Australia latest country to get electric flying ferries

Australia latest country to get electric flying ferries

From Plugboats by Plugboats

March 18, 2026 · 6 min

About this episode

Australia is set to welcome electric hydrofoiling ferries, enhancing water transport in Perth with premium tourism experiences.

Electric hydrofoiling ferries will soon be arriving ‘down under’ as New Zealand builder Vessev and local expert Enautic partner to bring a new kind of water transport to Perth, the continent’s fourth largest city. Several Vessev VS–9 vessels have been reserved and will operate premium tourism experiences like wine cruises, twilight sailings and private charters. The plan is to expand to commuter route service in the future. Listen to this article as a podcast Vessev was founded in 2018 by Max Olson and Eric Laakmann, a former engineering program leader at Apple. Last year their flying ferries made their debut as the first certified electric hydrofoiling vessel to enter the fleet of a commercial operator (as opposed to publicly-owned municipal transport authority). Flying tourist boats operating in New Zealand  Two VS-9s are operated by New Zealand’s largest ferry transport and tourism operator, Fullers360. They each carry up to 10 passengers around Auckland’s Waitematā Harbour, providing panoramic views of the city, the Harbour Bridge and islands of the Huaraki Gulf. Vessev says the two units have logged close to 10,000 Nautical miles (18,500 km / 11,500 mi)…

Topics covered

  • electric ferries
  • hydrofoiling
  • tourism
  • transportation

Keywords

  • Vessev
  • Enautic
  • Perth
  • VS-9
  • Fullers360

Mentioned in this episode

Products: VS–9, Two VS-9s, the VS-9, WaveFlyer, the RIB 310, Volaré, ROGUE, The VS–9, Vessev, Vessev VS-9

Places: Australia, New Zealand, Perth, New Zealand’s, Auckland, Waitematā Harbour, the Huaraki Gulf, Swan, the Swan River, Stockholm

More episodes of Plugboats

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Plugboats podcast page.