On Friday 30 May 2025 the second of three Damen Combi Freighters (CF) 3850 was launched in China for Fast Lines Belgium. This follows the launch of the first vessel on 19 May.
The two companies signed a contract for two vessels in October 2023. Last year, Fast took the option of a third vessel. The CF vessels will be the first newbuilds to enter into the Fast fleet.
The family-owned total logistics company is headquartered in Belgium, with locations in the UK, Republic of Ireland and Poland. Fast approached Damen to construct its new vessels based on a number of reasons.
Like Damen, Fast Lines Belgium is focused on sustainability, applying a broad interpretation of the word, encompassing safety and crew welfare. Damen has designed the CF 3850 to be optimally fuel efficient with comfortable accommodation. The design can be easily adapted to meet client specific requirements.
For Fast, this includes the installation of a harbour generator and a larger than standard shore power connection. As is typical for the short sea sector, Fast’s vessels spend significant amounts of time in port. With this, the CF 3850 vessels will be able to connect to electrical power in ports once infrastructure becomes more widely available, reducing noise and emissions in port.
The company has also opted to increase crane capacity to reduce the manual handling required of its crews. Fast has also amended the layout of the ships to ensure that more storage spaces are accessible by crane.
A further benefit for Fast was Damen Triton. With the IoT solution, thousands of sensors located around the vessel collect data, informing decision making and leading to increased efficiency.
The CF 3850 vessels are being constructed at the Damen Yichang Shipyard in China. Damen builds its cargo vessels at locations in both China and Vietnam, thereby ensuring the capacity to meet demand for the popular designs.
The CF 3850 vessels will be named for Fast family members. The four vessels currently sailing in the company’s fleet are named Fast Sim and Fast Herman, for the company’s founders, and Fast Jef and Fast Sus, for two of their grandchildren. Continuing this tradition, the new vessels will also be named for members of the third generation – Fast Olivia, Fast Anna Sofia and Fast Gilles.
