Holyman was an Australian company that operated cargo ships and ferries in Australia and other countries. The company had three divisions; Domestic shipping and transport services, Ferries and Bulk commodity handling. The company was founded in 1994 when the Shipping and Development Division of

TNT Troponin T (shortened TnT or TropT) is a part of the troponin complex, which are proteins integral to the contraction of skeletal and heart muscles. They are expressed in skeletal and cardiac myocytes. Troponin T binds to tropomyosin and helps ...

was spun-off and floated on the

Australian Securities Exchange Australian Securities Exchange Ltd (ASX) is an Australian public company that operates Australia's primary Exchange (organized market), securities exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (sometimes referred to outside of Australia as, or c ...

. Assets in the original float included a gas pipeline, a coal loading terminal, bulk ore carriers, bulk sugar carriers, a 50% interest in

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 premium commuter ferry service, Express Navigation in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. Not long after the float, the company expanded its presence in the fast ferry industry by taking a 75% stake in Cat-Link, a start-up ferry operation in Denmark.Holyman looks to global growth with fast cats
''Australian Financial Review'' 16 March 1996 The fast car ferry revolutionised transport in Denmark, and the start-up took at 25% market share during its first summer season. In the same year, it redeployed one of its fast ferries to New Zealand during the Northern Winter / Southern Summer, operating from

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

to Picton. The company also expanded its US holdings by acquiring a stake in Catalina Cruises, which operated ferries between

Long Beach Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

and

Avalon Avalon () is an island featured in the Arthurian legend. It first appeared in Geoffrey of Monmouth's 1136 ''Historia Regum Britanniae'' as a place of magic where King Arthur's sword Excalibur was made and later where Arthur was taken to recove ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. To take that holding, Holyman devised an innovative ownership approach, delivering effective financial and management control, while still remaining within the highly restrictive Jones and Passenger Services Acts, laws that prevent foreign ownership of US Domestic shipping interests. The intention was to replicate that structure in investment in other lucrative US domestic ferry opportunities. In 1997, Holyman over-reached, acquiring a 67% interest in

Sally Line Sally Line UK (sometimes referred to as Sally Ferries UK) was a British ferry operator on the English Channel and North Sea. History Sally Line was founded in 1981 by Michael Kingshott as a subsidiary of the Finland-based Rederi Ab Sally, and ...

, which operated an

English Channel The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...

ferry between

Ramsgate Ramsgate is a seaside resort, seaside town and civil parish in the district of Thanet District, Thanet in eastern Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century. In 2021 it had a population of 42,027. Ramsgate' ...

, England and

Ostend Ostend ( ; ; ; ) is a coastal city and municipality in the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerke, Raversijde, Stene and Zandvoorde, and the city of Ostend proper – the la ...

, Belgium. It replaced the conventional vehicular ferry with a fast

Incat Incat Tasmania is an Australian manufacturer of high-speed craft (HSC) catamaran ferries. Its greatest success has been with large, sea going passenger and vehicle ferries, but it has also built military transports and since 2015 it has built s ...

built ferry. For a brief time, at its apogee, Holyman was the world's leading fast vehicle ferry operator. The Holyman Sally route was unable to attract sufficient revenue to make the service profitable. Weather conditions and technical issues with the Incat vessel also hampered operations, and ten months after Holyman Sally commenced, the company was in trouble. The poor financial performance of Holyman Sally was almost identical to financial projections prepared during the early analysis of the route's viability by Holyman's development team but these early analyses were dismissed as being too conservative, and the Managing Director pressed on with the project. At the same time, marketing inertia from local management, coupled with technical and environmental issues, meant Cat-Link also began to lose money. In July 1999, Adsteam made a takeover offer for Holyman. In October 1999, Lang Corporation made a counter takeover offer that was successfully completed in 2000. It was delisted from the Australian Securities Exchange on 25 January 2000.

History

*1994: Founded when the Shipping and Development Division of

was spun-off *1995: Acquired Townsend Deliveries *1995: Commenced Cat-Link fast car ferry operation between

Aarhus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus municipality, Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and app ...

and

Kalundborg Kalundborg () is a Danish city with a population of 16,659 (1 January 2025),Long Beach, California Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

*1997: Commenced joint fast car ferry operation with

*1998: 50% stake in

sold to Commodore Shipping *1999: 50% stake in

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 ...

sold to Sea ContainersTo Sell UK Ferry Business
Holyman 23 August 1999 *1999: American ferry operator Express Navigation sold to Sea Containers *2000: Holyman acquired by Lang Corporation

References

{{reflist Companies based in Melbourne Companies formerly listed on the Australian Securities Exchange Shipping companies of Australia Australian companies established in 1994 Australian companies disestablished in 2000