T&T Spirit for Trinidad & Tobago

Photo credit: Richard Bennett, photo is courtesy of Incat Newly delivered to The Port Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (PATT) is the T&T Spirit (Incat hull 060) which has emerged from Incat's Hobart shipyard sporting a white hull with the Trinidad & Tobago national colours of red, white and black on its sides. An interior seated dining areas lounges and bars has been provided and to tempt Caribbean travelers to the T&T Spirit’s birthplace interior bulkheads are adorned with scenes of Tasmania. The PATT also recently purchased the Incat 91 metre Wave Piercing Catamaran The Lynx in a $21m deal with Australian owner Allco Finance Group. Renamed T&T Express, that ferry, which was once well known for its eye catching black Devil Cat livery, has also been painted with the national colours of Trinidad & Tobago.

These purchases follow far reaching government investigations into tonnage options. Incat’s Wave Piercing Catamaran technology revolutionised the Trinidad & Tobago seabridge in January 2005 when, as part of their investigations, the PATT chartered Bay Ferries’ Incat 98 metre The Cat (Hull 059). This vessel entered commercial service on the 85 nautical mile route between Port of Spain and Scarborough and since then, by operating in the Caribbean during the off peak season of its core Canadian operation, The Cat has been instrumental in demonstrating the suitability of Incat Wave Piercing Catamarans on this demanding service.

Immediately upon entering service The Cat, operating at speeds of approximately 40 knots, slashed crossing times in half to two hours and fifteen minutes and for the first time the nation’s seabridge became a reliable and predictable transportation alternative to air travel. The craft quickly became the transport of choice and with capacity for 900 persons and up to 267 cars she successfully responded to the major challenge of catering for 10,000 passengers over the Carnival period. From the outset demanding benchmarks for proven year round in service reliability, high levels of passenger comfort, low operating costs and the ability to carry heavy freight were established. With the permanent acquisition of the T&T Express and the T&T Spirit, these benchmarks have been exceeded. T&T Spirit continues the work of The Cat as the transport of choice for discerning Caribbean travelers.