Hoverspeed

Hoverspeed, formed in 1981 by the merger of Seaspeed and Hoverlloyd, was a ferry company that operated on the English Channel from 1981 until 2005. The last owners were Sea Containers Ltd; the company ran a small fleet of two high-speed SeaCat Catamaran ferries in its final year. Hoverspeed is notable for its 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 They were withdrawn on 1 October 2000 and replaced by Seacat catamarans. Throughout its history Hoverspeed has operated several routes. These were: Hoverspeed briefly ran services from Ramsgate Pegwell Bay Hoverport in 1982 which had been the base of...