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Australian ferry builder Incat Tasmania Pty Ltd. says that its new dual-fuel vehicle and passenger ferry, Francisco, has achieved a lightship speed of 58.1 knots (107.6 kilometres per hour) in sea trials.

Last week, during 1516-tonne displacement trials, the vessel achieved 51.8 knots at 100% Maximum Continuous Rating (MCR) operating with one turbine on liquefied natural gas (LNG) and one on marine distillate.

The results exceeded those achieved on June 1 when Francisco was sea trialled with full ballast, comfortably exceeded 50 knots at full power and maintained a steady 49 knots at 90% power while operating on marine distillate.

On Saturday June 15, with the water ballast removed, and with both port and starboard gas turbines operating on LNG, Francisco achieved 58.1 knots at 100% MCR.

According to Incat, the vessel's high speed can be attributed to the combination of Incat's wave-piercing catamaran design, the use of lightweight, strong marine grade aluminium, and the power produced by the two 22MW GE LM2500 gas turbines driving Wartsila LJX 1720 SR waterjets.

The extensive and luxurious interior made significant increases to the weight of the interior fitout, however Incat says its team has worked diligently to maximise weight savings during construction wherever possible.

Francisco has been constructed for South American company Buquebus, for service on the River Plate, between Buenos Aires Argentina and Montevideo, Uruguay.

Incat is still not claiming 58.1 as the end point of lightship trials as there was a full load of LNG on board (two 40-cubic-metre tanks) in addition to approximately 35 tonnes of marine distillate.

Incat Chairman Robert Clifford, commented: "When we have less fuel on board, and delivery spares removed, we will see that speed go higher still in the shallow waters of the River Plate. We are delighted with the efficiency of the design and sure that our customer, Buquebus, will be pleased with the results, enabling the ferry to compete with airline traffic on the River Plate route.”

Buquebus Chairman Juan Carlos Lopez Mena recently announced that the vessel would be named Francisco, in honour of the Argentinean-born Pope Francis. 'Godmother' to the ship will be the President of Argentina, Christina Fernandez de Kirchner, who will christen Francisco following the ship's arrival in Argentina.

Francisco has capacity for 1,000 people and 150 cars. A luxurious fit out has been incorporated, including a 1,100 square metre duty free shop.

Francisco is the eighth Incat vessel to be operated by Buquebus and their associated companies. It will be the largest catamaran they have operated, the world's first dual fuel high speed ferry to operate on LNG as its primary fuel, and the fastest, environmentally cleanest, most efficient, high speed ferry in the world.

Incat's High-Speed Record

The fastest previous vessel built by Incat was Juan Patricio, which was delivered to Buquebus in 1996. It has a top speed of 53.8 knots and remains in commercial service.

Francisco (hull 069) is the fourth Incat built vessel with a service speed of over 50 knots.

The past three consecutive winners of the Hales Trophy - the Transatlantic Blue Riband record for commercial passenger ships - were all built by Incat. The average speed over the 3-day (unrefuelled) voyage of Incat hull 049 was 41.284 knots.

Incat has built 25 high speed craft over 5000 gross tonnes with a top speed in excess of 45 knots.