Australia’s aluminium shipbuilding industry has received a boost with the Austal company securing a US$75 million contract to build four fast ferries for Trinidad and Tobago.
Two vessels will be built at Austal’s Margate shipyard and the other two in Western Australia.
Austal Margate operations manager John van Meekeren said the Tasmania, Australia shipyard specialised in small to medium-sized vessels.
’The contract was announced on September 14 and by building two here and two in WA, it will ensure we will have the whole contract completed within 12 months,’ he told the Mercury newspaper in Tasmania.
Construction on the two catamarans has started and the completed vessels are expected to be launched in May and June next year.
’They will be loaded on board a heavy-lift ship and taken to Trinidad and Tobago that way,’ van Meekeren said. ’The journey takes around 32 days, at the other end the crane puts them back in the water.’
The fast catamarans are being built for Trinidad and Tobago’s water taxi service, which aims to reduce road congestion with each vessel carrying up to 405 passengers at about 37 knots.
