Incat Crowther has announced a contract to design a pair of 25 metre catamaran passenger ferries to operate in St Thomas in the US Virgin Islands.
Under construction at Midship Marine in Louisiana, these vessels will follow on from the successful quartet of UltraJet boats also built by the yard. The new vessels will have a similar configuration, with a half-height wheelhouse allowing a completely open upper passenger deck.
72 seats will be fitted to the upper deck, whilst the main deck passenger cabin will be fitted with seats for 131, plus a pair of wheelchair spaces.
The aft deck houses an ADA compliant toilet and luggage racks. As with the UltraJet boats, boarding will be via fold down ramps situated on all four corners of the vessel.
Designed and built to USCG Subchapter K, these boats will meet the recent updates to fire and safety regulations (NVIC 9-97 Change 1). Compliance with these most recent regulations requires the protection of the embarkation and muster stations from the effects of fire and flooding. To meet these regulations, these vessels will be fitted with A-class structural fire protection and fire doors to the main passenger cabin.
The vessels will be powered by a pair of Caterpillar C32 ACERT main engines, each producing 970kW. The vessels will have a loaded service speed of 27 knots, and a maximum speed in excess of 30 knots. The vessels' required speed of 30 knots will be achieved at 75 per cent MCR.