Tasmanian shipbuilder admits tight finances but predicts recovery
Incat admitted today that its current finance situation is problematic, but Tasmania's biggest shipbuilder is still confident that it would survive the dwindling demand in global production of ferries.
The company revealed that its workforce was further trimmed to cut more costs as it gave assurance that fleets of ferries would still ship out from its shipyard.
Incat marked its 20th anniversary by breaking the record for fastest trans-Atlantic crossing as the company snared the Hales trophy for crossing the Atlantic in the Hoverspeed Great Britain, merely clocking 79 hours and 54 minutes.
The company was once the pride of Tasmania as Incat used to be the state's largest private employer but episodes of lay offs marred its standing and reduced its employees ranks by 15 percent in 2010 alone.
Incat chairman Robert Clifford is not denying that the company is experiencing trouble though he remained confident that the industry as a whole would eventually recover from its tight situation.
At present, Mr Clifford said that the company's remaining crew of 250 are engaged in building two catamarans, with another ship already on the drawing board.
He said that more orders should be forthcoming as he assured that "we are waiting for these orders to come through, I'm quite confident they will come through, but in the meantime we have to watch our pennies."
Amidst the present situation, Mr Clifford is projecting that the shipbuilding industry would have to wait for a few more years before recovery could be seen in the industry as the company prepared for more belt-tightening.