One important development which offered rapid loading and unloading was the ro-ro (roll-on, roll-off), ferry ship. A ro-ro ship has built-in ramps to allow direct loading of wheeled cargo. Most ro-ro ferries have ramps at both the stern and the bow so that vehicles can enter by one ramp and leave by the other when the ship docks, thus avoiding a great deal of reversing and manoeuvring.
More recently, faster forms of ferry ship have come into service. Large hovercraft can carry more than 400 passengers and up to 60 cars on short sea crossings. In calm waters they can travel at a speed of 111 kilometres per hour. A hydrofoil ferry has a wing that lifts the ship out of the water so that it can skim over the surface at great speed. The first commercial hydrofoil ferry went into operation in 1956, and one of the most advanced of these craft is the Boeing jetfoil, driven by water jets, which can cruise at 80 kilometres per hour. Car ferries with a wave-piercing catamaran design are also in use in parts of Europe and North America. They have a large pointed hull and two outriggers, and can travel at a speed of 84.5 kilometres per hour.
