Right now, the world’s largest fully battery-electric ship sits idle in the Derwent River in Hobart – not because there’s anything wrong with it, but because of the war in the Middle East.
The 130-metre China Zorrilla, a vessel many in global shipping once thought was impossible to build, is waiting for a heavy lift transport ship to arrive so it can be put into service between Buenos Aires and Uruguay.
But that ship is now stuck in the Persian Gulf, unable to pass through the Straits of Hormuz.
For Incat founder and chairman Robert Clifford, the ship’s maker, there’s both frustration and urgency in seeing the giant electric ferry stuck alongside his Hobart shipyard.
At 83, the Tasmanian shipbuilding pioneer is already looking beyond the China Zorrilla to the next generation of even larger battery-electric ferries now rolling through Incat’s production line, including three new vessels being built for Danish operator Molslinjen.
