In the face of growing competition among companies operating fast transfer services between Bali, Lombok and the Gili Islands, Bali based Gilicat Cruises has contracted for the build of an all-aluminium, 20-metre Global Marine Design (GMD) vessel.
Designed and cut in Australia, the hull and superstructure kitset were shipped to the PT Mitra PAL yard in Surabaya for assembly and fitout by local company PT Simulia Indo Pertiwi. It arrived in a single 12-metre (40-foot) container, having been router cut, marked, labeled and packed in Western Australia as one of the Global Marine Design flat pack kit sets.
After a considerable time assessing a number of designs, with both safety and seakeeping in mind, Gilicat decided on the Global Marine Design high speed rock lobster fishing boat hull, due to its proven offshore handling capabilities.
The sometimes unpredictable and difficult sea conditions in the Bali Strait in the past have been both challenging for operators and passengers alike. It is not uncommon to have 20 or more knots of wind working against five knots of tide, causing a very steep and unpredictable sea. It is because of this sea that the GMD hull is the necessary choice with its deep forefoot to give a soft ride and combined with the large flared bow, gives a very dry ride with a large volume of reserve buoyancy to prevent dipping the bow into the bottomless troughs.
This hull has two sister vessels operating in Western Australia, one being the 'Sahara', a premium rock lobster boat and the other being 'Master Class', a maritime training vessel. The GMD design team re-worked the vessel to bring it in line with DNV survey and the vessel is being built under DNV survey in Indonesia for Hull and Superstructure compliance.
The underwater gear is supplied as an engineering kit set from Western Australian based company IKAD Marine, specialists in quality engineering components, under survey approval from BKI, the Indonesian classification authority. The stability and all other components are to the Indonesian flag state rules.
The images shown here are a product of the GMD design team's computer 3D modelling, an increasingly popular approach by the vessel buyers to have photo realistic images of what their finished vessel will look like, even before a single piece of aluminium is cut.
Global's Alex Babaeff and Nenad Granic, were responsible for producing the 3D modelling and final images.
The vessel layout is quite unique in that it can be quickly converted from passenger carrying mode to an offshore workboat, simply by removing the aft deck seats and canopy. This size and type of hull, fitted with an aft deck crane, is a very popular workboat in the Australian oil and gas industry, due to its excellent sea keeping and good load carrying capabilities. In this mode the vessel retains its crew seating internally and its extensive below-deck cargo hold, whilst freeing up the aft deck for heavier cargo work.
When it enters service late in 2010,this will be the largest vessel operating on this route. Powered by twin Caterpillar 3412E engines, the vessel will having a cruising speed of 24 knots and an expected top speed of 28 to 30 knots.
