Incat to Build LNG-Powered Fast RoRo

Incat won a contract to build the world’s first high speed passenger RoRo ship powered by Liquified Natural Gas (LNG). The 99m high speed ferry, with capacity for over 1000 passengers and 153 cars, is being built at the Incat Tasmania shipyard at Prince of Wales Bay in Hobart for delivery in 2012 to a customer who has requested anonymity, for both itself and the proposed route. 

Incat and Revolution Design engineers are working with technical personnel from GE in Europe and the U.S. to progress this project, which will be the first installation of LNG powered dual fuel engines in an Incat high speed ferry, and the first high speed craft built under the HSC code to be powered by Gas Turbines using LNG as the primary fuel and marine distillate for standby and ancillary use.

In each catamaran hull a GE Energy LM2500 Gas Turbine will drive a Wärtsilä LJX 1720 waterjet, a departure from the usual use of two engines and two jets per hull as used in the diesel powered Incat vessels. 

The GE Energy LM2500 Gas Turbines are to be modified to meet class requirements so that either LNG or marine distillate can be burned. The LM2500 Gas Turbine is derived from the CF6 family of wide body aircraft engines.  It powers many industrial and electrical generation applications around the world, using a large variety of gaseous and liquid fuels.