Airline Type News

Ship construction programs move ahead, but it’s not smooth sailing. Navies and Coast Guards everywhere face budgetary pressure, even in the U.S. which has the largest Navy in the world. The balance between desire for capacity and capability and pressure for affordability has never been more acute with the precarious budgetary issues presented by declining defense budgets, sequestration, continuing resolutions and government shutdowns. Even so, there are ongoing major construction efforts to include large nuclear aircraft carriers and submarines…

Derecktor Shipyards was given the notice of intent to award by the State of Alaska the contract for the construction of the first two passenger/vehicle high-speed ferries for its Marine Highway System. The NGA design presented by Derecktor competed in a bid race that lasted several months and ended with the notice of intent to award going to Derecktor Shipyards. This project, funded by the Federal Government, allows the State of Alaska to link Sitka to Juneau with fast modern boats, capable of a comfortable one-day round trip. The Alaska Marine Highway System has been operating year-round since 1963, with regularly scheduled passenger and vehicle service to 32 communities in Alaska. It carries over 300,000 passengers every year.

There are several quick conclusions you can draw about passenger boat construction in the new millennium. First it is a smaller market than 10 years ago with far fewer boats being built today than a decade ago. Secondly almost all of these vessels are built on the east or west coast. There are virtually no passenger boats being built in the south. Third, the number one vessel type being built is the ferryboat and more specifically the all-passenger ferry that shuttles people at 25 knots or better. In the years between 1987 and 1993 shipyards all over the country were building 600-passenger excursion-dinner boats in great numbers as sightseeing and dining vessels on America’s great rivers, lakes and bays became increasingly popular.

The Alaska Marine Highway System has become very active building ferries for the State of Alaska. Much of the recent attention has gone to the pair of 235-ft. fast ferries Derecktor Shipyards has under construction at their new Bridgeport, Conn., shipyard that can carry 250 people and 35 autos at speeds in excess of 30 knots. But since February of this year, Conrad Shipyard LLC, Morgan City, La. has been building a 181- x 50-ft. auto/passenger ferry for use in the Southeastern part of the state. It will run from Ketchikan to the Island of Annette a private reservation for the Metlakatla Indian Community. There are approximately 2,100 people on the Island, located 18 miles southeast of Ketchikan.

Nichols Brothers, based in Whidbey Island, Wash., recently delivered a 144 ft., 450-capacity passenger catamaran for Catalina Cruises, dubbed Catalina Jet. The vessel, which is the largest passenger catamaran to be constructed by Nichols, will run between Long Beach and Catalina Island at a speed of 36 knots.Employing four Caterpillar electronically controlled 1,950-hp diesel engines, to power Ulstein Bird Johnson waterjets, Catalina Jet is constructed with an active ride control system for comfortable sailing along the Catalina Channel. The system, supplied by Maritime Dynamics is comprised of trim tabs and T-foils beneath the twin…

In terms of new deliveries, the West Coast ferry industry will probably not see another period to match the past 18 months for some time. All three of the large government-operated ferry systems in the Pacific Northwest - Washington State, BC Ferries and the Alaska Marine Highway System - received new tonnage, as did a number of smaller operators along the coast. Still under construction are two high-speed vehicle-carrying catamarans for BC Ferries and a single passenger-only high-speed cat for Washington State. In addition, the Nichols Bros. yard at Freeland, Wash. is completing a 40-knot catamaran for operation between southern California and Catalina Island, and a second 35-knot cat for deployment in Alaska by the Brad Phillips organization.

Measuring 175 ft. in length, dinner cruise vessel Starship was recently delivered to Starship Cruise Lines of Biloxi, Miss. Boasting a mega-yacht style, the vessel was designed by Naval Architects Dejong & Lebet of Jacksonville, Fla., and constructed by Freeport, Fla.-based Freeport Shipbuilding. Plachter-Vogel Design provided interior architecture. USCG-Certified under Subchapter K for 600 passengers, plus 30 crew, Starship carries a Stability Letter for Partially Protected waters. The vessel is designed to have a 5-5.6 ft. full load draft enabling it to access some of the Biloxi area's more shallow waterways. The hull features tunnels to allow large enough propellers while minimizing the draft.