MV Jean de La Valette

MV or HSC[lower-alpha 1] Jean de La Valette (JDLV)[2] is a high-speed catamaran ferry owned and operated by Virtu Ferries. Built by Austal in 2010, it is one of the largest vessels of its kind in the world. It operated routes from Malta to Pozzallo and Catania in Sicily, serving as a link between Malta and the rest of Europe, until it was replaced by the MV Saint John Paul II in March 2019. The vessel is currently leased to the Trinidad and Tobago Inter-Island Ferry Service to serve as an inter-island ferry between Port of Spain and Scarborough.

Jean de La Valette departing Malta's Grand Harbour in 2012
History
Malta
Name: Jean de La Valette
Namesake: Jean Parisot de Valette
Owner: Virtu Fast Ferries Limited
Operator: Virtu Ferries Limited
Port of registry: Valletta, Malta
Route:
Ordered: April 2009
Builder: Austal, Henderson, Western Australia
Launched: 25 April 2010
Maiden voyage: 4 October 2010
Identification:
Status: In service
General characteristics
Type: High-speed catamaran
Tonnage: dwt 850 t (840 long tons; 940 short tons)
Length:
  • 106.5 m (349 ft) (overall)
  • 92.4 m (303 ft) (waterline)
Beam: 23.8 m (78 ft) (moulded)
Draught: 4.9 m (16 ft)
Depth: 9.4 m (31 ft)
Decks: 2
Installed power: 4 x MTU 20V 8000 M71L4 x 9,100 kW diesel engines
Propulsion: 4 x Kamewa 125SIII waterjets
Speed: 39 kn (72 km/h; 45 mph)
Capacity:
  • 800 passengers
  • 230 cars or 342 truck lane metres and 45 cars
Crew: 24

Description

When it was built, the Jean de La Valette was the largest high-speed catamaran in the Mediterranean Sea[3] and the second largest in the world.[1] It has since been surpassed on both counts by another Virtu Ferries catamaran, the MV Saint John Paul II.[4] It has an overall length of 106.5 m (349 ft) and a waterline length of 92.4 m (303 ft).[5] Its beam is 23.8 m (78 ft), and the hull has a depth of 9.4 m (31 ft) and a draught of 4.9 m (16 ft).[5] The hull is aluminium,[3] and the vessel has a deadweight tonnage of 850 t (840 long tons; 940 short tons).[5]

The vessel is propelled by four Kamewa 125SIII waterjets, and its main engines are four MTU 20V 8000 M71L4 diesel engines.[5] It has a capacity of 335,000 L (74,000 imp gal; 88,000 US gal) of fuel.[5] The vessel's service speed is approximately 39 kn (72 km/h; 45 mph).[5]

The vessel could accommodate 24 crew members and 800 passengers.[5] It has two decks, and each includes some outdoor seating.[3] A separate first class area includes lounges and several other amenities.[3] The vessel has a capacity of 230 cars, or 342 truck lane metres and 45 cars.[5] A stern ramp and a port-side ramp allow vehicles to be loaded and unloaded.[3]

Construction
The vessel as viewed from the stern

Virtu Ferries ordered the Jean de La Valette in April 2009, in order to allow for an increased amount of passenger and cargo traffic between Malta and Sicily.[3][6] It was built by Austal in Henderson, Western Australia, and it was fabricated in modular blocks which were then fitted out together, since the vessel was larger than the hall it was constructed in.[3] The vessel was constructed in accordance with Det Norske Veritas safety requirements.[3]

The catamaran was almost complete by March 2010[7][8] and it was launched on 25 April,[9] with sea trials commencing in June.[10] It was delivered from Australia to Malta in a two-week voyage under its own power between August and September 2010.[11] During this voyage, the vessel was chased by four pirate skiffs near the Bab-el-Mandeb in the Red Sea, but it easily managed to outrun them.[3][12][13]

Career

Malta–Sicily ferry

The vessel commenced operations on 4 October 2010,[14] becoming the flagship of Virtu Ferries[15] and replacing the catamaran MV Maria Dolores which had been in service since 2006.[3] It operated on the Malta-Pozzallo and Malta-Catania routes, which took 90 minutes and three hours respectively.[14] Multiple trips were made daily, with the vessel making 1006 Malta-Sicily trips in 2017.[1]

The vessel was depicted on a Maltese postage stamp which was issued on 10 August 2011.[16] MaltaPost installed a mailbox on board the catamaran on 7 November 2011, and mail posted there was marked as paquebot.[17]

On 6 August 2015, the catamaran collided into a pier at Pozzallo and it was temporarily out of service for about a week until the necessary repairs were made.[18][19] The vessel continued to operate the Malta-Sicily route until the larger catamaran MV Saint John Paul II entered into service in March 2019.[20]

Trinidad–Tobago ferry

When the Jean de La Valette ceased operations on the Malta-Sicily route, the vessel underwent a refit at Cádiz in Spain.[21][22] Meanwhile, Virtu Ferries was declared as the preferred bidder for a tender issued by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago for an inter-island ferry as a temporary replacement for the T&T Express.[20] NIDCO and Port Authority officials visited Malta to examine the vessel in late February 2019,[23] and Virtu Ferries and NIDCO signed the charter party agreement on 16 May 2019.[21] The catamaran is to operate in Trinidad and Tobago for one year until two new ferries arrive in the islands,[20][23] with the possibility of an extension by a further six months.[24] It is to be crewed and maintained by Virtu Ferries staff from Malta,[23] along with 14 caterers and cleaners from Trinidad and Tobago.[24] The lease of the ferry was controversial, as the opposition party United National Congress questioned the vessel's procurement process[22] and protested at the daily lease cost of €34,500 (approximately equivalent to TT$263,580), which is higher than that of other leased ferries.[25]

The Jean de La Valette left Spain on 14 June, and after a stop in Cape Verde it arrived in Trinidad on 19 June.[26][27] The catamaran entered service on 18 July 2019.[28] On the return trip after the inaugural voyage, minor technical problems caused the vessel to return to port to undergo repairs.[29] The vessel's route between Port of Spain and Scarborough[30] takes around two and a half[24] to three hours.[28]

During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the vessel's capacity was reduced to 350 passengers in order to allow for social distancing on board.[31]

Return to Malta

In July of 2020, whilst the vessel is sill under charter to Trinidad and Tobago, Virtu ferries announced that the Malta to Sicily route will be operated by 2 vessels in the first quarter of 2021. This is due to the increased demand of importers/exporters between the islands. The flag ship MV Saint John Paul II will operate from Valletta to Pozzallo while the Jean De La Valette will operate from Valletta to Augusta and/or Catania.[32]

Notes
  1. Most sources including Virtu Ferries use the prefix "MV" or "M/V" (for Motor vessel) when referring to the Jean de La Valette,[1] but the prefix "HSC" (for High-speed craft) is also used.[2]

References
  1. "30th anniversary 1988-2018" (PDF). Virtu Ferries. 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 January 2019.
  2. Rizzo, Farrugia & Co (Stockbrokers) Ltd (27 June 2018). "Financial Analysis Summary – 2018 Update" (PDF). Virtu Finance p.l.c. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 August 2019.
  3. "Jean de la Valette Vehicle-Passenger Ferry". ship-technology.com. Archived from the original on 14 June 2017.
  4. "Virtu's new catamaran will be among the world's largest". Times of Malta. 8 January 2019. Archived from the original on 28 January 2019.
  5. "Jean De La Valette". Virtu Ferries. Archived from the original on 6 February 2018. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
  6. "New Catamaran for Virtu Ferries". Times of Malta. 12 April 2009. Archived from the original on 23 October 2014. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
  7. "Large new Virtu ferry set for summer commissioning". Times of Malta. 10 March 2010. Archived from the original on 3 January 2019.
  8. "New Catamaran to be delivered in August". The Malta Independent. 11 March 2010. Archived from the original on 3 January 2019.
  9. "Virtù's new jumbo catamaran launched". Times of Malta. 9 May 2010. Archived from the original on 30 June 2018.
  10. "Austal launches 107m Virtu catamaran". Times of Malta. 29 April 2010. Archived from the original on 12 October 2016. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
  11. "Virtu Ferries' new catamaran out-runs pirates". Times of Malta. 9 September 2010. Archived from the original on 14 March 2016.
  12. Sansone, Kurt (25 January 2013). "Tales of pirates and a very fast catamaran". Times of Malta. Archived from the original on 31 January 2013. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
  13. "Super catamaran starts operations on Monday". Times of Malta. 29 September 2010. Archived from the original on 14 December 2013.
  14. "Virtu Ferries enjoys its new flagship and considers new trades". Ship2Shore. 13 December 2010. Archived from the original on 3 January 2019.
  15. "Maritime Stamp issue by MaltaPost". The Malta Independent. 28 August 2011. Archived from the original on 3 January 2019.
  16. "MaltaPost Service on board M.V. Jean De La Valette". MaltaPost. 4 November 2011. Archived from the original on 7 March 2018.
  17. "Virtu Ferries' Jean de La Vallette temporarily out of service following collision with pier". Times of Malta. 6 August 2015. Archived from the original on 20 December 2015.
  18. "Repairs on MV Jean de La Valette will be completed in a week". The Malta Independent. 7 August 2015. Archived from the original on 16 October 2015.
  19. "Virtu Ferries in talks to lease catamaran to Trinidad and Tobago". Times of Malta. 2 April 2019. Archived from the original on 2 April 2019.
  20. "Time Charter of M/V JEAN DE LA VALETTE" (PDF). Virtu Finance p.l.c. 17 May 2019. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  21. Matroo, Carol (9 May 2019). "Ferry dry docked in Spain". Trinidad and Tobago Newsday. Archived from the original on 9 May 2019.
  22. Singh, Renuka (1 April 2019). "Malta ferry gets nod for seabridge". Trinidad and Tobago Guardian. Archived from the original on 2 April 2019.
  23. Rampersad, Joan (28 June 2019). "Jean de la Vallette sails in 2 weeks". Trinidad and Tobago Newsday. Archived from the original on 29 June 2019.
  24. Alexander, Gail (8 April 2019). "PM: $263,580 a day for Jean de la Vallette". Trinidad and Tobago Guardian. Archived from the original on 10 April 2019.
  25. "Jean de la Vallette arrives in T&T". Trinidad and Tobago Guardian. 19 June 2019. Archived from the original on 31 July 2019.
  26. Rampersad, Joan (19 June 2019). "The Jean de La Valette is here". Trinidad and Tobago Newsday. Archived from the original on 20 June 2019.
  27. Neaves, Julien (18 July 2019). "Mainly good reviews on Jean de la Valette maiden voyage". Trinidad and Tobago Newsday. Archived from the original on 19 July 2019.
  28. Ghouralal, Darlisa (19 July 2019). "Ferry undergoing repairs after technical issue on first day of sailing". Loop Trinidad and Tobago. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  29. "Schedule". Trinidad & Tobago Inter-Island Transportation Co. Ltd. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  30. "TTIT reminds of COVID-19 travel guidelines". Loop News. 2 June 2020. Archived from the original on 12 June 2020.
  31. https://newsbook.com.mt/en/virtu-looks-at-maltas-economic-future-with-confidence/
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