HSC ''Caldera Vista'' is an Incat-built high speed

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 ...

owned by

Seajets Seajets is a Greek/ Cypriot ferry company founded in 1989 by Marios Iliopoulos and his father Panagiotis. Seajets operates a fleet of passenger, freight ferry and cruiseferry services in the Aegean Sea. Seajets is one of Greece's leading ferry co ...

. The vessel was the first fast craft to bear a Manx name. She was also the sixth

Isle of Man Steam Packet Company The Isle of Man Steam Packet Company Limited (abbreviated to IoMSPCo or, locally, The Steam Packet ()) is the oldest continuously operating passenger shipping company in the world, having been founded in 1830. The company provides freight, p ...

vessel to bear the name ''Snaefell''.

History

''Caldera Vista'' was launched as ''Hoverspeed France'' for

Sea Containers Sea Containers was a Bermudan registered company which operated two primary business areas: transport and Shipping container, container leasing. It was founded in 1965 by James Sherwood and was initially focused on the leasing of cargo containe ...

, for use with

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 Se ...

, in 1991; and operated as the ''Sardegna Express'' on charter, before returning to Hoverspeed as the ''SeaCat Boulogne''. In 1994, she was again renamed to ''SeaCat Isle of Man'', and put on charter to the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company. She brought with her high charter fees and operation costs; and endangered the career of the , the latter being given a much needed lifeline when a freak wave in the River Mersey encountered by the ''SeaCat Isle of Man'' twisted the ship's bow and tore off the water-tight visor. The IoMSPC decided not to continue in chartering the ship from Sea Containers, and she was chartered out to ColorSeaCat as the ''SeaCat Norge''. She returned to Hoverspeed as the ''SeaCat Norge''; and when her owners bought out the IoMSPC in 1996, she returned to the Irish Sea as the ''SeaCat Isle of Man'' once again. Briefly going back to Hoverspeed from 1997 until 1998; she returned to the Isle of Man service from 1998 until 2005.

2007 accident

''SeaCat Isle of Man'' became ''Sea Express 1'', and operated for Irish Sea Express in 2005. The next year, she returned to the Steam Packet fleet. In February 2007, the vessel was involved in a collision with a cargo vessel in fog on the

River Mersey The River Mersey () is a major river in North West England. Its name derives from Old English and means "boundary river", possibly referring to its having been a border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. For centuries it h ...

. Nobody was injured, but the ship was seriously damaged, and took on a large volume of water. By the next day, the ship was stable. The first attempt to tow the ship across the river to drydock failed, but the second succeeded. In December 2007, whilst still under repair, the vessel was renamed ''Snaefell''.

Return to service

''Snaefell'' moved under her own power for the first time in over a year when she moved from the West Float in Birkenhead to the Pier Head Landing Stage, and then after a detour, headed out on trials which were expected to take three days, and took two. ''Snaefell''s first passenger sailing since her accident in 2007 was on 12 May 2008, with the 07:30 sailing to

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

. During her time as ''Snaefell'' she was conferred the status of

Royal Mail Ship Royal Mail Ship (sometimes Steam-ship or Steamer), usually seen in its abbreviated form RMS, is the ship prefix used for seagoing vessels that carry mail under contract to the British Royal Mail. The designation dates back to 1840. Any vessel de ...

. In May 2009, it was reported in the press that the company is continuing to review the future of the veteran fastcraft in the light of the increased capacity offered by ''Manannan'' and poor passenger numbers on the seasonal

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

and

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

routes. On 9 July 2009, an article was published on the Isle of Man Today website stating that Manx ministers were pleading with the Steam Packet Company after they confirmed they were reviewing the future of ''Snaefell'' and the services to

and

. This has to be balanced against the fact that the Steam Packet Company previously requested, and was granted, an extension to its User Agreement with the Manx Government. This requires them to provide over 60 sailings each year to Ireland until 2026. Any decision to cease operations to Ireland would therefore either nullify the Agreement or require significant non-performance payments from the Steam Packet.

Engine problems

In July 2010, ''Snaefell'' suffered a crank-shaft failure, causing one of her engines to fail. This caused major disruption, as she could not carry out her Liverpool, Belfast and Dublin sailings efficiently as they would take 4 to 5 hours. She continued to operate on three engines until September 2010, when the timetable allowed ''Manannan'' to cover her sailings.

Sale to Seajets

In January 2011, the Steam Packet company released a statement stating that ''Snaefell'' was no longer part of the operational fleet and would not return to service for the 2011 season. She was reported as being on sale in February 2011. The vessel was reflagged from the United Kingdom to

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

. In late April, the vessel was chartered to Seajets and renamed ''Master Jet''. She was then sold to the company in 2012. The vessel operated on the

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; ; , Ancient: , Katharevousa: ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens city centre along the east coast of the Saronic Gulf in the Ath ...

Paros Paros (; ; ) is a Greek island in the central Aegean Sea. Part of the Cyclades island group, it lies to the west of Naxos (island), Naxos, from which it is separated by a channel about wide. It lies approximately south-east of Piraeus. The Co ...

Naxos Naxos (; , ) is a Greek island belonging to the Cyclades island group. It is the largest island in the group. It was an important centre during the Bronze Age Cycladic Culture and in the Ancient Greek Archaic Period. The island is famous as ...

Koufonisia Koufonisia () are a small island complex and a former community in the Cyclades, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Naxos and Lesser Cyclades, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an ar ...

Amorgos Amorgos (, ; ) is the easternmost island of the Cyclades island group and the nearest island to the neighboring Dodecanese island group in Greece. Along with 16 neighbouring islets, the largest of which (by land area) is Nikouria Island, it compr ...

route as of 2015. In 2018 she was renamed ''Caldera Vista''.

Routes

In 2024, the vessel was chartered to African Marocco Link (AML), to operate between Algeciras and Tanger Med.

References

External links

Specifications- http://www.incat.com.au/domino/incat/incatweb.nsf/0/D57C7F8C7F684242CA25730000212024/$File/hull%20026%20mini%20spec.pdf?OpenElement
Snaefell Specifications - steam-packet.com

MAIB report into the collision of Sea Express 1 and Alaska Rainbow
{{DEFAULTSORT:Caldera Vista Ships of Seajets Ferries of the United Kingdom Ferries of the Isle of Man Ferries of Greece Merchant ships of Cyprus Incat high-speed craft 1990 ships Ships built by Incat