HSC FastCat Shanklin

HSC ''FastCat Shanklin'' is a high speed catamaran ferry which operated between the Isle of Wight and mainland England. She operated on the Wightlink Ryde Pier to Portsmouth route from 2000 to 2009 along with her sister ship HSC ''FastCat Ryde''. Prior to working for Wightlink, the ship worked in Singapore and was named ''Water Jet 2''. In 1999, the year before it was sold to Wightlink, its name was changed to ''Supercat 18''.

From early autumn 2009, Wightlink took delivery of two new vessels to operate the route, ''Wight Ryder I'' and ''Wight Ryder II''. Both the ''FastCat Shanklin'' and ''FastCat Ryde'' were retained by Wightlink until 2010, due to teething problems which occurred with the new vessels. They were then sold on to new owners Severn Link. In January 2010, the ''FastCat Shanklin'' was re-painted into a new livery for use with Severn Link travelling between Ilfracombe and Swansea as part of a new catamaran service with a shorter travel time of 50 minutes. The re-paint occurred in Portsmouth Harbour and shortly afterwards the ferry departed for Swansea. On 29 January 2010 the ship arrived in the Bristol Channel and visited Ilfracombe before heading to Swansea Docks. After arriving there it received an interior refurbishment. However the proposed ferry service failed to start as stated by Severn Link at Easter 2010.

By August 2010 the planned ferry service had been postponed indefinitely and ''FastCat Shanklin'' was put up for sale along with her sister ship ''Rapparee'' (formerly ''FastCat Ryde''). On 3 August she moved from Swansea to Hythe, Hampshire. In May 2011, having been sold to Alien Shipping, a Russian company, the two craft were transported to the Black Sea on board the ''Beluga Fantasy''.

References

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Ferries of England
Ferry transport on the Isle of Wight
1996 ships
Individual catamarans