Incat

Incat

Industry	Shipbuilding
Founded	1977
Founder	Bob Clifford
Headquarters	Derwent Park, Tasmania
Products	Wave-piercing catamarans
Owner	Bob Clifford
Website	www.incat.com.au

Incat Tasmania is an Australian manufacturer of high-speed craft (HSC) catamaran ferries. Its greatest success has been with large, sea going passenger and vehicle ferries, but it has also built military transports and since 2015 it has built smaller river and bay ferries. Based in Derwent Park, a suburb of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, it was founded by Bob Clifford.

The company builds vessels using aluminium construction, wave-piercing and water-jet technology. Vessels have been constructed up to 130 metres in length with a size of 13,000 gross tons and with cruising speeds of up to 58 knots (107 km/h).

Company history[]

Incat's Hobart Shipyard (to the right)

The 99m wave piercing catamaran HSC Francisco, delivered by Incat in 2013: the world's fastest ship in commercial service

The company began in the 1970s as the Sullivans Cove Ferry Company in suburban Hobart and built four small ferries before International Catamarans was formed in 1977 by a partnership between founder Bob Clifford and marine architect Philip Hercus. This partnership created plans for what was probably the first large wave piercing catamaran in the world. However the partnership was dissolved in 1988 with Clifford remaining in Hobart trading as Incat Tasmania while Hercus returned to Sydney to establish 'Incat Designs (Sydney),' a design only company that became Incat Crowther after a merger in 2005. Incat Crowther has no association with Incat Tasmania and its ships are built by other companies. Incat Tasmania has its own in house design company, Revolution Design.

In 1989 Incat Tasmania moved to its present location on Prince of Wales Bay which allowed it to build larger ships and in 1990 Incat delivered its first 74-metre fast catamaran ferry. At the same time, several other companies also began to build large aluminium vehicle carrying ferries. This new type of ship was revolutionary and over the next decade fast cats replaced most hydrofoil and hovercraft services as well as many monohull ferries. The success of this new type of ferry led to other ship builders around the world using their yards to build large vehicle carrying aluminium catamarans. However many ferry operators preferred traditional monohull designs and the limited market for fast cats became crowded with manufacturers bidding low to keep their shipyards working.

After the inevitable collapse of the industry, two builders of large catamaran ferries survived, Incat and its Perth based rival Austal. However Incat had needed to downsize and after a brief stint in receivership, the company continued building ferries and developing larger and more efficient designs. With diversification into smaller bay ferries in 2015 and the recovery of the market for large vehicle carrying ferries, Incat Tasmania's workforce expanded rapidly from 2015.

Products[]

Large wave piercing passenger and vehicle ferries[]

In 1990 Incat was one of the pioneers of large, fast catamaran ferries and they have been its core product ever since. The type of ship was different from earlier ferries and its instant success led to Incat becoming a major player in the industry. Over the years innovation has led to the ships becoming bigger, faster, more fuel efficient and much more stable on rough seas. Vehicle decks are often movable to make way for high trucks or extra cars.

Ships in this category have been built from 74 to 130 metres long and from 3,000 to 13,000 gross tons. The 99-metre Francisco (Hull 069) is the world's fastest ship in commercial service and can achieve speeds up to 58 knots (107 kmh).

Smaller passenger ferries[]

Incat began by building small ferries under 37 metres, but from 1990 it concentrated on larger vehicle carrying catamarans. However, in 2015 the company resumed building smaller ferries and in that year it delivered river ferries for operation in London, Hobart and Sydney. Since then it has designed and built more smaller ferries including two 35-metre, 400 passenger ferries (hulls 090 and 095) for commuter runs by Port Phillip Ferries from Melbourne Docklands to Portarlington and Geelong.

Military vessels[]

HSV-X1 near Crete

In the 1990s several catamarans built by Incat entered naval service as fast transports, including HMAS Jervis Bay with the Royal Australian Navy and HSV-X1Joint Venture, Spearhead and HSV-2 Swift, which served with the United States Armed Forces.

Other vessels[]

K Class[]

In the mid 1990s Incat built three K class ferries. They are 70 to 80 metres long, low profile passenger vessels without wave piercing bows or the distinctive centre bow that characterise all other larger Incat ferries. Two were built by Incat in Hobart and a third was built by a Chinese partner. Plans for further Chinese built K Class ferries did not eventuate and Hull NF08 remains the only Incat vessel not built in Hobart.

Oil rig tender[]

Most offshore oil rigs are exposed to rough open seas with crew transfers by helicopter and freight needs served by platform supply vessels. However Azerbaijan's offshore oil rigs are in the calmer waters of the Caspian Sea, the world's largest lake, so crew transfers can be comfortably and more economically undertaken by water. Several fast catamarans have been built to transfer both crews and cargo for this market including Incat Hull 074 Muslim Magomayev delivered in 2015.^[1] The size of catamarans that can be built for this niche market is restricted by the 16.5-metre width of locks on the Volga-Don Canal that connects the Caspian Sea with the Black Sea and the Mediterranean.

Brooke Street Pier[]

From 1990 Incat had almost exclusively built large catamarans, but this changed in 2014 when the company diversified into something that was not even a ship, although it did float. An earlier Brooke Street Pier ferry terminal on Hobart's waterfront needed replacement and Incat was commissioned to build an 80 x 20-metre floating pontoon. Hull 077 was towed 8 km from Incat's shipyard to Sullivans Cove before finishing work was done on site. In addition to ferry berths, the pier hosts a restaurant, a cafe and a number of stalls.

Luxury super yachts[]

The market for opulent motor yachts has grown rapidly this century and while the market is mostly for monohull vessels, catamarans are beginning to make inroads. Incat has released several designs ranging from 80 to 112 metres which are shown on their website,^[2] but so far there have been no orders.

Deliveries[]

In its early years Incat built smaller boats and ferries with little to distinguish it from other boat yards except for a willingness to experiment and innovate. But the revolutionary Hull 023 completed in 1990 was quite different and was the first of the type of ferry that Incat is best known for today with its large capacity, high speed, wave piercing hulls and distinctive centre bow. As one of the first large aluminium vehicle carrying catamarans in the world, it contributed to the big changes in the ferry industry that occurred in the 1990s.

Image	Hull No	Length / Class	Gross Tonnage	Delivered	Latest name	Operator	Notes
N/A	001	18m Cat	.	1977	Jeremiah Ryan	Unknown	[3]
N/A	002	18m Cat	.	1979	James Kelly	Unknown	[3]
N/A	003	??m Cat	.	1980	A. K. Ward	Derwent Sailing Squadron	[3]
N/A	004	20m Cat	.	1981	Fitzroy	Unknown	[3]
N/A	005	20m Cat	.	1981	Tangalooma	Unknown	[3]
N/A	006	20m Cat	.	1981	Amaroo II	Unknown	[3]
N/A	007	20m Cat	.	1982	Green Islander	Unknown	[3]
N/A	008	20m Cat	.	1982	Quicksilver	Unknown	[3]
N/A	009	29m Cat	.	1982	Spirit of Roylen	Unknown	[3]
N/A	010	21m Cat	.	1983	Trojan	Unknown	[3]
N/A	011	22m Cat	.	1984	Keppel Cat I	Unknown	[3]
N/A	012	??m Cat	.	1983	Thunderbird	Unknown	[3]
N/A	013	9 m Cat	.	1982	Little Devil	Unknown	[3] launched 1984[4]
N/A	014	?? m Cat	.	1984	Pybus Rutherglen Punt	Unknown	[3]
N/A	015	?? m yacht	.	1984	Margaret Rintoul	Unknown	[3]
N/A	016	27m Cat	.	1985	Spirit of Victoria	Unknown	[3]
N/A	017	31m Cat	.	1986	Tassie Devil 2001	Unknown	[3]
N/A	018	23m Cat	.	1987	Starship Genesis	Unknown	[3]
N/A	019	31m Cat	.	1988	2000	Unknown	[3]
	020	30m Cat	.	1986	Our Lady Patricia	Wightlink	Scrapped at Marchwood in 2008[5]
	021	30m Cat	.	1986	Our Lady Pamela	Wightlink	Scrapped at Esbjerg in 2009[6]
N/A	022	37m Cat	.	1988	Sea Flight	Cruise Whitsundays	[3]
	023	74m WPC	3,012 GT	1990	Sea Speed Jet	Sea Jets	The first large, aluminium, vehicle carrying catamaran built by Incat and one of the first in the world. Has operated in 3 continents
	024	74m WPC	3,454 GT	1992		Baleària
	025	74m WPC	3,003 GT	1990	High Speed Jet	Sea Jets
	026	74m WPC	3,003 GT	1991	Masterjet	Sea Jets
	027	74m WPC	3,003 GT	1992		Unknown	Laid up in Piraeus
	028	74m WPC	3,003 GT	1992	Cyclades Express	Sea Jets
	030	74m WPC	3,241 GT	1993	Hanil Blue Narae	Hanil Express	Formerly known as Condor 10
N/A	031	74m WPC	3,231 GT	1993		Dae-A-Gosok	Refitting at Busan
	032	74m WPC	4,994 GT	1993		Ferrylineas S.A.
	033	78m WPC	3,989 GT	1994		Baleària – Bahamas Express
N/A	034	78m WPC	3,989 GT	1995	Fares 2	Maritime Company for Navigation, Saudi Arabia	Formerly Elanora operated by El Salam Maritime
	035	78m WPC	3,989 GT	1995	Mega Jet	Sea Jets	The last Incat vessel fitted with a bow door
	036	70m K class	1,760 GT	1995		Buquebus
N/A	037	78m K class	2,450 GT	.		Dae-A-Gosok, Sth Korea
N/A	NF08	80m K class	2,357 GT	1998	Harmony Flower	H Ferry (DAE-A Express Shipping) Korea.	Built in Panga, China under contract from Incat as part of a plan to build K class vessels there. Only one was built in China
	038	81m WPC	4,112 GT	1996	Jaume II	Baleària
N/A	039	.	.	1996	Solar Boat	Incat R&D craft
	040	81m WPC	4,113 GT	1996	Orange 1	Dae A Express	Operated under various names in the Irish Sea by Stena Line from 1996 to 2011. Now operates in South Korea
	041	81m WPC	4,305 GT	1996		Baleària
	042	86m WPC	5,005 GT	1996	Champion Jet 2	Seajets	Named Condor Express from 1997 to 2015 and operated as a Channel Islands ferry by Condor Ferries.
	043	86m WPC	5,007 GT	1997	Tarifa Jet	Förde Reederei Seetouristik Iberia
	044	86m WPC	5,005 GT	1997	Champion Jet 1	Seajets	Until 2015 owned by Condor Ferries, named Condor Vitesse
	045	86m WPC	5,007 GT	1997	Condor Rapide	Condor Ferries	Formerly HMAS Jervis Bay
	046	91m WPC	5,617 GT	1997	T&T Express	Government of Trinidad and Tobago	Operates in conjunction with Incat 060
	047	91m WPC	5,902 GT	1998	Express	Viking Line
	048	91m WPC	5,617 GT	1998	Max Mols	Mols-Linien
	049	91m WPC	5,619 GT	1998	Fjord Cat	Fjord Line
	050	96m WPC	5,743 GT	1998	Manannan	Isle of Man Steam Packet Company	Previously HSV-X1 Joint Venture
	051	96m WPC	5,528 GT	1999		Fred. Olsen Express
	052	96m WPC	6,346 GT	1999		Acciona Trasmediterránea
	053	96m WPC	6,344 GT	1999		Fred. Olsen Express
N/A	054	R&D Craft	.	.	Wing	Incat
	055	96m WPC	6,344 GT	2000		Fred. Olsen Express
	056	96m WPC	6,360 GT	2000	Volcan de Teno	Naviera Armas	Formerly Highspeed 6 at Hellenic Seaways
	057	98m WPC	6,581 GT	2000	Condor Voyager	Condor Ferries	Previously Normandie Express & The Lynx
	058	98m WPC	6,554 GT	2003		Acciona Trasmediterránea
	059	98m WPC	6,464 GT	2002	Hai Xia Hao	Fujian Cross Straight Ferry	Operates between Taiwan and China. Formerly ran as The Cat from eastern USA to Canada and Bahamas
	060	98m WPC	6,581 GT	2000	T&T Spirit	Government of Trinidad and Tobago	Formerly the US military's USAV Spearhead (TSV-X1). Now operates in conjunction with Incat 046
	061	98m WPC	6,581 GT	2003	HSV-2 Swift	United States Navy 2002–2013. In UAE service from 2015. Seajets 2017 -	Major damage to port bow after missile attack off Yemen in 2016. Towed to Greece for repairs. Not operational
N/A	062	98m WPC	6,581 GT	2006		Naviera Armas	Formerly Milenium Tres at Acciona Trasmediterránea
N/A	063	17m Cat	.	2006	Sixty Three	17m Project Pty Ltd
	064	112m WPC	10,841 GT	2007		J & T Shipping Co Ltd Wagon Group
	065	112m WPC	10,715 GT	2008	Natchan World	Tsugaru Kaikyo Ferry
	066	112m WPC	10,503 GT	2009	KatExpress 1	Mols-Linien	Previously Norman Arrow
	067	112m WPC	10,503 GT	2013	KatExpress 2	Mols-Linien
	068	85m WPC	5,702 GT	2015		Sado Steam Ship	Connects Sado island in Eastern Japan with the main island of Honshu. Under construction (2013)[7]
	069	99m WPC	7,109 GT	2013	Francisco	Buquebus	Fastest ship in the world
N/A	070	17m	.	2016	Gwenhyfar	Privately owned	Cruising ketch[8]
N/A	071	N/A	.	2011	The Barge	Tas Marine Constructions
N/A	072	15m	.	2011	Lindoy	Stava Bat & Dykkerservice	Delivered to Norway 16 November 2011[9]
	073	34m	.	2015	MR-1 or Mona Roma	Navigators / Secheron Holdings for Museum of Old and New Art	Delivered 9 February 2015.[10] Operates on Derwent River, Hobart
N/A	074	70m FCB	1,439 GT	2015	Muslim Magomayev	Caspian Marine Services	Launched 2014, named after Muslim Magomayev[11][12]
	075	35m	155 GT	2015	Galaxy Clipper	MBNA Thames Clippers	Entered service October 2015[13]
	076	35m	155 GT	2015	Neptune Clipper	MBNA Thames Clippers	Entered service October 2015[13] Article on Thames Clippers Hunt Class catamarans.
	077		.	2014	Brooke Street Pier	Brooke Street Pier Development Corporation	Pier, completed November 2014[14] Displacement 4,200 tons (not Gross Tonnage)
N/A	078	24m	.	2015	Ocean Tracker	Manly Fast Ferries	Entered service 23 December 2015[15]
N/A	079	24m	.	2015	Ocean Wave	Manly Fast Ferries	Entered service 23 December 2015[15]
N/A	080	33m	.	2016	Ocean Surfer	Manly Fast Ferries	Entered service March 2016[16]
	081	33m	.	2016	Ocean Flyer	Manly Fast Ferries	Entered service March 2016[16]
	082	35m	.	2016	Catherine Hamlin	Sydney Ferries	In service[17]
	083	35m	.	2017	Fred Hollows	Sydney Ferries	Entered service 26 June 2017[18]
	084	35m	.	2017	Victor Chang	Sydney Ferries	In service[19]
	085	35m	.	2017	Pemulwuy	Sydney Ferries	In service[20]
	086	35m	.	2017	Bungaree	Sydney Ferries	In service[21]
	087	35m	.	2017	May Gibbs	Sydney Ferries	Entered service December 2017 as Emerald 6, renamed January 2018[22]
	088	109m WPC	10,842 GT	2017	KatExpress 3	Molslinjen	Entered service June 2017. 1,000 pass, 417 cars.[23]
	089	110m WPC	9,044 GT	2018	St John Paul II	Virtu Ferries	For service in Malta, due to commence operations in March 2019.[24]
	090	35m WPC	.	2017	Bellarine Express	Port Phillip Ferries	405 passengers. In service on Port Phillip between Melbourne Docklands and Portarlington[25]
	091	111m WPC	10,870 GT	2019	Volcán de Tagoro	Naviera Armas	35 knots cruising speed. 1,1184 passengers, 390 cars, 595 lane metres of ro-ro cargo. Cost €74 million[26]
N/A	092	33m WPC	.	2018	Ocean Adventurer	Manly Fast Ferries	Operates on Port Jackson, Sydney. seats 400[27]
	093	111m WPC	.	2021	Volcán de Taidia	Naviera Armas	.
N/A	094	100m WPC	.	2021	Buccoo Reef	Government of Trinidad and Tobago	Operates between Port of Spain and Scarborough.[28]
N/A	095	35m WPC		2019	Geelong Flyer	Port Phillip Ferries	Operates between Melbourne & Geelong complementing the earlier Melbourne to Portalington service.[29]
N/A	096	130m WPC	13,000 GT			Buquebus	Will be the world's largest aluminium ship. 226 cars, 2,100 passengers in four classes with a full deck for cafes, restaurants, shops, etc. To operate between Argentina and Uruguay.[30]
N/A	097	76 metres	3000+ GT	2022	.	Seaworld Express Ferry	To operate between Jindo and Jeju in South Korea. 700 pax and crew, 79 cars. Media release.
N/A	099	76.7 metres	3000+ GT	2023	.	Daezer	To operate between Pohang and Ulleung in South Korea at up to 45 knots. Media release.
Image	Hull No.	Length / Class	Gross Tonnage	Delivered	Latest name	Operator	Notes

In the Length / Class field of the table WPC means the vessel is a Wave Piercing Catamaran. The three K Class vessels were a low profile design without the wave piercing bows and the capacity to carry fewer cars than traditional Incat designs.

In the competitive ferry industry, ships often change operators, especially in Europe. Other ferries have alternated between summer service in the northern and southern hemispheres every six months. Some Incat vessels of the 1990s have been operated by up to six shipping companies with regular name changes.

Gross Tonnage is a measure of a ship's enclosed volume rather than its weight or displacement, so similar ships can have differing Gross Tonnages due to factors such as if a viewing platform is fully enclosed or open to the weather.

References[]

External links[]

• Media related to Incat (ship builder) at Wikimedia Commons
• Official website
• Revolution Design, Incat's in house naval architects