Harbor Breeze Cruises Expands Fleet with AAM Built Catamaran
All American Marine, Inc. (AAM), together with Harbor Breeze Cruises, has 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 vessel and will provide harbor tours, whale watch cruises, dinner cruises, and charter ferry service to Catalina Island. La Espada, whose name means ‘the sword’, is 83’ x 29.5’ and is certified to carry 250 passengers.
Harbor Breeze Cruises previously contracted with All American Marine to build a similar catamaran, the M/V Triumphant, in 2013. The success of the design with both customer appeal and fuel-efficient operations brought Dan Salas, owner of Harbor Breeze Cruises, right back to AAM to build a second vessel in such a short time frame. 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. Amber Boyle, Vice President for Harbor Breeze Cruises, commented, “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.” La Espada, along with her sister-ship are 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 significantly reduces operating costs and can reach 30 knots, even when fully laden.
Passengers on board La Espada will enjoy unique features such as stadium-style seating on the foredeck for unobstructed views, comfortable interior and exterior seating, ADA accessibility, and a fully-equipped snack bar in the main deck cabin. The upper deck features a premium cabin experience, complete with a private bar.
While there are many amenities onboard La Espada, there are also several eco-friendly features that make a big difference in a very subtle way. AAM installed low voltage LED lighting throughout the entire vessel. The vessel 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. High performance bottom paint was used to enhance speed and fuel efficiency. The super structure was also designed to be low profile and reduce drag. The vessel is powered by twin Caterpillar C32 ACERT Tier III engines with 1450 bhp @ 2100 rpm. The engines comply with the most advanced emissions standards. Harbor Breeze Cruises has also partnered with Lucas Oil to utilize their line of eco-friendly products to enhance fuel efficiency and reduce emissions.
La Espada marks the third USCG-inspected Subchapter K vessel built by AAM under the new 5A space guidelines for structural fire protection. According to Salas, “The All American Marine crew did an outstanding job building this beautiful and highly functional multipurpose vessel. Significant attention to detail was given in every aspect of the design and construction and we are extremely confident that this craft will serve our markets well.” All American Marine’s successful experience with constructing Subchapter K vessels made it possible to design a configurable platform that can serve many purposes and still comply with required regulations. All American Marine CEO, Matt Mullett remarked, “we find it exciting to work with a client who wants to push the envelope and implement new features that will make the boat truly outstanding. We look forward to building more vessels for the Harbor Breeze Cruises fleet in the future.”