HD Ferries was a fast

catamaran A catamaran () (informally, a "cat") is a watercraft with two parallel hull (watercraft), hulls of equal size. The wide distance between a catamaran's hulls imparts stability through resistance to rolling and overturning; no ballast is requi ...

Channel Islands The Channel Islands are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They are divided into two Crown Dependencies: the Jersey, Bailiwick of Jersey, which is the largest of the islands; and the Bailiwick of Guernsey, ...

ferry service between

Jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...

Guernsey Guernsey ( ; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; ) is the second-largest island in the Channel Islands, located west of the Cotentin Peninsula, Normandy. It is the largest island in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, which includes five other inhabited isl ...

and

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

. HD Ferries had daily departures (six crossings per day; average crossing time per leg of just one hour) from the port of

Saint Helier St Helier (; Jèrriais: ; ) is the Capital city, capital of Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands in the English Channel. It is the most populous of the twelve parishes of Jersey, with a population of 35,822, over one-third of the island' ...

(Jersey) to

St Peter Port St. Peter Port () is a town and one of the ten parishes on the island of Guernsey in the Channel Islands. It is the capital of the Bailiwick of Guernsey as well as the main port. The population in 2019 was 18,958. St. Peter Port is a small tow ...

(Guernsey) and then to

St Malo Saint-Malo (, , ; Gallo: ; ) is a historic French port in Ille-et-Vilaine, Brittany. The walled city on the English Channel coast had a long history of piracy, earning much wealth from local extortion and overseas adventures. In 1944, the All ...

History

HD Ferries was established in January 2007 following the cessation of Emeraude Lines in November 2005. Earlier,

Condor Ferries Condor Ferries was an operator of passenger and freight ferry services between the United Kingdom, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey, Bailiwick of Jersey, Jersey and France. History Condor Ferries was formed in 1964 by Channel Island businessme ...

and Emeraude Lines were the only two services operating in the region. The

States of Jersey The States Assembly (; Jèrriais: ) is the parliament of Jersey, formed of the island's 37 deputies and the Connétable (Jersey and Guernsey), Connétable of each of the Parishes of Jersey, twelve parishes. The origins of the legislature of ...

States of Guernsey The States of Guernsey (), officially the States of Deliberation and sometimes referred to as the Government of Guernsey, is the parliament and government of the British Crown dependency of Guernsey. Some laws and ordinances approved by the ...

and

Regional Council of Brittany In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), an ...

required an additional ferry service to meet the demand for passenger and freight travel between the Channel Islands and France. The Jersey authorities had been attempting to encourage other companies to start a rival service to Condor, to maintain a competitive environment. In June 2007 HD Ferries announced that it planned to incorporate Alderney and

Cherbourg Cherbourg is a former Communes of France, commune and Subprefectures in France, subprefecture located at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French departments of France, department of Manche. It was merged into the com ...

into the route. Following a berthing trial in Alderney harbourmaster Steve Shaw gave HD Ferries the go ahead subject to certain conditions. The Alderney service never started.

Operations

HD Ferries made its first successful sailing to Cherbourg on 6 August 2007, marking the start of its new twice weekly service between Jersey/Guernsey and Cherbourg. The HD Ferries service grew its presence within the Channel Islands with an increasing amount of local residents, holiday makers and freight drivers using the service on a daily basis. During its short history, HD Ferries were involved in two collision incidents with Condor Ferries whilst the competitors' ships were alongside. Due to lack of customers, the Cherbourg link was soon dropped in favour of a direct link with Guernsey to St Malo. The direct St Malo to Guernsey link was dropped mid-August 2008 after about two months operating. HD Ferries proposed plans to operate a service alongside Condor Ferries on the northern routes to the UK mainland but this was another failure and never happened. The company would have had to secure at least one additional vessel to enable this.

Demise

HD Ferries ceased all services from 7 September 2008, after giving customers who had booked tickets 4 days notice. The company claimed that they would return in 2009. HD Ferries said on 12 February 2009 that "there are currently no sailings scheduled for 2009" - although they advised customers to check for updates regularly on the company's website. On 16 February 2009, HD Ferries officially announced that they would not be returning, leaving a parting blast at the Jersey authorities claiming a lack of support.

Fleet

''HD1'' is an Incat K series which is a high speed catamaran with top speeds of 45 knots. She has a capacity of 400 passengers and 100 cars, or 70 cars and 10 freight vehicles. ''HD1'' was sold in 2009 to the Korean company Dae A Express Shipping and was renamed ''Moon Flower''. In 2013 she was renamed ''HSC Orange'' and later ''Harmony Flower''. She operates in the

Yellow Sea The Yellow Sea, also known as the North Sea, is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean located between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula, and can be considered the northwestern part of the East China Sea. Names It is one of four ...

References

External links

HD Ferries Official site
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070110133201/http://www.hdferries.co.uk/ , date=10 January 2007 Ferry companies of Guernsey Ferry companies of Jersey Ferry companies of France Defunct shipping companies of the United Kingdom British companies established in 2007 2007 establishments in Jersey Companies disestablished in 2009 Defunct companies of Jersey 2009 disestablishments in Jersey