Feature 3 | FAST PASSENGER AND FREIGHT FERRIES Incat and the hard sell
Incat has been in the business of fast ferries since the 1970s but “they’ve been hard to sell lately” according to chairman Robert Clifford. Sandra Speares reports
F
ast ferries are becoming harder to sell in the current climate according to one supplier of the vessels; having
said that Incat are selling a 50knot plus gas turbine vessel to South America’s Buquebus – the eighth vessel for that customer. The delivery is due to take place in
November. “We are also talking with a number of European operators – they are in the market but are very slow about making the decisions,” says Clifford. This slow decision making process is
partly due to the fuel costs, but also because of ferry companies existing tonnage in operation. “Tey don’t have to do it and they haven’t got the passenger numbers at the moment to justify new boats,” he says. Te new and tougher regime as far as
emissions are concerned is going to help the company, Clifford says. “Lighter ships running on high quality distillate won’t have the same problems as ships running on heavy fuel oil,” he explains. “Tey are
going to have to change to distillates or very expensive scrubbers, so we do think the fuel situation is working in our favour. Our ships are light, and light weight ships take less power to drive than heavy ships and are pushing a lot less water.” In the past, Clifford says, the company has
elected to go fast with that extra power, but in future, he believes ships will be going to what he calls “medium speed”. Tis means speeds of 25 to 30knots rather than 30 to 35 knots. “Tat reduction in speed will be very fuel efficient for us, and we’ll still be faster than conventional ships which in turn have also had to slow down five knots”. Clifford believes that the fuel efficiencies
offered by Incat’s ships will encourage European buyers to invest in new tonnage, particularly when moving to the next stage of ferry development, notably the use of LNG. “LNG is going to be even less expensive than distillate, how much nobody knows at the moment because there is a big
problem with supply of LNG. On paper at least it’s going to be a cheaper fuel and more importantly a much more eco-friendly fuel”. Currently there are relatively few places
to refuel with LNG ships but “we think that is only one or two years away from changing”. Incat is offering potential customers duel fuel engines which mean they can burn distillate and LNG when that is available. “Anyone buying anything other than a duel fuel ship at the moment would be very unwise”. So what of the impact on the design of
the ship? Clifford says it does not impact too heavily on the design of catamarans because there is actually space to put the tanks. Tere would be double bottom standard tanks with gas tanks above. “Tat complies with all the latest rules and regulations. Tere are issues with the rules that need to be sorted out with LNG, for example if ships can be re-fuelled at the same time that passengers are being loaded.”
The 99m wave piercing catermaran is due to be delivered to Buquebus in November, the no-name vessel is still listed as Hull 069 by Incat
102
The Naval Architect September 2012
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