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November 13, 2000 Fast Ships from Down Under |
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Tidbit Archive
| A revolution in marine transportation has come out of Australia
during the past decade. Two Australian firms have pioneered in the
design and construction of super-fast wave-piercing catamarans. The
initial market for these ships has been in passenger ferries and they are
in use all over the world. More recently, however, they have found
application in carrying cargo and even in bringing Australian peacekeeping
forces to East Timor last year.
Ships built by one of these firms, Incat Australia Pty Ltd have held the Hales Trophy, awarded for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic by a commercial passenger vessel, since 1990. In that year, the Hoverspeed Great Britain broke the record that had been held by the S.S. United States since 1952 with an average speed of 36.96 knots. In July 1998, Incat's Cat-Link V set a new record of 41.28 kts., making the crossing in an astounding 2 days, 20 hours, and 9 minutes. Other nations are entering this field. FastShip Inc., of Philadelphia, and Norasia, a Swiss firm, are building high-speed container ships. The latter has a novel design it calls the "Pentamaran" using outriggers to stabilize the vessel on the open sea. It is designed to carry 13,000 tons of cargo at an average speed of 37.5 kts. |
Links:"High Speed Craft," from the American Institute of Marine Underwriters -- a nice overview of the subject.
"Faster Ships for the Future," by David L. Giles, Scientific American (October 1997). Another excellent overview. Giles is the inventor of FastShip mentioned above.
"Austal Ships and Incat Australia: Shipbuilding Competitiveness via Product Differentiation and
Focus," Dr. Hitoshi Narita & Dr. Philip Koenig, Shipbuilding and Ocean Technology: Asia-Pacific Region, (published by the U.S. Navy, Office of Naval Research International Field Office in Tokyo).Advanced Multihull Designs, Australia. High-speed vehicle and passenger ferries for the commercial market.
Hydro Lance Corporation -- "ocean ships as you've never seen." A California firm.
"Ship Technology and Operation," in the 1999 annual report of the Norwegian firm, Marintek.
Ship Technology.com -- web site for the marine industry.
Marine Log.com -- web site of a marine industry magazine, includes an excellent set of links to marine industry sites.
S.S. United States.com -- a nostalgia site "dedicated to America's greatest ocean liner."
E-mail your tidbit suggestions to ateich@aaas.org.Search for more on information on fast ships:
