''Benchi Express'' is a

catamaran A catamaran () (informally, a "cat") is a watercraft with two parallel hull (watercraft), hulls of equal size. The wide distance between a catamaran's hulls imparts stability through resistance to rolling and overturning; no ballast is requi ...

ferry operated by the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

- Norwegian shipping company

Fred. Olsen Express Fred. Olsen Express is an inter-island ferry service based in the Canary Islands, Spain. It operates a fleet of six modern fast ferries on five routes. Its fleet includes a trimaran fast ferry, the Benchijigua Express, which was the first such ve ...

for local transport connecting ports on the island of

La Gomera La Gomera () is one of Spain's Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa. With an area of , it is the third-smallest of the archipelago's eight main islands. It belongs to the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. La Gomer ...

(

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

). It was delivered to Fred. Olsen in September 2017 and has been operating the route between the towns of San Sebastián de La Gomera,

Playa Santiago Playa Santiago (also known as Playa de Santiago) is a small town on the south coast of the island of La Gomera in the Canary Islands. It is split between two municipalities, Alajeró and San Sebastian. The part within the municipality of Alajer ...

and

Valle Gran Rey Valle Gran Rey is a municipality in the western part of the island La Gomera, in the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife of the Canary Islands, Spain. The Guanche name of the area was ''Orone''. The seat of the municipality since 1930 is La Caler ...

since then. The ship was purpose-built for this route by Drassanes Dalmau, based in

Arenys de Mar Arenys de Mar (, , ''arenys'' being Catalan for "sands (of a seasonal creek)", and ''de mar'' for "by the sea" as opposed to Arenys de Munt, "sands up hill") is one of the main municipalities of the comarca of Maresme, Barcelona Province, Cata ...

(

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

Design and construction

The ''Benchi Express'' is a passenger transport

, purpose-built in

by Drassanes Dalmau for

. The construction is entirely of

composite material A composite or composite material (also composition material) is a material which is produced from two or more constituent materials. These constituent materials have notably dissimilar chemical or physical properties and are merged to create a ...

. The vessel is long and wide, making it the smallest ship in the Fred. Olsen Express fleet, and can reach speeds of . The ship is powered by two Caterpillar C32 ACERT diesel engines capable of providing a combined power of 2,134 kW. The ''Benchi Express'' can transport up to 250 passengers on two decks: the main deck has a capacity of 150 passengers while the upper open-air deck can hold another 100 passengers. The upper deck can be covered if required. There is also space for eight bicycles or motorcycles.

Predecessors

Fred. Olsen Express first operated the local La Gomera route connecting San Sebastián, Playa Santiago and Valle Gran Rey between 2009 and 2012 using another ferry, also called ''Benchi Express''. This vessel was long, could transport 300 passengers and had a cruise speed of over . The ferry also connected the island's capital, San Sebastián, to the town of

Los Cristianos Los Cristianos is a town in Spain with a population of 21,235 (2017), situated on the south coast of the Canary Island of Tenerife. Located in the municipality of Arona, Tenerife, Arona between the cone of the mountain Chayofita and the greater mou ...

Tenerife Tenerife ( ; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands, an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. With a land area of and a population of 965,575 inhabitants as of A ...

, thus serving as a sea link between the two islands.

References

External links

*
Benchi Express information from Drassanes Dalmau
{{DEFAULTSORT:Benchi Express Ferries of Spain 2017 ships La Gomera Individual catamarans Transport in the Canary Islands