NIBULON arranged first voyages of its passenger hydrofoils
Last weekend the first trips of NIBULON’s passenger vessels took place, the company says in a press release.
More than 2,000 persons came to enjoy the trip by legendary hydrofoils. The vessels had been leaving the berth of the river station at half-hour intervals since 10 a.m. They performed more than 20 trips in 2 days.
“NIBULON Express” performed its first trip on Wednesday, November 16 with head of Mykolaiv Regional State Administration Oleksii Savchenko, Mykolaiv mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych, head of Mykoliav Regional Council Viktoriia Moskalenko, Cherkasy mayor Anatolii Bondarenko, Voznesensk mayor Vitalii Lukov, Nova Odesa mayor Oleksandr Poliakov, and head of Nova Odesa District State Administration Yevhen Verbin on board.
“NIBULON Express” hydrofoils (called “rockets”) travel at 65 km per hour, have endurance of 500 km, work autonomously for up to 7 hours. It should be noted that there are few specialists able to operate such vessels in Ukraine, but they haven’t operated “rockets” for more than 20 years. Thus, on November 18, Dutch specialists came to Mykolaiv to provide training. They supervised work of Ukrainian colleagues during trips on November 19, 20 and were alternate captains. Foreign professionals assessed work of our captains as perfectly done. The specialists from the Netherlands stayed in Mykolaiv till November 22nd to continue training and to nail down the experience.
The company plans to restore the infrastructure of the Southern Buh River and to start scheduled passenger transportation to Voznesensk (Mykolaiv region) by spring 2017. In summer NIBULON plans to add five more “rockets” to its fleet. It will enable one to provide routes between Kyiv and Kaniv, Cherkasy and Chyhyryn, between Mykolaiv and Ochakiv, Kherson, Zaliznyi Port, Kinburn spit, Voznesensk, Nova Odesa.
