Beurteaux Ocean News

Sydney has its Harbour Ferries, Hong Kong its Star Ferries and New York the instantly recognizable Staten Island Ferries. Add to that list London, for increasingly the fleet of MBNA Thames Clippers is becoming as identifiable with the British capital as its famous red double decker buses. Wight Shipyard Company has delivered to MBNA Thames Clippers the latest, most technically advanced and energy efficient fast ferries in the expanding London fleet; the 35 meter low wash catamarans Mercury Clipper and Jupiter Clipper.

The latest delivery from Australian shipbuilder Incat Tasmania Akane, an 85 metre high speed Wave Piercing Catamaran Ferry, Incat hull 068, will arrive in Japan early April. Built at the Incat shipyard at Prince of Wales Bay, Hobart the vessel was sea trialled late   March, and has departed Hobart on her delivery voyage. The vessel will go into service in April with Sado Kisen, a long standing ferry operator in Japan. Akane will operate from the Niigata and Naoetsu ports on the west coast of Japan to the Sado Island ports of Ogi and Ryotsu.

South Boats Special Projects Ltd. announces the commissioning of its 54th offshore wind farm crew transfer vessel, ‘Iceni Pride’. The vessel is a South Catamaran 13m Rapid Response Vessel (RRV) built to fulfil a 5 year contract Iceni Marine Services has in place with Scottish & Southern Energy on their Greater Gabbard Offshore Wind Farm project. This vessel is the fourth built for Iceni with a further three in build and on order. Iceni Pride is outfitted to a very high standard with an abundance of teak and leather to take into account that one of the roles is VIP transportation.

Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding, Duclos Corporation, has delivered its fifth high-speed water taxi, Gene Flatow, to New York City-based New York Water Taxi. Like the four sisters before her, the bright yellow, all-aluminum catamaran, designed by Incat Crowther, measures 72 ft long and 27.3 ft abeam, and draws 5 ft. The water taxi is USCG-certified to carry 149 passengers but limited to only 99 passengers when operating at the City’s “water taxi” designated docks. The vessel is powered by twin Cummins QSK 19-M diesel engines, each rated at 800 Bhp at 2100 rpm.

The new Austal Auto Express 58 catamaran “Lake Express” entered service on June 1. Operating between Milwaukee, Wis., and Muskegon, Mich., “Lake Express” provides a crossing time of 2.5 hours slicing in half the time it would take to drive around the southern tip of the lake, through a congested Chicago. Another Austal vessel, the Australian-built “Spirit of Ontario I”, is scheduled to begin service across Lake Ontario between Toronto and Rochester, New York, on June 18. The establishment of the Austal USA shipyard in Mobile…

New York Water Taxi, whose bright yellow water taxis shuttle passengers between locations on the New York Harbor, is adding two new vessels to its six-boat fleet. Next spring, the water taxi service will take delivery of two 72-foot catamarans, under construction at Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding, Duclos Corporation. The new vessels are classic Incat Designs-designed ferries -- offering simplicity and efficiency, reliability, low sound level, and low wake. The water taxis are designed to reach the same 26-knot speed and with the same crew size as New York Water Taxi’s current vessels…

Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding, Duclos Corporation, has taken another order for a high-speed water taxi from New York City-based New York Water Taxi. Delivery is scheduled for July 2008. Like the four sisters before her, the bright yellow, all-aluminum catamaran, designed by Incat Crowther, measures 72 feet (22m) long and 27.3 feet (8.3m) abeam, and draws 5 feet (1.5m). The new vessel will be USCG-certified to carry 149 passengers but limited to only 99 passengers when operating at the city’s “water-taxi-designated” docks. The vessel will be powered by twin Cummins QSK 19-M diesel engines, each rated at 800 Bhp at 2100 rpm. The EPA Tier-2-compliant engines will drive 5-bladed Ni-BR-Al Bruntons propellers via Twin Disc MGX 5145SC “Quick Shift” gearboxes and EC-300 control systems.

Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding, Duclos Corporation, has delivered the fourth water taxi for New York City-based New York Water Taxi to begin new passenger service between Yonkers, N.Y., and downtown Manhattan. Like the three sisters before her, the bright yellow, all-aluminum catamaran, designed by Incat Crowther, measures 72 ft. long and 27.3 ft. abeam, and draws 5 ft. It is USCG-certified to carry 149 passengers but limited to only 99 passengers when operating at New York City ferry docks. The vessel is powered by two Cummins QSK 19-M diesel engines, each rated at 800 Bhp at 2100 rpm. The engines drive 5-bladed Ni-BR-Al Bruntons propellers via Twin Disc MGX 5145SC Quick Shift gearboxes and EC-300 control systems.

The all-aluminum cats, owned and operated by Luxury Marinas, are stationed at its El Conquistador Resort and Golden Door Spa in Las Croabas, PR. Designed by Crowther Multihulls, of Australia, the two cats replace Luxury Marinas’ older fleet of four vessels. The catamarans are designed and constructed as USCG inspected Subchapter-T small passenger vessels rated for 150 passengers. The 72 x 29-ft. cats provide hotel guests with a stable and comfortable ride while traveling at speeds of 25 to 27 knots. The propulsion package for the cats includes: twin Cummins QSK-19M engines rated for 880 BHP @ 2100 rpm coupled to ZF 665 transmissions driving Nibral 5-blade propellers.

Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding, Duclos Corporation, has started construction of a fourth water taxi for New York City-based New York Water Taxi. Delivery is set for next April when the commuter ferry will begin passenger service between Yonkers, N.Y., and downtown Manhattan. Like the three sisters before her, the bright yellow, all-aluminum catamaran, designed by Incat Crowther, will measure 72 feet (22 m) long and 27.3 feet (8.3 m) abeam, and draw 5 feet (1.5 m). It will be USCG-certified to carry 149 passengers but limited to only 99 passengers when operating at New York City water taxi docks. The vessel will be powered by two Cummins QSK 19-M diesel engines, each rated at 800 Bhp at 2100 rpm.

Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding, Duclos Corporation, has begun construction of a 350 passenger, high-speed ferry for the Woods Hole, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authority in Massachusetts. The all-aluminum catamaran, designed by Incat-Crowther in Sidney, Australia, is 155 ft. long and 40-ft. abeam. It draws only 5.3-ft. The vessel features Incat Designs’ S-Bow hull shape to provide additional reserve buoyancy during very large seas. “The S-Bow hull shape has lower resistance and better seakeeping than a conventional catamaran hull,” Peter Duclos, Gladding-Hearn’s president, explained. The Steamship Authority’s second fast ferry will be powered by four MTU 12V-4000M70 diesel engines…

After delivering a new passenger catamaran for New York Water Taxi in June, Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding has delivered her sistership, the Sam Holmes, for shuttle service on New York Harbor. The bright yellow, all-aluminum water taxi measures 72 feet (22 m) long and 27.3 feet (2.3 m) abeam, and draws 4 feet (1.3 m). It is USCG-certified to carry 149 passengers but is limited to only 100 passengers when operating at New York City water taxi docks. The vessel is powered by two U.S. EPA Tier 2-compliant Cummins QSK 19-M diesel engines, each rated at 800 Bhp at 2100 rpm. The engines drive 5-bladed Ni-BR-Al (nickel-bronze-aluminum) Bruntons propellers via Twin Disc MGX 5145SC “Quick Shift” gearboxes and EC-300 control systems to improve the vessel’s maneuverability and safety when bow landing.