ARGENTINA/URUGUAY. Buenos Aires based ferry operator, Buquebus, has commissioned a new twin hull catamaran for services between Argentina and Uruguay featuring what is claimed to be the biggest duty free shop on any ship worldwide.
Australian shipbuilder Incat has secured the contract to build the LNG-powered ferry, which will also be the world’s largest aluminium vessel. The Tasmanian company’s Managing Director Kim Clifford confirmed to The Moodie Davitt Report that the 130-metre ship will carry 2,100 passengers and 220 cars and be fitted out with a duty free retail floor of over 3,100sq m.
The vessel, set for delivery in mid-2023, will be the ninth built by Incat Tasmania for Buquebus and will join other Incat ships already serving various ports on the River Plate (Rio Plato) between Argentina and Uruguay.
They include the Francisco, another LNG-powered ferry with a 1,000 passenger capacity and 1,200sq m of duty free shopping onboard. Its travel time from Buenos Aires to Montevideo is little more than two hours from port to port.
Work in Tasmania is underway on the engineering of the new catamaran. “As you can appreciate the vessel is still in the design phase,” said Clifford. But physical construction will commence as soon as the detailed design drawings are completed and approved by Buquebus.
