HSC INCAT 046
Encyclopedia
HSC
High-speed craft
A high-speed craft is a high speed water vessel for civilian use, also called a fastcraft or fast ferry.The first high-speed craft were often hydrofoils or hovercraft, but in the 1990s catamaran and even monohull designs have become popular.Most high-speed craft serve as passenger ferries, but the...
INCAT 046 is a wave-piercing catamaran passenger-vehicle ferry
Ferry
A ferry is a form of transportation, usually a boat, but sometimes a ship, used to carry primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services...
. It has operated under various marketing names, including Devil Cat, The Cat, The Lynx, and now T&T Express.
Vessel characteristics
HSC INCAT 046 is a 91-metre vessel built by InCat AustraliaINCAT
INCAT is a part of Tata Technologies Limited, a company in the Tata Group and operates in the field of Automotive Industry providing Engineering and Design solutions. The company took over a much larger player in the field namely INCAT, a Europe based company, in 2005...
in Hobart, Tasmania in 1997 as hull 046. She is a sister ship to HSC Express (holder of a Trans-Atlantic speed record), HSC Max Mols and HSC Master Cat, all of which are Incat91 models.
INCAT 046 is constructed from marine
Marine (ocean)
Marine is an umbrella term. As an adjective it is usually applicable to things relating to the sea or ocean, such as marine biology, marine ecology and marine geology...
grade aluminium
Aluminium
Aluminium or aluminum is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances....
alloys. Each water-borne hull
Hull (watercraft)
A hull is the watertight body of a ship or boat. Above the hull is the superstructure and/or deckhouse, where present. The line where the hull meets the water surface is called the waterline.The structure of the hull varies depending on the vessel type...
is subdivided into multiple watertight compartments connected by an arched bridging structure with a central forward hull above the smooth water line. Each water-borne hull carries two engines which drive water jets mounted on the transom.
Vehicles are stowed in and between both waterborne hulls in a configuration of rising and descending decks which load from a single level transfer bridge at the stern. The main passenger deck is immediately above the vehicle decks and consists of a cafe, gift shop, children's play area and passenger seating lounges, as well as an outside observation deck that runs the width of the ship at the stern. The passenger seating lounges have overhead television monitors which play movies, or television broadcasts, as well as a continuously updated map showing the vessel's GPS coordinates. A smaller secondary passenger deck is located one deck up and has a bar immediately aft of the wheelhouse.
Service history
HSC INCAT 046 was constructed for TT-Line
TT-Line (Australia)
TT-Line Company Pty. Ltd. is a company operating ferries from Tasmania to the mainland of Australia since 1985. The company was separated from the department of Transport Tasmania in 1993, becoming a government business enterprise wholly owned by the Government of Tasmania.- 1985-1992 :TT-Line was...
and operated across Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
's Bass Strait
Bass Strait
Bass Strait is a sea strait separating Tasmania from the south of the Australian mainland, specifically the state of Victoria.-Extent:The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Bass Strait as follows:...
on the world's longest distance high speed ferry service (marketed as Devil Cat), between Station Pier
Station Pier
Station Pier is an historic pier on Port Phillip, in Port Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Opened in 1854, the pier is Melbourne's primary passenger terminal, servicing interstate ferries and cruise ships, and is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register....
, Port Melbourne, Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
to The Esplanade, George Town
George Town, Tasmania
George Town is one of the larger towns in north-east Tasmania, on the eastern bank of the mouth of the Tamar River. At the 2006 census, George Town had a population of 4,266. It is the regional centre of the George Town Council Local Government Area....
, Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
. Typical service speed was 80 km/h with fares averaging $100 (AUD) one-way in peak season (Dec-Jan) and $92 one-way in shoulder season (Jan-Apr). Weather conditions in the Bass Strait occasionally led to cancellation during storms and heavy seas. The vessel's ride during choppy conditions led to its nickname "Spew Cat". The ship was sold to Bay Ferries
Bay Ferries
Bay Ferries Limited, referred to simply as Bay Ferries, is a ferry company operating in eastern Canada and the United States and is headquartered in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island...
after the first season, but during the 2000-2001, 2001–2002 summer peak periods it was charted to again run the George Town
George Town, Tasmania
George Town is one of the larger towns in north-east Tasmania, on the eastern bank of the mouth of the Tamar River. At the 2006 census, George Town had a population of 4,266. It is the regional centre of the George Town Council Local Government Area....
–Station Pier
Station Pier
Station Pier is an historic pier on Port Phillip, in Port Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Opened in 1854, the pier is Melbourne's primary passenger terminal, servicing interstate ferries and cruise ships, and is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register....
route as the Devil Cat.
Bay Ferries (1998–2002)
The INCAT 046 was sold to Bay Ferries
Bay Ferries
Bay Ferries Limited, referred to simply as Bay Ferries, is a ferry company operating in eastern Canada and the United States and is headquartered in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island...
in 1998 for service on that company's Gulf of Maine
Gulf of Maine
The Gulf of Maine is a large gulf of the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast of North America.It is delineated by Cape Cod at the eastern tip of Massachusetts in the southwest and Cape Sable at the southern tip of Nova Scotia in the northeast. It includes the entire coastlines of the U.S...
route between Yarmouth
Yarmouth, Nova Scotia
Yarmouth is a town and fishing port located on the Gulf of Maine in rural southwestern Nova Scotia, Canada. It is the shire town of Yarmouth County. The town is located in the heart of the world's largest lobster fishing grounds and has Canada's highest lobster catch.- History :The townsite may...
, Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
and Bar Harbor
Bar Harbor, Maine
Bar Harbor is a town on Mount Desert Island in Hancock County, Maine, United States. As of the 2010 census, its population is 5,235. Bar Harbor is a famous summer colony in the Down East region of Maine. It is home to the College of the Atlantic, Jackson Laboratory and Mount Desert Island...
, Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
under the marketing name The Cat. The vessel departed Hobart on April 26, 1998, arriving in Yarmouth on May 20, 1998 to great fanfare from American and Canadian news media.
The vessel operated seasonally on the Yarmouth–Bar Harbor route from May–October. HSC INCAT 046 was sold in early 2002 to Incat as a trade-in by Bay Ferries for the newer and larger capacity HSC The Cat (which in the case of this vessel, is its official registered name).
Interisland Line (2002–2003)
The vessel was leased by Incat to the Interisland Line, a New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
company, for which it was used in the Cook Strait
Cook Strait
Cook Strait is the strait between the North and South Islands of New Zealand. It connects the Tasman Sea on the west with the South Pacific Ocean on the east....
that year, using the marketing name The Lynx, however operating issues relating to its wake saw the vessel returned to Incat in early 2003 where it was laid up in Hobart.
Bay Ferries (2003–2006)
Bay Ferries subsequently repurchased the vessel and leased it under a wet charter (crewed and operated by Bay Ferries) for a route in Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles...
between Port of Spain
Port of Spain
Port of Spain, also written as Port-of-Spain, is the capital of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and the country's third-largest municipality, after San Fernando and Chaguanas. The city has a municipal population of 49,031 , a metropolitan population of 128,026 and a transient daily population...
and Scarborough
Scarborough, Tobago
Scarborough, Tobago is the largest town in Tobago, one of the two main islands of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Its population is around 17,000, almost one-third of the population of the island. The town is dominated by Fort King George, an 18th century fortification named after King George...
. Bay Ferries maintained the Interisland Line's marketing graphics on the vessel and referred to it as The Lynx during this period.
Government of Trinidad and Tobago (2006–present)
The vessel was purchased from Bay Ferries by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago's Ministry of Works and Transport in 2006. She maintains the official registered name of INCAT 046 but is marketed as the T&T Express and is operated by Bay Ferries Management Ltd. on behalf of the government. She operates the interisland service between Port of Spain and Scarborough in conjunction with the , (HSC INCAT 060).
Sister ships
, operated by P&O Irish SeaP&O Irish Sea
P&O Irish Sea was the trading name of P&O Ferries in the Irish Sea from 1998 - 2010. It has now merged back to being P&O Ferries.-History:P&O Irish Sea was formed in 1998, following the merger of the Cairnryan-based service of P&O European Ferries Ltd and Pandoro...
. Express is fitted with an additional lounge towards the stern on the upper deck and has a large panoramic window., operated by Mols Linien
Mols-linien
Mols-Linien is a Danish company that operates ferry services between the Jutland and the island of Zealand.-History:Mols-Linien was formed by DFDS in 1964 sailings commenced on the 18th May 1966....
.