zealand and feature Teknicraft’s signature catamaran hull shape with a symmetrical bow and asymmetrical tunnel.
“We appreciated naval architect, Nic De Waal's, ability to translate our wish list into a functional design and the team at All American Marine for making our dreams a reality,” Harbor Breeze Cruises Vice President Amber Boyle commented.
La Espada and her sister-ship are both hydrofoil-supported catamarans and the gallons per nautical mile fuel consumption curve is nearly constant from 17 knots up to 27 knots. The fuel-efficient hull, which reduces operating costs, can reach 30 knots.
The vessel is powered by twin Caterpillar C32 ACERT Tier III engines with 1450 bhp at 2100 rpm.
Features on board La Espada include stadium-style seating on the foredeck for unobstructed views, comfortable interior and exterior seating, ADA accessibility, and a snack bar in the main deck cabin. The upper deck features a premium cabin, complete with a private bar.
There are also several eco-friendly features, including low voltage LED lighting throughout the entire vessel. Also, the catamaran transforms at night when color changing LED lighting is turned on inside the main deck cabin. LED accent lights are also used to light up the vessel exterior as well as acrylic glass panels along the upper aft deck. Tinted glass was used for all passenger windows to mitigate energy use associated with offsetting heat gain. Lightweight aluminum honeycomb wall panels and perforated aluminum ceiling tiles were used to outfit the cabin interior without adding mass that causes excessive fuel burn.
