Austal wins Polynesia catamaran order

The vessel, which will operate as the Apetahi Express, will be laid down at the company’s Austal Vietnam facility in August 2021 and is expected to be delivered in the first half of 2023. The overall price of the contract was A$32.8m (US$24m).

The vessel will be capable of transporting 574 passengers and up to 16 tonnes of cargo at speeds up to 35 knots. The principal dimensions are an overall length of 66.4m, moulded beam of 15.2m and hull draught of 1.8m. The propulsion package comprises 4 x diesel engines and 4 x waterjets.

The newbuilding will operate on the route between Pape’ete, the port for Tahiti, and Vaitape on the island of Bora Bora. The Groupe Degage is a domestic ship owner and operator in French Polynesia.

Austal has previously designed and built five vessels for Groupe Degage, including two 69 metre monohull cruise ships and a 56 metre vehicle passenger catamaran ferry. An 80 metre vehicle passenger catamaran ferry (Aremiti Ferry 2) and a 49 metre vehicle passenger ferry (Aremiti 6) are operated by Groupe Degage’s subsidiary, Aremiti.

The design has been specified with Austal’s proprietary motion control technology, including active interceptors and T-foils, to improve comfort for passengers and crew in the South Pacific. The design also includes Austal’s proprietary Marinelink integrated monitoring, alarm and control system, and Marinelink-Smart digitalisation solution.