Naval engineers vie for a ferry good deal that could see Australia’s ship finally come in

Shipbuilders are predicting a new boom from a surprise move by Tasmania to locally source replacement Bass Strait ferries.

Austal chief executive David Singleton. Picture: Colin Murty

Thirty years after Australia last built a large steel passenger ship, shipbuilders are predicting a new boom from a surprise move by Tasmania to locally source replacement Bass Strait ferries.

Shipbuilders told The Australian the Tasmanian decision — made after the intervention of Scott Morrison — could be the catalyst for a return to large civil ship construction, alongside a pipeline of military vessels.

There are different visions of what this might look like. Hobart’s high-speed catamaran builder Incat will pitch a plan for a new line of the world’s largest aluminium catamarans.

These 180m or longer vessels, entirely built in Tasmania, would far exceed the size of any similar vessel, potentially leading to new contracts globally, and allow Incat to avert looming job cuts and instead double its workforce.

Perth-based Austal, however, is pitching traditional steel ships, with the hulls built in The Phili­p­pines because of the lack of suitable shipyards in Australia and the rest in Tasmania.

Austal says its build could be a catalyst for the development of a capacity to again build large steel hulls in Australia for civil as well as military vessels.

Tasmania’s Liberal government has agreed to freeze an $850m contract for two new Spirit of Tasmania ferries with a Finnish shipbuilder, pending a review of the local options by a federal-state taskforce.

Incat builds and exports catamaran ferries up to 130m long, but its bid is battling local prejudice linked to a troubled Bass Strait catamaran service in the 1990s.

It was dubbed “spewcat” because of a lack of stability in rough conditions, but Incat chairman Robert Clifford said modern vessels were in a different league: more than twice as long and 10 times as heavy.

He said Incat could build two 180m catamaran ferries, hybrid powered with diesel, LNG, electric or even hydrogen, with a larger freight ­capacity than the current ferries.

The new supercats would have first-class, airline-style sleeping cubicles, along with theatres, restaurants and even a go-kart track or indoor cricket pitch.

Mr Clifford said the Austal alternative was “unworkable”.

“The suggestion of hulls built in Asia and engines fitted somewhere else and Tasmanians finishing the vessel is unworkable, as this would add much time and money; an extra year of costs,” he said.

“Large aluminium ships on the other hand, built in Tasmania, will have an increased market attraction after trade is returned to ferries after COVID.

“We are already seeing a recovery of English Channel services.”

Austal chief executive David Singleton said increasing the size of catamarans to that envisaged by Incat was “a very big step”.

“There aren’t any catamarans of that size anywhere,” he said.

Finishing the build of large steel ferries in Tasmania would act as a catalyst for the creation of a large steel hull construction capability in Australia, both civil and military, he said.

“We have a very solid, very capable shipbuilding industry that is developing very fast; now we have an opportunity, with something like the Spirit of Tasmania vessels, to continue that development into what is essentially a new class of vessels: large steel monohull,” Mr Singleton said.

“We start with the Spirit of Tasmania vessels and move to additional vessels of that type needed around the world.

“It puts us in a great position to be involved in the build of these large steel monohulls for the Defence Department.

“We are on the verge of creating a world-class shipbuilding industry.”

Tasmanian Infrastructure Minister Michael Ferguson said the state would “always back Tasmanian and Australian jobs first”, but would await the taskforce’s recommendations.