PHOTOS: New Balaton boats under construction and when they will be launched

Since the beginning of July, work has been ongoing on the assembly of the four new boats designed specifically for Lake Balaton. These vessels will serve in the BAHART (Balatoni Hajózási Plc.) fleet in the future. The ferries are expected to be in service in December, the catamarans at the start of next year’s sailing season. Check out some photos of the progress below!

The two new ferries and the two new catamarans are part of a historic technical development on Lake Balaton, the likes of which have not been seen since the change of regime, BAHART says. It adds that the technical works are currently underway at the company’s Siófok site.

BAHART’s four new vessels arrived on Lake Balaton in July.

The two new ferries and two new catamarans will play an important role in both tourism and local transport. The faster vessels will provide a denser service and spacious, modern interiors for more comfortable crossings between the harbours.

As the new boats have the largest passenger and vehicle capacity to date, their transport required great care.

The vessels, which are 11 metres wide and 35 and 45 metres long respectively, were partially dismantled for transport before their departure. After their arrival on Lake Balaton, the first step was to install the superstructures, then a 450-tonne crane lifted the huge open decks, passenger compartments and steering stations, each weighing several tonnes, off the transporters and placed them on the hulls. This was followed by the rebuilding of the mechanical, electrical and hydraulic systems.

The ferries have a total of 11 km of electrical cables, the catamarans 14 km, and the mechanical pipes are 1 km per boat.

Assembly of the vessels is on schedule

Work is currently underway on the interior decoration and cladding of the interior spaces, with the installation of windows, roof structures, air conditioning and radio navigation systems being installed in parallel. The set-up work will start soon.

Ferries can travel at 15 km/h, catamarans at 18 km/h.

The ferries are expected to start operating in December and the catamarans at the start of the next sailing season in March.

Read also:

• VIDEO: This is how a fleet of boats is heading towards Lake Balaton
• PHOTOS: Forty years since a similar event: boats from Balaton are on the Danube again