Incat ferry launched in Thailand

Australia-based Incat-Crowther?s latest design for Lomprayah High Speed Ferries, Thailand, was launched at a naming ceremony held at the Sea Crest shipyard in Samut Prakarn Province, Bangkok.

Like previous vessels for Lomprayah, the new vessel, named ?Koh Prarb?, was built with one of Incat-Crowther?s pre-cut aluminium kits. These kits were developed in digital form, complete with cut marks, water lines, centrelines, rolling marks and piece identification. All shell plates are provided in expanded form. The nested information is then used to cut the aluminium sheets for flat packing into standard containers. Specialist extrusions are used to simplify construction, which are all cut to length and loaded in the same containers.

“Our kits are great for developing shipyards that have little experience in building this type of vessel. It takes a lot of the guess work out of the initial estimation,” said Incat-Crowther?s Managing Director Brett Crowther. “We can provide these kits to developed shipyards who find themselves on tight schedules. By utilising our kit packs they can free up their own resources to complete other tasks and projects.”

?Koh Prarb? is a 29m high-speed catamaran ferry capable of carrying 350 passengers plus ten crew at a service speed of 26 knots.

The main cabin contains seating for 210 passengers in rows of aircraft-style seating. Television monitors are provided for safety and entertainment while a canteen, located amidships, provides drinks, food, snacks and gifts. The upper deck cabin has seating for 66 passengers seated in rows. An outdoor seating area for 65 passengers is fitted aft of the mid-deck cabin plus an upper third level sun deck.

The vessel is powered by two Caterpillar C32?s, each producing 1,040kW, coupled to ZF gearboxes and five-bladed Veem propellers. Lomprayah Fast Ferries provides services to the East Coast islands of Koh Tao, Koh Phanghan and Koh Samui from the mainland city of Chumphon in Thailand. The newbuilding takes the total number of Incat-Crowther vessels operating for Lomprayah to four with an additional 29m vessel still under construction.