by Stuart Reininger There are somewhat less than 1,000 vessels used as ferries within the United States today. Of that number, under 100—about 10 percent—operate at 25 knots or more, a definition of a high-speed ferry that's as good as any. Ten years ago, the number of high-speed ferries operating in the U.S. was statistically insignificant. In the next five years expect these vessels to proliferate at a speed comparable to a wave-piercing catamaran slicing past one of the traditional, yellow double-enders that lumber between New York’s Manhattan and Staten Island. That kind of growth can revolutionize an industry as well as traumatize it. It can, and has, created thousands of jobs, international joint ventures, a boon for builders and what some environmentalists perceive as a big, wet headache. The speed and glamor of the high speed ferry also guarantees that when there is an accident, it will get more than its fair share of media attention as well as the usual cautionary nods of television’s talking heads. And, of course, environmental questions—noise, emissions and wake wash—need to be addressed. While high-speed ferry service has long been a factor in the marine transportation systems of Europe, Australia and to a lesser degree, Asia, it is a relatively new phenomenon in the United States. Consequently, the greatest advances in design and technology have originated overseas. Australian builders, for instance, are leaders in this field. U.S. shipyards, however, are losing no time in taking advantage of the market opportunities, especially by entering into licensing agreements with international designers and owners of high-speed technology. The latest news on this front is the pact signed last month between Lockport Louisiana-based Bollinger Shipyards and Incat Australia Pty. Ltd. for Bollinger to market and build high-speed craft to Incat Australia designs in the United States. Incat is best known for its world speed record holding wave-piercing and K Class aluminum catamarans. Bollinger and Incat Australia have been working closely on on a proposal to an undisclosed customer for a wave piercing vessel that can carry 500 passengers and a variety of vehicles at speeds of more than 40 knots. The design is similar to that of the Incat Tasmania (now in service in New Zealand as the Lynx) that was chartered by the Australian Trade Commission during the Summer 2000 Olympics. The design includes two slender, aluminum hulls connected by a bridging section with a center bow section at the forward end. Incat Australia Pty Ltd, based in Tasmania, is not the same company as Phil Hercus’s Incat Designs, based in Sydney, whose licensees include Nichols Brothers and Gladding-Hearn in the U.S. Incat Australia has built over 30 (about 40%) of the world fleet of high speed catamarans of over 70 m (230 ft) in length. It currently offers 12 models ranging from 74 m to 120 m in length. Meantime the partnership between Australia’s Austal Ships and Alabama-based Bender Shipbuilding to form Austal USA is now going into its second year, Austal USA’s yard in Mobile Alabama expects to employ a workforce of 1,000 people within the next three years. The yard has the capacity to build high-speed craft in excess of 150 meters. Other U.S. yards that are building high-speed vessels under license include Washington State’s Dakota Creek, which is licensed by AMD. Also in Washington, Kvichak Marine is building high-speed ferry multihulls under license from Australia’s Crowther Multihulls, whose other U.S. licensees are Gulf Craft in Louisiana and Bay Ship & Yacht in California. New York’s Derecktor has an arrangement with Southhampton, U.K. design firm Nigel Gee and associates. Halter Marine, Inc. and Empresa Nacional Bazán de C.N.M., S.A., Madrid, Spain, have formed Halter-Bazán, a joint venture to begin construction of Bazán design aluminum passenger/vehicle fast ferries at a Halter facility in the U.S. The first vessel to be built under this arrangement is an Alhambra Class fast ferry. It is a 412 ft, 1,250 passenger, 240 vehicle, 48,000 hp diesel/waterjet, 40-knot monohull. Halter-Bazán is negotiating an option for a second similar ferry for the same European operator. A major incentive for overseas operators to license U.S. yards is, of course, that it gets them into the Jones Act market. However, in this market sector, U.S. yards appear to be reasonably competitive on building costs by world standards and have access to Title XI funding. Meanwhile, back home, Australian yards were scheduled to lose the benefits of the Shipbuilding Bounty subsidy scheme at the end of last year. |
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FAST FERRIES