At the end of September Incat Crowther announced it had been commissioned to design a 63m monohull passenger ferry for an undisclosed operator in Central America. The main deck features a cabin hosting 286 first-class seats, 20 lounge seats, 4 handicap accommodation seating areas, and a children’s play area with surrounding seating. The aft deck features a cargo room with cargo loading gates, able to fit a portable conveyor belt for loading and unloading. The aft deck also features 2 restrooms, for men and women, as well a 3rd for handicap accommodations. The main deck allows 4 passenger loading stations. The mid deck features a cabin hosting 144 first-class seats and 32 lounge seats. Forward of the cabin is the raised wheelhouse whilst aft of the cabin is a deck that offers 112 exterior seats. The upper deck also provides an observation area including 36 exterior seats. The 650 passenger/37 knot craft is to be powered by five MTU 16v400M63L engines, equipped with ZF-7650 gearboxes, propelled by 5 Hamilton HM-811 jets. Two 150ekW generator sets will provide the vessel with electricity and a 200hp bow thruster will allow for manoeuvrability. A service speed of 37 knots and capacity for 650 passengers will provide efficient transportation.

A week later the company was commissioned to design a 151 passenger capacity ferry to be operated by Cataferry Sdn Bhd, in Malaysia. The main deck features a full width cabin that includes interior seating, a cargo luggage area, locker rooms for switch boards and an entertainment bar. A swim deck is featured below, on the aft portion of the main deck. 40 passengers can be accommodated on the mid deck within the cabin and 13 can be seated aft of the cabin, outside. The vessel is propelled by 2 fixed pitch propellers powered by two Caterpillar C32 ACERT engines.

Meanwhile, Incat Tasmania’s Hobart Shipyard has been awarded a contract to build 6 new ferries to operate on Sydney’s inner Harbour. The new vessel (above) exterior is a traditional design to look similar to the Sydney First Fleet vessels, however, the 35m, 400 passenger craft have greater capacity than the current fleet. These will be the first new vessels in the Sydney Ferries fleet since 2001. The Sydney Ferries will serve commuter and tourist traffic on the inner harbour routes from Watsons Bay in Sydney’s east to Cockatoo Island in the west, stopping at the new Barangaroo wharf. Construction of the first ferry to start early in 2016 and the 6 will be delivered progressively from late 2016 and throughout 2017.

Incat then secured a contract for the construction, delivery and long term charter of a large fast vehicle ferry for Danish company Mols-Linien A/S. The Ferry will be the fourth Incat vessel in the Mols-Linien fleet. The Hobart shipyard will commence work on construction of the wave piercing catamaran immediately, with delivery scheduled for the first quarter of 2017. Hull No. 088 will be christened KatExpress 3 and will be an upgraded and refined version of near sistership vessels KatExpress 1 (Incat 066) and KatExpress 2 (Incat 067). The newbuild will have capacity for 1,000 tonnes of cargo, equivalent to up to 1,000 passengers and 417 cars and/or larger vehicles.

The KatExpress 1 and 2 have increased the capacity on the Kattegat by 172% since 2012 and the KatExpress 3 is expected to enter service between Aarhus and Odden/Ebeltoft and Odden in May 2017 and is likely to replace the company’s smallest ferry Max Mols, an 91m Incat (Incat 048) built in 1997. On the morning of 19th October the new 150-seat galaxy Clipper & Neptune Clipper completed the 15,000 mile delivery voyage from Incat in Tasmania to the river Thames when craned off their piggyback ship. The new craft will serve Putney-Blackfriars at peak times and supplement other services during the day.