Kawasaki Heavy Industries has signed a contract with Kyushu Yusen and the Japan Railway Construction, Transport and Technology Agency (JRTT) to build a new jetfoil high-speed passenger ferry.
The ship will be constructed at the company's Kobe Works and is scheduled for delivery in June 2029, after which it will serve the Hakata-Iki/Tsushima route.
This represents the first new jetfoil order for Kawasaki in eight years. The company acquired the manufacturing and sales rights from Boeing in 1987 and delivered 16 units between 1989 and 2020.
The newly ordered vessel will follow the existing design but will be equipped with new Vericor TF50B gas turbine engines and a revised passenger seating layout.
The jetfoil is a fully submerged hydrofoil vessel propelled by water jets driven by two gas turbine engines. Lifting its hull above the water on hydrofoils, the vessel can reach 43 knots (over 80 kilometres per hour) and operate in wave heights of up to 3.5 metres, according to Kawasaki.
The new vessel will measure 27.4 metres in length with the foils lowered and will have a passenger capacity of 252 people. Kawasaki stated that it intends to continue actively engaging in the construction of jetfoils to support high-speed marine traffic to remote islands in Japan.
