TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The Penghu ferry ship plying the route between Kaohsiung and Magong has won an iF Design Award for Product Design, reports said Friday.

The prize marks the first time that a Ro-Ro ferry from Taiwan has won an iF award, according to the Maritime and Port Bureau. The latest editions of the awards were announced in Hamburg Thursday by iF International Forum Design GmbH.

The ship was a cooperative project between several parties, including the bureau, shipping operator Taiwan Navigation Company, JC. Architecture & Design, NSS Nagasaki Sempaku Sobi Co., Ltd., and shipbuilder Naikai Zosen Corporation of Japan. During the design and construction phases, special attention was paid to both the exterior and the interior of the ferry, per CNA.

Boarding and walking around the vessel were made more convenient, with visually impaired travelers in mind. Since its launch in September 2023, the ferry can boast of an occupancy rate of more than 50%, or double that of its predecessor.

The designers said they turned the ferry into a destination of its own, introducing Penghu to travelers before they reached the island county in the Taiwan Strait.