Page 43: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (October 1997)

MARKET REPORT

The most recently-sealed project at the Pequot yard has added com- mercial significance for the ship- building enterprise in the light of the South American parentage of the contractual owner involved,

Buquebus. The 305-passenger- capacity TriCat is to be deployed by the U.S. subsidiary of the

Argentine company between Key

West and Fort Myers.

The New London yard is licensed to build the entire range of fast fer- ries designed in the U.K. by Isle of

Wight firm FBM Marine, origina- tor of the TriCat. A joint market- ing venture covers sales through- out North and South America, the

Caribbean and Hawaii.

Imported technology from

Australia has also helped increase the lightweight vessel dimension to U.S. shipbuilding production, as expressed in the adoption of blue- prints from Advanced Multi-Hull

Designs (AMD) for ferry newbuild- ings at Dakota Creek Industries in the state of Washington.

Having delivered two AMD360- type, 32-knot passenger catama- rans this year for the authorities in Vallejo, Calif., Dakota Creek's

Anacortes yard is maintaining con- tinuity in aluminum ship produc- tion with a similar, 325-seat ferry for another west coast operator,

Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and

Transportation District.

In addition, it has a 350-passen- ger, 43.6-m, twin-hulled ferry of the AMD385 designation on order for Washington State Ferries (WSF).

Due for delivery in January 1998, the new vessel will be placed on the Seattle/Bremerton route.

Expansion-minded WSF has an option on a second AMD385 from

Anacortes, and a medium-term requirement for an additional four fast ferries to serve its Puget

Sound route framework.

The creation of a new yard in the

Philippines designed specifically for the production of high-speed craft forms a response to the potential offered by the fast ferry mode in developing and moderniz- ing the transport infrastructure within the archipelago.

But it also provides a platform for FBM-Aboitiz in the wider southeast and eastern Asian mar- kets, including China and

Singapore, as well as Australasia.

Hit by delays arising from a now resolved environmental issue, the new Belamban facility is sched- uled to initially construct two

October, 1997

TriCat 45 newbuildings for Hong

Kong, subcontracted from FBM

Marine in the U.K. A series of four

TriCat 50 catamarans is to follow on for local operator Universal

Aboitiz, which has options on a further six craft of the design. The initial stage of development of the

Philippine yard includes two 60-m sheds, each 22-m high, to be fol- lowed by investments in facilities for the construction of large, car- carrying catamarans and also patrol boats.

Renowned for its hydrofoil tech- nology and more recently for its successful Aquastrada monohull type, Rodriquez Cantieri Navali has made an impressive business re-entry following corporate restructuring. Its Messina yard has been entrusted by Italian

State Railways with the construc- tion of three 50-m monohull pas-

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