Unique Boats Start Service on Lake Balaton

For the first time since the change of the political system (1988-90), four new ships have arrived on Lake Balaton, two of which have completed assembly works; after successful trials, the ferry Tihany and the catamaran Tomaj have made their first Balaton kilometers, Balaton Shipping Ltd. informed MTI in a statement on Saturday.

The assembly of the other two vessels is also progressing well, the ferries are expected to start their service in December and the catamarans at the beginning of the next shipping season, in March next year, they added.

Balaton Shipping Ltd, which has been majority state-owned again since 2019, was able to purchase the vessels from support by the government. The two new passenger vessels and two ferries purchased for the modernization were built in the Komárom shipyard, dismantled and delivered to Lake Balaton in July.

During the summer, the technical, assembly and fitting-out work was completed, so that two of the four vessels could start their standing (functional) and running trials. This included tests of the vessels' buoyancy, maneuverability and emergency functions. In the coming weeks, further operational trials will be followed by an official inspection and familiarization process, and the assembly of the still ongoing ferry and catamaran will continue.

The steel structure of the ferries weighs 298 tons, 11 kilometers of electrical wiring and nearly 4 tons of paint were used during construction. For the catamarans, 157 tons of steel, 9 tons of welding consumables and 14 kilometers of electrical wiring were used.