SeaLink North Queensland’s Maggie Cat has been awarded the Best Small Fast Ferry at the Baird Maritime Best of 2022 Awards.
Constructed in 2022 by local Queensland boat builder, Commercial Marine Australia (CMA), the Maggie Cat, which launched in June last year, is the largest vessel in the Townsville fleet.
SeaLink Marine and Tourism Chief Operating Officer Donna Gauci says they were thrilled to have received the award.
“Maggie Cat was just one of the eight SeaLink vessels constructed in Queensland over the last five years, as part of our $23 million investment in local marine vessel manufacturing,” she says.
“This industry award is a fantastic achievement and recognition for how well SeaLink and Commercial Marine Australia worked together to build a world class vessel purpose-built for North Queensland conditions as well as being maintenance friendly, lightweight and boasting lower operational costs such as fuel.”
In recent years, SeaLink North Queensland has spent $13 million on two new vessels for Townsville – the 340 seat Maggie Cat and 320 seat Coolgaree Cat.
SeaLink General Manager Darren Spearman says the investment has enabled them to continue to expand their services, which is critical in the aftermath of the pandemic.
“We are seeing a strong number of visitors to the region and an increase this year in international visitors which is great to see after three years of the pandemic impacting international inbound,” he says.
“We are also about to launch a new product, the Great Barrier Reef snorkelling day tour to John Brewer Reef.”
Donna says the company is looking forward to continuing to invest in local new boat builds.
“Millions of passengers each year entrust SeaLink to form part of their valuable holiday experiences, so it is so important we get them there in comfort, safely and reliably,” she said.
“That is why we are proud to keep investing in several new boat builds to ensure we continue to provide our passengers with a brilliant customer experience.”
Image credit: Phil Copp, Phil Copp Photos
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