Shipbuilder Austal has broken its commercial newbuilding drought, securing a deal to build a 71-metre ro-ro for a repeat client.
French Polynesia’s Degage Group is behind the order for the monohull vessel that is said to be worth between AUD 30 and AUD 40m ($20m to $26m).
The vessel will have a steel hull and an aluminium superstructure and will be able to accommodate up to 140 seated passengers and 17 crew.
It will also feature a main cargo deck area of 494 square metres that can transport a combination of 10-foot and 20-foot containers, palletised cargo and vehicles.
The vessel will be the first steel hull ship to be built at Austal Vietnam’s Vung Tau-based yard.
Austal chief executive Paddy Gregg said: “In less than five years, the world-class shipbuilding team at Austal Vietnam has delivered three major ferry projects, for operators around the world, and now they are ready to take on their first steel hull ship, for one of our most valued customers.”
With a cruising speed of 12 knots and a range of 1,000 nautical miles (1,850 km), the new ship — to be named Dory 2 — is designed to operate essential transport services efficiently and sustainably, between Papeete and the Palliser Islands in French Polynesia.
Austal has previously designed and built six vessels for Degage: two 69-metre monohull cruise ships; a 56-metre vehicle/passenger catamaran ferry; an 80-metre vehicle/passenger catamaran ferry; a 49-metre vehicle/passenger ferry; and the 66-metre, 574-passenger high-speed catamaran Apetahi Express (built 2023), delivered last June.
In its first-half results last month, Austal said demand for commercial ferries remained subdued. However, there had been a slight increase in enquiries in the past six months.
Austal’s Australasia segment reported revenue of AUD 136.3m in the first of the financial year against AUD 208.7m a year ago.
The reduction was largely a result of lower shipyard utilisation in the Philippines and Vietnam following a lack of commercial contract awards over the past 18 months.
In February, Austal signed a memorandum of understanding with Sweden’s Gotlandsbolaget to develop a construction contract for a Gotland Horizon X high-speed aluminium catamaran that will use gas turbines in a combined cycle system to transport up to 1,450 passengers, cargo and vehicles between the Swedish mainland and the island of Gotland.
Austal said the vessel, if built, will be the largest, longest and most technologically advanced ferry design developed by the company, and will enable Gotlandsbolaget to achieve its climate-neutral emissions targets.
