Bob Clifford

Infobox Celebrity


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name = Dr. Robert Clifford AO
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birth_date =
birth_place = , Tasmania, Australia
death_date =
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occupation = Chairman and founder of Incat
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spouse =
website = http://www.incat.com.au
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children = Craig Clifford Dr. Robert "Bob" Frederick Clifford AO, (born in Tasmania, Australia), is an Australian shipbuilder, entrepreneur, and businessman, best known for his success in building his Incat catamaran building company into an International brand that sells wave piercing catamaran ferries all over the world including to the US Military and many European ferry operators.

Biography

In 1963, Bob Clifford was awarded the apprentice of the year award for printing. He began his boat building business in his backyard, before expanding it to a commercial operation. Eventually he went into partnership with Phillip Hercus, who helped him expand Incat into a serious shipbuilding operation.

In 1994, Clifford skippered his maxi yacht "Tasmania" to line honours victory in the 50th anniversary Sydney to Hobart yacht race. In 1994, Clifford experienced one of his blackest moments when he accidentally ran aground his 40 million dollar catamaran "Condor II" upon Blackjack Rock in the mouth of the Derwent River. He has won numerous design and manufacturing awards for his shipbuilding exploits.

Business exploits

He spent much of his early years as a fisherman, and turned his passion for the sea into a back-yard boat building operation. He was immediately successful, and never looking back, often without encouragement, he single handedly promoted the idea of fast commuter ferries, and turned his company into one of the world's leading manufacturers of high speed catamaran ferries. Developing much of the technology locally, Incat researched and designed high tech, high-speed wave piecing catamarans.

By September, 1977, Incat launched their first high speed catamaran at Prince of Wales Bay in Tasmania. Since then they have expanded their operation into 98 and 112 metre wavepeircer production.

The catamarans have proved to be one of Australia's best industrial success stories of recent years, and during the dark days of the 1990s when Tasmania's economy was suffering badly, provided a ray of hope to the ailing state. Over 20 of the Catamarans have been sold to European operators, and more to the US Military. At the height of their success, Incat held more than 40%of the world's high speed ferry manufacturing market. Although the market has slowed, Incat has moved into production of catamaran freight vessels, and developing the design for even longer, 150 metre ferries.

His catamarans have also broken the record for the Atlantic Ocean crossing, and won many design awards, and Clifford famously does not pursue intellectual rights to his designs and products, preferring instead to try and stay ahead of his competitors through savvy advances in his technology.

Politics

Clifford is a member of the Tasmanian branch of the Australian Labor Party. Despite this, his Incat business operated for many years on marginal profits, or heavy losses, resulting in the company often coming into conflict with the Australian Miscellaneous Workers Union (AMWU), over such issues as workers pay, hours and conditions. The AMWU has called strikes against Incat as a result in the past.

The pressures of keeping the business successful, have often led to large scale lay-offs of Incat workers, and the company has been put into receivership in the past.

Robert Clifford has sometimes come into conflict with both the state and Commonwealth governments, particularly over the issue of the allocation of shipbuilding contracts for the Australian military, which seem to regularly be allocated to mainland states at Tasmania's expense, but he generally has a good relationship with both tiers of government.

Honours

Bob Clifford has been awarded the Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 1995, [ [http://www.itsanhonour.gov.au/honours/honour_roll/search.cfm?aus_award_id=887743&search_type=quick&showInd=true It's an Honour] - Officer of the Order of Australia] and an honorary Engineering degree (DEng.) from the University of Tasmania. He was also named Tasmanian of the Year in 1988.

References

External links

* [http://www.incat.com.au Incat]