Hoverspeed
Hoverspeed was a British shipping company based in Dover . It was created in 1981 through the merger of Seaspeed and Hoverlloyd . Until 2005 , it was one of the largest providers of ferry connections on the English Channel and has been part of the Sea Containers group of companies since 1986 .
history
In 1981, the two shipping companies Seaspeed and Hoverlloyd merged in order to better withstand the economic pressure. With a fleet from six SRN4 - Hovercrafts Hoverspeed offered between Dover and Calais , the fastest ferry service between England and mainland Europe. With a travel time of around 30 minutes and an unloading and loading time of less than 15 minutes, the hovercrafts were clearly superior to conventional ferries. Despite high capacity utilization and profits, the shipping company reduced the number of hovercrafts to two SRN4s in the 1990s and finally stopped the connection on October 1, 2000. The hovercrafts were replaced by catamarans , but their travel times were significantly longer than their predecessors. The company also set up two more catamaran connections between Dover and Ostend and Newhaven and Dieppe . However, the number of passengers remained well below expectations on all connections, especially on the main route from Dover to Calais. Many passengers now chose the connection through the Eurotunnel , which was slower than the hovercraft, but faster than the catamarans. The competitors SeaFrance and P&O, with their slower but cheaper connections, also lured Hoverspeed passengers away. There were also repeated technical defects that led to ferry failures, including a serious fire in the engine room of the Rapide catamaran in 2003 .
In 2004 and 2005 the shipping company withdrew from the connections to Ostend and Dieppe. On November 7, 2005, Hoverspeed also suspended the ferry service between Dover and Calais and announced the company's bankruptcy.
fleet
hovercraft
- SRN4 Mk II Swift (1969-1991, from 1994 in the Hovercraft Museum Lee-on-Solent , scrapped 2004)
- SRN4 Mk II Sure (1969–1983, scrapped in 1983)
- SRN4 Mk II Sir Christopher (1972-1991, scrapped 1998)
- SRN4 Mk II The Prince of Wales (1977-1991, scrapped 1993)
- SRN4 Mk III The Princess Margaret (1968–2000, sold 2005, exhibited in the Hovercraft Museum Lee-on-Solent until March 2018, then scrapped on site)
- SRN4 Mk III The Princess Anne (1969–2000, sold in 2005, now in the Hovercraft Museum Lee-on-Solent)
- SEDAM N500 engineer Jean Bertin (1978–1983, scrapped 1985)
Catamarans
- Hoverspeed Great Britain (1990-2004)
- SeaCat France (1990-2004, until 2002 as SeaCat Tasmania , SeaCat Calais and Atlantic II )
- SeaCat Denmark (1991-2004, until 1995 as Hoverspeed Belgium , Hoverspeed Boulogne and SeaCatamaran Denmark )
- SeaCat Rapide (1997-2005)
- SeaCat Diamond (1997-2005)
- SuperSeaCat One (1997-2005)
- SuperSeaCat Two (1997-2005)
- SuperSeaCat Three (1999-2003)
Web links
- The former hoverports in 2005 , some with pictures from the active time. (engl.)
literature
- Miles Cowsill, John Hendy: The Hoverspeed Story , Kilgetty: Ferry Publications 1991 (2nd edition 1993), ISBN 1-871947-09-X