Worldwide Ferry Safety Association announces Niger ferry design winners

Roberta Weisbrod, WFSA Executive Director said, “The specifications for the ferry made it almost impossible—shallow waterways, pirates, and insufficient local shipbuilding capacity, but 18 student teams from around the world, worked through the obstacles and successfully submitted their completed designs.”

By way of background, currently the Niger River, like the other inland waterways of central and western Africa, have the world’s record for fatal ferry accidents. There are strong reasons, however, has confidence for improvement. The State of Lagos recently mounted a new safe ferry system for the city of Lagos’ lagoon and its tributaries, with the vessels built in Lagos by Caverton, a Nigerian company. The Maritime Organization of West and Central Africa (MOWCA) is focusing on ferry safety training, working with Interferry. Many African nations have initiatives to improve ship building as national priorities. Last but not least, the recent Lagos Design Week featured compelling ferry designs.

The Terms of Reference for this year’s design competition are illustrative of the current challenges of Nigeria and other African nations’ inland waterways: The inland waterways experience shoreline erosion from flash floods, shifting and shallow depths, pirates, and the ferry ports are distant from shipbuilding capacity. Designers have to meet the challenges of safety, energy costs and affordability as well as use renewable fuels to drive these ferries. 

The specifications called for a ferry that can accommodate 200 passengers and their personal and market cargo, from Lokoja, the Kogi State capitol city at the confluence of the Benue and Niger Rivers, to Onitsha, a distance of 200 km. That being said, Onitsha is a major commercial city while Lokoja is poised for enhanced economic development with the construction of an international airport and an international market.

Among the design challenges are the shallow depth at the Lokoja dock at .89 meters (3 feet), pirates, erosion and shifting channels, water hyacinth overgrowth and wreckages, ad the loss of the national fuel subsidy. Constraints include ferry service hours limited from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The first-place award-went to the 10-member team from Indonesias Universitas, in Jakarta, led by Felicia Rachel Taruli Siregar. The M/V SAFARIND is designed to be built at the Nigerian Naval Shipyard in Port Harcourt and from there the vessel follows the coast to the mouth of the Niger River and for the upstream voyage to Onitsha. The 36-meter (118-foot) flat bottom steel catamaran is composed of flat plates for simplicity and affordability of construction. The vessel is powered by four gasoline outboard engines, supported by a hybrid auxiliary energy system integrating solar PV, battery storage, and auxiliary generators to reduce fuel consumption and emissions. 

As one of the judges said, “The design also includes a solid affordability model based on realistic socioeconomic assumptions, ensuring its feasibility and long-term sustainability. Its constructability and repair strategies are tailored for practical deployment, and the integration of navigation, security, energy, and operational systems showcase an innovative, cohesive approach.”  The vessel has a 27-knot service speed so it can travel the 200 nm between Lokoja and Onitsha in about four hours.  The integrated navigation, surveillance, and non-lethal security systems (CCTV, controlled boarding, water cannons, and covert distress alerting) help prevent against grounding, collision, and piracy. 

The second-place team from Indonesia, the Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology (ITS Surabaya), implemented a modular construction strategy to overcome the long distance between shipyards. The ship components were manufactured at West Atlantic Shipyard, Rivers State, then shipped using 33 trucks to be assembled at HM Yard. The GREAT IDIA is a 35-meter (115-foot) aluminum wave-piercing catamaran. It runs on CNG fuel and is equipped with solar panels and a waste heat recovery system. Its hull design reduces hydrodynamic resistance at speeds of 18–23 knots, taking into account currents of up to 4 knots and seasonal variations, allowing the route to be covered in about five hours.      The ship provides storage space for dry and wet goods, with refrigeration facilities to maintain cargo quality. The loading and unloading process is supported by a foldable crane. In addition, the team developed a sensor-based navigation assistance system and a computational model to avoid collisions and detect potential threats. The main innovation in the machinery system is the application of waste heat recovery based on the Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC), which is integrated with the engine cooling system. The team consists of nine people and is led by Captain Bachtiar Shifa Bahari.      The third-place team is from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) in Dhaka.  The M/V NIGER DRIFT is also powered by CNG and has auxiliary solar and a hydrokinetic turbine. The aluminum vessel is to be built in blocks in the Naval Shipyard Ltd Port Harcourt and transported for approximately seven hours by truck to Onitsha. The Onitsha to Lokoja ferry travels at a 20 kn cruise speed is expected to take 5 1/2 hours. Temperature cooling inside the passenger space is by natural air circulation system (similar to the new Lagos ferries). Among the innovations are a hydro kinetic turbine harnessing the flow of water converting it to energy. Another innovation is a pontoon landing which minimizes the effect of high/low water during embarkation and disembarkation process– and is used as a platform for CNG filling / charging. The seven-member team is led by Md. Kawsar Mhamud Zidan.

The students will present their designs at the WFSA’s Ferry Safety and Technology meeting to be held May 5-7, 2026, in New York City.

Lagniappe: The Charles R. Cushing recognition prize for esthetics. Charles Cushing the prominent U.S. naval architect, who has been involved in designs of vessels from the early containerships to the latest high-tech vessels, has been key is guiding the specifications International Maritime Students Design Competition and guiding his fellow judges in their considerations. This year he was unable to undertake the naval architecture judging so we asked him to follow his passion and select the most beautiful vessels. Spoiler alert—the illusion of swiftness was what he finds compelling.  Awardees: First place Pakistan Navy Engineering College, Karachi; second place, University of Southampton, UK; and third place University of Ibadan, Nigeria.