AUSMARINE Editorial – March 2016
Regular readers of Ausmarine's sister magazine Work Boat World will, over the last fifteen years or so, have noticed that we have published a number of reviews of striking looking, smallish passenger craft. They are mostly operating in France, Australia and New Zealand with a few in North America and China.
They, along with the river cruise ships of Europe and Southeast Asia have been something of a phenomenon of the past couple of decades. Tourism, obviously, is an ever and fast growing fact of life and it carries with it some interesting sub-themes.
One of these is that many people do not like being on the open sea or, if they need to go to sea to observe a particular feature, they prefer to be exposed to the sea as briefly as possible. River cruise vessels, obviously, solve that problem very neatly. Around the coasts, however, other solutions are needed.
This has seen the development of 11 to 24-metre tour boats that are fast, nippy, strong and safe. Mostly they have aluminium hulls and some of the smaller ones are RIBs. They're quite simple boats in terms of construction, propulsion systems and fit-out. They are durable and low-maintenance – usually a "hose out" is all that is required at the end of each day.
Mostly, they are multi-engined with diesels and shaft drives in the larger boats and outboard motors for the RIBs and boats under 12 metres in length. They are invariably single-decked and all have basic seating and big windows or open viewing possibilities. In other words, they are perfect for short trips of no more than a couple of hours.
Designed to take as many as 112 passengers to look at interesting rock formations, caves, beaches, whales, seal colonies and the like, they can also be used as dive and angling boats. Food and drinks are generally not served aboard and, if they are, it is usually in the form of bottled drinks and sandwiches.
Simplicity and quick turnarounds are common features and most make numerous trips each day in high and shoulder seasons. Being comparatively highly powered and very manoeuvrable, fast turnarounds are facilitated as they rush in and out of port.
There are many such craft around the coasts of the beautiful French Mediterranean island of Corsica. With lovely old port cities, endless beaches and magnificent rock formations it has much to offer the tourist.
There, these modern tour boats have the perfect market. They would be just as well suited to much of the east coast of Australia, parts of the west coast and Tasmania, as well as around Port Lincoln, for example.
One of the most attractive bases for them is the magnificent old town of Bonifacio, which has more than enough history, scenic delights and character to satisfy even the most jaded tourist. Probably 20 of these tour boats are based there and are incredibly busy from May through to the end of September. Known locally as navettes, vedettes or croisoirs, they are all around 18 to 20 metres in length, carry around 100 passengers and are similar in design and decoration – a good indication that their concept works.
A good proportion of these impressive vessels have featured on these pages over the years. Most have been built in Dalian in China by our friends at the two, vigorously competitive, Sino/French shipyards there, Aurora Yachts and Dalian ODC Marine.
They are impressive looking, high quality vessels that, obviously must be very well priced since the builders face very strong local competition. They are much smaller and cheaper than the catamaran ferries that usually perform such roles in Australia but bigger and more seaworthy than water taxis.
I must say, though, that I am surprised that their concept has not been copied more in other countries with similarly attractive marine tourism features as Mediterranean France. Most Southeast Asian and Pacific resort areas, for example, are sadly lacking in safe, attractive and efficient tour boats. East Africa, Turkey, Florida, the Caribbean, eastern and western Australia and the Maldives and Seychelles could all benefit from them.
The opportunities are there but the boats must be kept simple, safe and economical. They are most definitely not ferries. They are designed for two-hour trips. They are not mini-cruise ships. Frequency and quick turnarounds are the keys to their successful operation.
Neil Baird
