"Sail the Derwent Highway" is the catchphrase promoting a ferry service for the waterways of Australia's southernmost state capital, Hobart.
A first draft proposal by Incat founder Robert Clifford challenges people to think of the waterway as a roadway that already exists, the equivalent of a bus route on water. All you need is to add the vehicles (ferries) and the stops (the terminals) to take advantage of it.
A fleet of mainly small ferries would operate to a network of floating jetties servicing nine jetties up-river from Sullivan's Cove and seven suburban jetties down-river, transporting commuters from as far north as Gagebrook, as far south as Tranmere and Opossum Bay and across to Blackmans Bay.
The no-frills, no-booking service of 12-metre, 54-passenger ferries operated by one mariner utilising purpose-built covered jetties would allow for fast turnarounds, all weather access and greater frequency for commuters.
The Bellerive to Sullivan's Cove crossing takes just eight minutes – with turnaround times that's six crossings an hour. On busy routes larger craft could be utilised, such as the recently delivered Manly Ferries 24-metre vessels, which have two crew and 260 passengers, or the 33-metre with three crew and 375 passengers.
Floating jetties minimise the impact that tidal rise and fall has on boarding at fixed jetties. They can be built off-site, and simply towed into place as required. Although not in the plan, if the traffic predictions showed demand in different areas, an under-utilised jetty could be moved to a new location.
A non-peak cruise or hop-on-hop-off tourist route would allow Hobart's rapidly increased visitor numbers access to an on-water tour of Hobart and surrounds and improve the viability of the service.
The Derwent Highway project is not yet fully costed project but it is estimated the floating pontoons would be around AU$1.5 million (US$1 million) each, and that aspect would require support from government.
Compared to a roadway, the entire network of terminals would cost less than the AU$32 million of government funds allocated to the 18 months of traffic disruption for the Brooker Highway upgrade at Elwick and Goodwood of which $25.6 was in federal funds and $6.4 million from the state government (published estimates for funding requirements, not the finished project cost).
Not only could the waterway project get underway at a fraction of the cost of overpasses or underpasses through or around the city, it can be established with zero traffic disruption during the build phase.
Incat: Although Hobart traffic congestion is mild compared to Sydney and Melbourne, the historic nature of the CBD area makes catering for the significant increase in vehicle numbers over recent years difficult to deal with. Shortage of city parking and high parking costs add to the attraction of a ferry system.
Traffic studies have suggested both a Derwent River Ferry Service and the establishment of a light rail system on the northern corridor to the city. Neither are yet in the pipeline, however there have in the past few weeks been announcements of funding for yet another study on the light rail, much the same situation as the Derwent Ferries project – numerous studies but to date no hint of a start of service.
The state government has provided Metro Tasmania, the bus provider, with funding for a ferry study and start of service, however Metro say it is only enough for a Monday to Friday peak hours commuter service on one route – Bellerive to Sullivans Cove.
Incat Founder Robert Clifford disagrees with the one route/part-time option – saying, "that just wont work, it needs greater commitment to the idea of a network of ferry routes."
He has promoted a multi-route, multi-vessel, seven day a week service as the optimal solution. Although an advocate of such a service he is adamant that Incat does not wish to be the operator, but would be supportive.
Many Tasmanians recall the ferry service operated across the Derwent in the 1970s, the Sullivans Cove Ferry Company, run by Robert Clifford carried over nine million passengers in the two-year period following the Tasman Bridge collapse.
There have been numerous studies over the past two decades, however most studies have only focused on the short Bellerive to Sullivans Cove run that would ease bridge traffic.
The proposal put forward by Robert Clifford outlines a network of floating jetties, up to 16 spread from north to south of the city and on both sides of the river.
The plan suggests mainly smaller commuter ferries that can be operated by one person, offering frequent trips, rather than large ferries operating less frequently. In addition, Robert suggests a couple of larger ferries, with more facilities that can double up to offer tourist trips in the off peak periods.
The service could start slowly with a few terminals and ferries and gradually add more as it is established.
The advantage of setting up such a system is virtually no impediment to existing traffic during establishment stage as the terminals are floated into position. Contrast that to the years of disruption caused by major changes to road infrastructure.
The 1970s tourist ferries were very successful at a time when Tasmania had few tourists compared with the 1.26 million visitors to Tasmania in 2017.
Approximately one quarter of those were international tourists. It only needs a small percentage of the visitors to take a river cruise for a service to be justified.
The Clifford proposal was more of an "ambit claim" designed to get the stakeholders talking. Robert Clifford has made it very clear that he would support and encourage any operator wishing to start a service but that he does not wish to run a ferry service.
Robert remains Chairman of Incat and the Incat business is building ships not running a commuter/transport business, however Robert has said publicly that he is prepared to build the first couple of vessels and terminals if requested, and would get some cost recovery via a lease to the operator.
Most stakeholders agree that even if Metro Tasmania (the state's road transport organisation running bus services) does not actually run a ferry service, it would need to be run with Metro support in that bus services and timetables would ideally collate with ferry services.
Detailed design has not been completed, and will not be until an operator comes forward with their wish list. Incat envisages that the boats would still run on marine distillate.
An electric option has been considered, and may be possible in the future, however with the financial model for the small ferries suggests each boat is run by one driver, the batteries currently available cannot run for long enough to operate an efficient day-long service, take a long time to re-charge and even if there were dual sets one person would have difficulty changing heavy batteries quickly.
The larger ferries suggested, similar in capacity to the vessels Incat has delivered to Manly Fast Ferries and Port Phillip Ferries, could operate tourist and commuter services, at this stage also operating on distillate.
If one small ferry carries 54 passengers – that could be as many as 50 cars off the road, the environmental lobby should be pleased at any addition to the public transport network.
Robert Clifford has offered to design and build vessels, and then lease them to an operator or multiple operators, however if, for example, the state government decided to run a ferry service they would be free to contract whoever they wished to build the boats.
Ideally the state government would own the terminals. Again, Clifford has offered to build floating jetties, but the operator might have other ideas. The local councils would need to provide infrastructure to access the jetties.
There certainly needs to be support from local councils in providing access and infrastructure, as there will need to be some car parking, bike storage and access to each terminal.
If fares are to be kept low for commuters to encourage use of the ferries then there may be, at least in early years, some government support required. If it is looked at in the same way as the bus system, which is run by the government-owned Metro, it will be interesting to see what the new Metro report reveals.
The state government and Hobart City Council have both been active in looking at a ferry system, but the wheels move painfully slowly.
We stress again – Incat and Robert Clifford are not planning on running this project, merely getting the community talking about it, encouraging action, and giving Incat's personnel experience of ferry services around the world, ready to support whoever decides to take it on.
