High speed crafts in the Canary Islands
- Autores: Enrique García Melón, Antonio J. Poleo Mora, M. C. Rodríguez Rodríguez
- Localización: Journal of maritime research: JMR, ISSN 1697-4840, Vol. 2, Nº. 2, 2005, págs. 81-91
- Idioma: inglés
- Enlaces
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Resumen
For the Canary Islands, the sea is a path of obligatory use and on whose depend-ence the economic development of the inhabitants of the Archipelago, has beenbased. The problems of inter-insular maritime transport has been, and continuesto be, a constant and growing worry up to the present moment, given the almostzero cargo capacity of the aeroplanes that render their services in the islands.The boats that connect the islands have changed throughout the years, andthese changes have been conditioned, in great part, by the special circumstancessurrounding navigation in our waters: islands situated in open sea, exposed to alltypes of weather; particular meteorological conditions; swell; port infrastruc-tures, etc. These circumstances have made the islands be a true bank of trials forthe main types of HSC: hydrofoils, air cushion vehicles, high-speed mono-hullcrafts, SES, jet-foils and catamarans, all which have navigated and run differentluck. Today, there are three companies operating high speed crafts in the islands:Fred Olsen with five big catamarans, Trasmediterránea with two jet-foils andGarajonay Express with two smaller catamarans.
