Marine and fire safety equipment provider, VIKING Life-Saving Equipment, has launched its latest innovation, the VIKING LifeCraft™ system.
The new product is a super-sized, super-flexible evacuation hybrid that brings together the best of lifeboats and liferafts in one. The LifeCraft™ System consists of two main elements: The LifeCraft™ itself, a self-propelled inflatable vessel with four engines enabling a high degree of manoeuvrability and safety; and a storing and launching unit containing up to four LifeCraft™ units with a capacity of 200 persons each.
VIKING vice president Niels Fraende, commented: “Today’s larger and wider vessels mean that the number of passengers and the variation in trim height and list conditions can be enormous in a distress situation. The LifeCraft™ is a hugely flexible evacuation system that can cope with such extremes”.
Additional advantages include a specially designed chute system to help evacuees with special needs, such as children, the elderly and those on stretchers, setting a new standard for full-spectrum marine evacuation.
The system also takes up less room than lifeboats, freeing deck space for shipowners.
Adapted from press release by Katie Woodward