In May 2019 Australian shipbuilder Incat secured a contract to build the world’s largest aluminium ship.
Incat Tasmania Pty Ltd will build the 130m ship for long-standing customer, Buquebus to operate between Argentina and Uruguay.
The completed vessel will be the largest aluminium ferry ever built and the ninth vessel for Incat’s valued South American customer.
The ferry will join the other Incat ships already serving various ports on the River Plate (Rio Plato) between Argentina and Uruguay.
At a probable 13,000gt the 130m by 32m wide vessel will carry 2100 passengers and 220 cars. The duty free shop will be world’s largest fitted on a ship, with over 3000 square metres of retail floor space, similar in size to a large airport duty free shop.
Work is under way on design and engineering, the physical construction will commence as soon as the detail design drawings are completed and approved by the customer.
The new Buquebus ship, Incat hull 096, is predicted to have a maximum speed of over 40 knots. The 130-metre ship will be powered by four dual fuel engines that will burn environmentally friendly LNG while in service between Argentina and Uruguay.
Incat shipyard currently has confirmed orders covering the next four years with high expectations of other large vessel orders. The workforce now totalling over 600 will be expanded to facilitate the construction of the new vessels in Incat’s very healthy order book.
