Hoverspeed


Hoverspeed was a ferry company that operated on the English Channel from 1981 until 2005. It was formed in 1981 by the merger of Seaspeed and Hoverlloyd. Its last owners were Sea Containers; the company ran a small fleet of two high-speed SeaCat catamaran ferries in its final year.
Hoverspeed played a part in developing the hovercraft, and ran six SR.N4 Mountbatten class hovercraft and one SEDAM N500 Naviplane. Hoverspeed last operated hovercraft on its Dover to Calais service. They were withdrawn on 1 October 2000 and replaced by Seacat catamarans built by Incat.

Routes

Hoverspeed operated several routes. These were:
Hoverspeed briefly ran services from Ramsgate Pegwell Bay Hoverport in 1982 which had been the base of Hoverlloyd hovercraft services.

Fleet

Hovercraft

Four Superseacats were ordered by Hoverspeed's parent company Sea Containers after the original Superseacat design built by Austal failed to meet the speed required.
In service with Hoverspeed 1999-2004. Left fleet in 2004, chartered.
In serviced with Hoverspeed 1997, 1999 and 2001. Left fleet in 2001, sold.
In service with Hoverspeed 2001. Left fleet in 2001, returned to SeaCat.

Incat 81 metre Catamarans

After years of losses due to strong competition and the Channel Tunnel link, Hoverspeed announced that they would cease operations on the Dover-Calais route, ending over 40 years of service. The last ferry run was on 7 November 2005.
It was initially thought that both the 81m Seacats would move to Sea Containers Mediterranean services; however in March 2006 both the Seacat Rapide and Seacat Diamant were put up for sale by Sea Containers. Superseacat One which had operated for Hoverspeed on its now-closed Newhaven - Dieppe and Dover - Calais / Ostend fast ferry services was sold in April 2006 to Acciona Trasmediterránea and was renamed Almudaina Dos. Although the company ended Hovercraft service, they still retained ownership of the remaining 2 SRN 4s until 2006 when they were sold to Wensley Haydon-Baillie. In 2016, following a transfer of ownership of both land and the craft to the Home & Communities Agency, a public campaign was launched to save one or both of the craft. By Summer 2016, it was established that The Princess Anne would be saved and refurbished as a permanent exhibit at the Hovercraft Museum. The fate of The Princess Margaret, which was not in such sound structural repair, was announced on the 30th May 2018 - usable parts will be moved to The Princess Anne and the craft will be scrapped.
The closure of Hoverspeed left a single company in the United Kingdom still operating hovercraft flights, Hovertravel.

Hoverports

Since the closure of Hoverspeed in 2005, the Dover Hoverport had remained unused until SpeedFerries moved to the site from the Eastern Docks. They operated from the hoverport to Boulogne from Easter 2007 until November 2008 when SpeedFerries went into administration and their services ceased. The hoverport site then lay abandoned for the second time in its thirty-year history until demolition of the site began in May 2009 in preparation for the redevelopment of the Western Docks and a new Cruise Terminal. With the hoverports at Pegwell Bay and Calais also having been demolished, only Boulogne hoverport site remains, albeit long abandoned and derelict.