Incat

Incat Tasmania is an Australian manufacturer of high-speed craft (HSC) catamaran ferries. Its greatest success has been with large, sea going passenger and vehicle ferries, but it has also built military transports and since 2015 it has built smaller river and bay ferries. Based in Derwent Park, a suburb of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, it was founded by Bob Clifford.

Incat

Industry	Shipbuilding
Founded	1977
Founder	Bob Clifford
Headquarters	Derwent Park, Tasmania
Products	Wave-piercing catamarans
Owner	Bob Clifford
Website	www.incat.com.au

The company builds vessels using aluminium construction, wave-piercing and water-jet technology. Vessels have been constructed up to 130 metres in length with a size of 13,000 gross tons and with cruising speeds of up to 58 knots (107 km/h).

History

Incat's Hobart shipyard (to the right)

The 99m wave piercing catamaran HSC Francisco, delivered by Incat in 2013: the world's fastest ship in commercial service

The company began in 1972 as the Sullivans Cove Ferry Company in suburban Hobart and built four small ferries before International Catamarans was formed in 1977 by a partnership between founder Bob Clifford and marine architect Philip Hercus. This partnership created plans for what was probably the first large wave piercing catamaran in the world. However the partnership was dissolved in 1988 with Clifford remaining in Hobart trading as Incat Tasmania while Hercus returned to Sydney to establish Incat Designs (Sydney), a design-only company that became Incat Crowther after a merger in 2005. Incat Crowther has no association with Incat Tasmania and its ships are built by other companies. Incat Tasmania has its own in-house design company, Revolution Design.

In 1989 Incat Tasmania moved to its present location on Prince of Wales Bay, which allowed it to build larger ships, and in 1990 Incat delivered its first 74-metre fast catamaran ferry. At the same time, several other companies also began to build large aluminium vehicle carrying ferries. This new type of ship was revolutionary and over the next decade fast cats replaced most hydrofoil and hovercraft services as well as many monohull ferries. The success of this new type of ferry led to other shipbuilders around the world using their yards to build large vehicle carrying aluminium catamarans. However many ferry operators preferred traditional monohull designs and the limited market for fast cats became crowded with manufacturers bidding low to keep their shipyards working.

In August 2024, Incat purchased 12 hectares of land from Norske Skog to build a second shipyard on part of the Boyer Mill site.

Products

Large wave piercing passenger and vehicle ferries

In 1990 Incat was one of the pioneers of large, fast catamaran ferries and they have been its core product ever since. The type of ship was different from earlier ferries and its instant success led to Incat becoming a major player in the industry. Over the years innovation has led to the ships becoming bigger, faster, more fuel efficient and much more stable on rough seas. Vehicle decks are often movable to make way for high trucks or extra cars.

Ships in this category have been built from 74 to 130 metres long and from 3,000 to 13,000 gross tons. The 99-metre HSC Francisco (Hull 069) is the world's fastest ship in commercial service and can achieve speeds up to 58 knots (107 km/h; 67 mph).

Smaller passenger ferries

Incat began by building small ferries under 37 metres, but from 1990 it concentrated on larger vehicle-carrying catamarans. However, in 2015 the company resumed building smaller ferries and in that year it delivered river ferries for operation in London, Hobart and Sydney. Since then it has designed and built more smaller ferries including two 35-metre, 400 passenger ferries (Hulls 090 and 095) for commuter runs by Port Phillip Ferries from Melbourne Docklands to Portarlington and Geelong.

Military vessels

HSV-X1 near Crete

In the 1990s several catamarans built by Incat entered naval service as fast transports, including HMAS Jervis Bay with the Royal Australian Navy and HSV-X1Joint Venture, Spearhead and HSV-2 Swift, which served with the United States Armed Forces.

Other vessels

K class

In the mid-1990s Incat built three "K class" ferries. They are 70 to 80 metres long, low profile passenger vessels without wave piercing bows or the distinctive centre bow that characterise all other larger Incat ferries. Two were built by Incat in Hobart and a third was built by a Chinese partner. Plans for further Chinese built K class ferries did not eventuate and Hull NF08 remains the only Incat vessel not built in Hobart.

Oil rig tender

Most offshore oil rigs are exposed to rough open seas with crew transfers by helicopter and freight needs served by platform supply vessels. However Azerbaijan's offshore oil rigs are in the calmer waters of the Caspian Sea, the world's largest lake, so crew transfers can be comfortably and more economically undertaken by water. Several fast catamarans have been built to transfer both crews and cargo for this market including Incat Hull 074 Muslim Magomayev delivered in 2015. The size of catamarans that can be built for this niche market is restricted by the 16.5-metre width of locks on the Volga–Don Canal that connects the Caspian Sea with the Black Sea and the Mediterranean.

Brooke Street Pier

From 1990 Incat had almost exclusively built large catamarans, but this changed in 2014 when the company diversified into something that was not even a ship, although it did float. An earlier Brooke Street Pier ferry terminal on Hobart's waterfront needed replacement and Incat was commissioned to build an 80 x 20-metre floating pontoon. Hull 077 was towed 8 km from Incat's shipyard to Sullivans Cove before finishing work was done on site. In addition to ferry berths, the pier hosts a restaurant, a cafe and a number of stalls.

Luxury super yachts

The market for opulent motor yachts has grown rapidly in the 21st century and while the market is mostly for monohull vessels, catamarans are beginning to make inroads. Incat has released several designs ranging from 80 to 112 metres which are shown on their website, but so far there have been no orders.

Deliveries

In its early years Incat built smaller boats and ferries with little to distinguish it from other boat yards except for a willingness to experiment and innovate. But the revolutionary Hull 023 completed in 1990 was quite different and was the first of the type of ferry that Incat is best known for today with its large capacity, high speed, wave piercing hulls and distinctive centre bow. As one of the first large aluminium vehicle carrying catamarans in the world, it contributed to the big changes in the ferry industry that occurred in the 1990s.

Image	Hull no	Length / class	Gross tonnage	Delivered	Latest name	Operator	Notes
N/A	001	18m cat		1977	Jeremiah Ryan	Unknown
N/A	002	18m cat		1979	James Kelly	Unknown
N/A	003	??m cat		1980	A. K. Ward	Derwent Sailing Squadron
N/A	004	20m cat		1981	Fitzroy	Unknown
N/A	005	20m cat		1981	Tangalooma	Unknown
N/A	006	20m cat		1981	Amaroo II	Unknown
N/A	007	20m cat		1982	Green Islander	Unknown
N/A	008	20m cat		1982	Quicksilver	Unknown
N/A	009	29m cat		1982	Spirit of Roylen	Unknown
N/A	010	21m cat		1983	Trojan	Unknown
N/A	011	22m cat		1984	Keppel Cat I	Unknown
N/A	012	??m cat		1983	Thunderbird	Unknown
N/A	013	9 m cat		1982	Little Devil	Unknown	launched 1984
N/A	014	?? m cat		1984	Pybus Rutherglen Punt	Unknown
N/A	015	?? m yacht		1984	Margaret Rintoul	Unknown
N/A	016	27m cat		1985	Spirit of Victoria	Unknown
N/A	017	31m cat		1986	Tassie Devil 2001	Unknown
N/A	018	23m cat		1987	Starship Genesis	Unknown
N/A	019	31m cat		1988	2000	Unknown
	020	30m cat		1986	Our Lady Patricia	Wightlink	Scrapped at Marchwood in 2008
	021	30m cat		1986	Our Lady Pamela	Wightlink	Scrapped at Esbjerg in 2009
N/A	022	37m cat		1988	Sea Flight	Cruise Whitsundays
	023	74m WPC	3,012	1990	Cat	Seajets	The first large, aluminium, vehicle carrying catamaran built by Incat and one of the first in the world. Has operated in 3 continents
	024	74m WPC	3,454	1992	Pinar del Río	Baleària
	025	74m WPC	3,003	1990	High Speed Jet	Seajets
	026	74m WPC	3,003	1991	Masterjet	Seajets
	027	74m WPC	3,003	1992	Atlantic Express	ColoniaExpress
	028	74m WPC	3,003	1992	Cyclades Express	Seajets
	030	74m WPC	3,241	1993	Hanil Blue Narae	Hanil Express	Formerly known as Condor 10
N/A	031	74m WPC	3,231	1993	Mandarin	Dae-A-Gosok	Refitting at Busan
	032	74m WPC	4,994	1993	Atlantic III	Ferrylineas S.A.
	033	78m WPC	3,989	1994	Jaume I	Baleària–Bahamas Express
N/A	034	78m WPC	3,989	1995	Fares 2	Maritime Company for Navigation, Saudi Arabia	Formerly Elanora operated by El Salam Maritime
	035	78m WPC	3,989	1995	Mega Jet	Seajets	The last Incat vessel fitted with a bow door
	036	70m K class	1,760	1995	Juan Patricio	Buquebus
N/A	037	78m K class	2,450		Montevideo Express	ColoniaExpress
N/A	NF08	80m K class	2,357	1998	Harmony Flower	H Ferry (DAE-A Express Shipping) Korea.	Built in Panga, China under contract from Incat as part of a plan to build K class vessels there. Only one was built in China
	038	81m WPC	4,112	1996	Jaume II	Baleària
N/A	039			1996	Solar Boat	Incat R&D craft
	040	81m WPC	4,113	1996	Orange 1	Dae A Express	Operated under various names in the Irish Sea by Stena Line from 1996 to 2011. Now operates in South Korea
	041	81m WPC	4,305	1996	Jaume III	Baleària
	042	86m WPC	5,005	1996	Champion Jet 2	Seajets	Formerly Condor Express for Condor Ferries.
	043	86m WPC	5,007	1997	Tarifa Jet	Förde Reederei Seetouristik Iberia
	044	86m WPC	5,005	1997	Champion Jet 1	Seajets	Formerly Condor Vitesse for Condor Ferries
	045	86m WPC	5,007	1997	Champion Jet 3	Seajets	Formerly Condor Rapide for Condor Ferries and HMAS Jervis Bay
	046	91m WPC	5,617	1997	T&T Express	Government of Trinidad & Tobago	Sank in April 2021
	047	91m WPC	5,902	1998	HSC Superexpress	Golden Star Ferries
	048	91m WPC	5,617	1998	Max Mols	Mols-Linien
	049	91m WPC	5,619	1998	Fjord Cat	Fjord Line
	050	96m WPC	5,743	1998	Manannan	Isle of Man Steam Packet Company	Previously HSV-X1 Joint Venture
	051	96m WPC	5,528	1999	Poniente Jet	DFDS
	052	96m WPC	6,346	1999	Alborán	Acciona Trasmediterránea
	053	96m WPC	6,344	1999	Bencomo Express	Fred. Olsen Express
N/A	054	R&D craft			Wing	Incat
	055	96m WPC	6,344	2000	Bentago Express	Fred. Olsen Express
	056	96m WPC	6,360	2000	Volcan de Teno	Naviera Armas	Formerly Highspeed 6 at Hellenic Seaways
	057	98m WPC	6,581	2000	Condor Voyager	Condor Ferries	Formerly Normandie Express for Brittany Ferries
	058	98m WPC	6,554	2003	Milenium Dos	Acciona Trasmediterránea
	059	98m WPC	6,464	2002	Hai Xia Hao	Fujian Cross Straight Ferry	Operates between Taiwan and China. Formerly ran as The Cat from eastern USA to Canada and Bahamas
	060	98m WPC	6,581	2000	T&T Spirit	Government of Trinidad & Tobago	Formerly the US military's USAV Spearhead
	061	98m WPC	6,581	2003	HSV-2 Swift	United States Navy 2002–2013. In UAE service from 2015. Seajets 2017 -	Major damage to port bow after missile attack off Yemen in 2016. Towed to Greece for repairs. Not operational
N/A	062	98m WPC	6,581	2006	Volcán de Tirajana	Naviera Armas	Formerly Milenium Tres at Acciona Trasmediterránea
N/A	063	17m cat		2006	Sixty Three	17m Project Pty Ltd
	064	112m WPC	10,841	2007	Natchan Rera	J & T Shipping Co Ltd Wagon Group
	065	112m WPC	10,715	2008	Natchan World	Tsugaru Kaikyo Ferry
	066	112m WPC	10,503	2009	KatExpress 1	Mols-Linien	Previously Norman Arrow
	067	112m WPC	10,503	2013	KatExpress 2	Mols-Linien
	068	85m WPC	5,702	2015	Akane	Förde Reederei Seetouristik Iberia	Operating the Algeciras to Ceuta route across the Strait of Gibraltar. Formerly Sado Steam Ship connecting Sado island in Eastern Japan with the main island of Honshu. Under construction (2013)
	069	99m WPC	7,109	2013	Francisco	Buquebus	Fastest ship in the world
N/A	070	17m		2016	Gwenhyfar	Privately owned	Cruising ketch
N/A	071	N/A		2011	The Barge	Tas Marine Constructions
N/A	072	15m		2011	Lindoy	Stava Bat & Dykkerservice	Delivered to Norway 16 November 2011
	073	34m		2015	MR-1 or Mona Roma	Navigators / Secheron Holdings for Museum of Old and New Art	Delivered 9 February 2015. Operates on Derwent River, Hobart
N/A	074	70m FCB	1,439	2015	Muslim Magomayev	Caspian Marine Services	Launched 2014, named after Muslim Magomayev
	075	35m	155	2015	Galaxy Clipper	Thames Clippers	Entered service October 2015
	076	35m	155	2015	Neptune Clipper	Thames Clippers	Entered service October 2015 Article on Thames Clippers Hunt Class catamarans.
	077			2014	Brooke Street Pier	Brooke Street Pier Development Corporation	Pier, completed November 2014 Displacement 4,200 tons (not Gross Tonnage)
N/A	078	24m		2015	Ocean Tracker	Manly Fast Ferry	Entered service 23 December 2015
N/A	079	24m		2015	Ocean Wave	Manly Fast Ferry	Entered service 23 December 2015
N/A	080	33m		2016	Ocean Surfer	Manly Fast Ferry	Entered service March 2016
	081	33m		2016	Ocean Flyer	Manly Fast Ferry	Entered service March 2016
	082	35m		2016	Catherine Hamlin	Sydney Ferries	In service
	083	35m		2017	Fred Hollows	Sydney Ferries	Entered service 26 June 2017
	084	35m		2017	Victor Chang	Sydney Ferries	In service
	085	35m		2017	Pemulwuy	Sydney Ferries	In service
	086	35m		2017	Bungaree	Sydney Ferries	In service
	087	35m		2017	May Gibbs	Sydney Ferries	Entered service December 2017 as Emerald 6, renamed January 2018
	088	109m WPC	10,842	2017	KatExpress 3	Molslinjen	Entered service June 2017. 1,000 pass, 417 cars.
	089	110m WPC	9,044	2018	St John Paul II	Virtu Ferries	For service in Malta, due to commence operations in March 2019.
	090	35m WPC		2017	Bellarine Express	Port Phillip Ferries	405 passengers. In service on Port Phillip between Melbourne Docklands and Portarlington
	091	111m WPC	10,870	2019	Volcán de Tagoro	Naviera Armas	35 knots cruising speed. 1,1184 passengers, 390 cars, 595 lane metres of ro-ro cargo. Cost €74 million
N/A	092	33 metres		2018	Ocean Adventurer	Manly Fast Ferry	Operates on Port Jackson, Sydney. seats 400
N/A	093	111 metres		2021	Volcán de Taidia	Naviera Armas
N/A	094	100 metres		2021	Buccoo Reef	Government of Trinidad and Tobago	Operates between Port of Spain and Scarborough.
N/A	095	35 metres		2019	Geelong Flyer	Port Phillip Ferries	Operates between Melbourne & Geelong complementing the earlier Melbourne to Portalington service.
	096	130 metres	13,000			Buquebus	Will be the world's largest aluminium ship. 226 cars, 2,100 passengers in four classes with a full deck for cafes, restaurants, shops, etc. To operate between Argentina and Uruguay.
N/A	097	76 metres	3000+	2022	Santa Monica 1	Seaworld Express Ferry	Operates between Jindo and Jeju in South Korea. 700 pax and crew, 79 cars. Media release.
N/A	098	120 metres			.	Undisclosed	.
	099	76.7 metres	3000+	2023	El Dorado Express	Daezer	To operate between Pohang and Ulleung in South Korea at up to 50 knots. Media release.
Image	Hull no.	Length / class	Gross tonnage	Delivered	Latest name	Operator	Notes

In the "Length / class" field of the table WPC means the vessel is a wave piercing catamaran. The three K class vessels were a low profile design without the wave piercing bows and the capacity to carry fewer cars than traditional Incat designs.

In the competitive ferry industry, ships often change operators, especially in Europe. Other ferries have alternated between summer service in the northern and southern hemispheres every six months. Some Incat vessels of the 1990s have been operated by up to six shipping companies with regular name changes.

Gross tonnage is a measure of a ship's enclosed volume rather than its weight or displacement, so similar ships can have differing gross tonnages due to factors such as whether a viewing platform is fully enclosed or open to the weather.

External links

Media related to Incat (ship builder) at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website
• Revolution Design, Incat's in house naval architects