The fast ferry market may be in the doldrums, but high speed water transport is alive and well thanks to a current high level of interest in fast cargo ships. These have drawn some inspiration from large fast ferry technology, but the sector seems to have gone down several design routes, some of which are exploiting new ideas, some reviving or adapting old principles, and others which turn the fast ferry concept into a substantial goods carrier. Many of these proposals are for comparatively large ships, but they are of interest here as the principles are based on those of the types of smaller specialised ships and boats which are normally described in these pages. Any discussion of high speed cargo vessels must not omit the adapted fast ferries which Australian builders Incat and Austal have been successfully trialling with the US military - indeed it seems that these have started a new chain of thought in military vessel design, judging by the latest news below from one of the foremost naval architecture practices dealing with fast ships, the Southampton, UK-based Nigel Gee & Associates.
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