Incat chief blasts Bruny ferry move

THE planned new Bruny Island ferries are “small, slow and cheap”, Incat chairman Bob Clifford says.

SeaLink Group has been awarded the tender to operate ferry services between Bruny Island and Kettering for the next decade.

It plans to build two new 45m ferries with a capacity of up to 40 cars, with the first to be delivered in the second half of next year and the other in the first half of 2021.

Mr Clifford said his company would not be among those tendering to build the ferries.

“Incat believe that to tender would not be in the best interest of the company nor would it be in the best interest of the Bruny Island population and island visitors,” he said.

“Incat did propose to build for operation two larger, faster, state-of-the-art vessels that would auto-dock at two new terminals.

“These new vessels and docks would have allowed 56 cars to leave each terminal at peak times every 15 minutes.”

He said the Incat proposal’s hourly capacity of 448 vehicles would have minimised or eliminated waiting times.

A priority loading lane could be provided for island residents and priority vehicles, Mr Clifford said.

“Incat remains ready to build larger faster new vessels and new terminals and are willing to discuss the details with any interested party placing an order.”

The State Government’s decision to award the tender to SeaLink has been criticised by some tourism-industry figures and island locals as potentially reducing capacity on the route at the same time visitor numbers boom.

Between 150 and 200 people attended a community meeting at the weekend to share concerns about the decision to award SeaLink a 10year contract to operate the island’s ferry service.

Labor MP for Franklin David O’Byrne said the Government was scambling to fix a mess of its own making.

“It seems like they’re making it up as they go along.”

Mr O’Byrne said the revelation around Mr Clifford’s views regarding the Bruny ferries raised more questions.

“What other options were provided for this service in the expressions of interest?” he asked.

“What other tenderers have been involved and has the Government tried to do a quick and dirty and not only shortchanged the community and the tourism industry – but stuffed it up from day one.”

Bob Clifford