Oz builder considers trimarans

Austal ships chairman John Rothwell has pledged a vigilant pursuit of technological advancements to ensure the company?s “leading role” in delivering premium levels of passenger comfort.

Speaking about long term prospects for the company amid the current “soft market for large fast ferries”, Rothwell said passenger comfort would always remain a high priority for operators, possibly “even more so than speed”.

Part of Austal?s endeavours to maintain high standards in this area included exploring the seakeeping abilities of a trimaran as opposed to the company?s more traditional use of a catamaran hull framework for research and development streams into motion sickness.

“Trimarans are the next generation for Austal and I would be surprised if we didn?t start work on one within 12 months,” he said.

Rothwell said passenger comfort had been a major focus since he started selling high speed ferries in the late 1980s with vessel motions now being less than half of what they originally were.

Ride control technology on Austal-built ferries is supplied by Seastate, a separate neighbouring company on the Henderson shipbuilding strip and Austal?s in-house motion sickness expert is Dr Tony Armstrong.

Achieving improvements in fuel range and passenger comfort demand constant refinement of hull design, materials and powering ? the majority of which has been achieved through evolution rather than a

radical research and development programme.

“Customers are not telling us anything different in this area, however it has always been a big concern for both commercial and military operators, possibly even more so than speed,” he said.

While Rothwell was reluctant to provide costing details he referred to the additional impost incurred for devising tailor made solutions for certain designs like the three-ferries delivered to New World First Ferry of Hong Kong last year.

The demands of a shallow draft (1.8m) and 43 knot speeds for these 47.5m vessels called for a retractable ride control system above the baseline of the craft ? a novel solution involving retractable stabiliser fins.

Rothwell said the cost of achieving improvements in comfort had to be weighed up against the benefits accrued to the operator and some systems costing several millions of dollars were simply not viable for most operators.

One such “costly” system was a proactive one which cancelled out motion by using sensors to detect the incoming wave while creating forces in the ride control foils in the opposite direction of this wave to cancel out the motion.

Other Austal investigations into minimising seasickness focused on controlling the passenger compartment rather than the entire vessel and research with neurologists and psychologists to examine the causes of seasickness.

Delivering premium levels of passenger comfort would also boost Austal?s position for capturing military business.

Further competitive strength was derived from Austal USA?s partnership with General Dynamics to develop a trimaran platform for a Focused Mission High Speed Ship (FMHSS).

Findings of this study team ? comprising Boeing, BAE Systems, Maritime Applied Physics Corporation, CAE Marine Systems and five other General Dynamics

business units ? could be used to define requirements for the US Navy?s Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) programme which could order 40 vessels.

In forecasting an outlook for 2003 he described the year ahead as one of “comparative consolidation” as Austal put more focus on Austal USA and Oceanfast.

Prospects for large ferry sales would remain flat for at least another two years, however he was now witnessing signs of renewed interest from clients.

“As for builders, I don?t see that the picture will be that radically different from what it is now,” he said.

“Our driver is to make this a long-term company. The truth is that in order to be sustainable you will need a wide product base and ongoing refinement of that product base.”