Classic Fast Ferries · 2 classicfast ferries 1 / 2004 news and articles about civil hydrofoils, hovercraft & catamarans n editor/publisher : tim timoleon n all articles, layout &

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CLASSIC FERRIES

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SAS: The Hovering Years

22 CLASSICCLASSICFFAST FERRIESFERRIES 1 / 2004

NEWS AND ARTICLES ABOUT CIVIL HYDROFOILS, HOVERCRAFT & CATAMARANS nEDITOR/PUBLISHER : TIM TIMOLEON n ALL ARTICLES, LAYOUT & ARTWORK PRODUCTION,EXCEPT WHERE NOTED : TIM TIMOLEON n PUBLISHED IN PDF FORMAT nWWW.CLASSICFASTFERRIES.COM n SUBMITTALS OF MANUSCRIPTS AND PHOTOS, OLD ANDNEW, AND RELEVANT NEWS ITEMS ARE ENCOURAGED! n EMAIL TO : CFF @ EMAIL.DK n COPYRIGHT 2000/2004 CLASSIC FAST FERRIES.COVER PHOTO : AP1-88/100 HOVERCRAFT LOMMEN ON THE PONTOON AT MALMÖ PRIOR TOCOMMENCEMENT OF SERVICE IN 1984 /TIM TIMOLEON photo

Alimare, a newly formed company based inReggio Calabria in the very south-west of Italy,has acquired an ex-Australian Rodriquez RHS140 hydrofoil, Spargi, from Sicilian fast ferryoperator Ustica Lines and is to introduce it onroutes across the Strait of Messina later thismonth. Keeping its name but having been repainted inAlimare colors, the 125-seat hydrofoil will act asa year-round airport shuttle between Aeroportodello Stretto, located just south of Reggio, and

Messina and Taormina in Sicily. The airport itselfwas temporarily closed in March this year forreconstruction and scheduled to reopen onApril 21, however, this date had to be pushedand consequently so was the introduction of theRHS 140 service delayed which was to coincidewith the reopening of the airport. As this issueclosed for press, a final date for the reopening/inauguration had yet to be confirmed. Alimare will also be employing another, largerhydrofoil previously part of the Ustica fleet this

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CLASSIC FERRIES

Alimare is to introduceRHS 140 Spargi acrossthe Strait of Messinafrom Reggio airport thismonth /ALIMARE photo

H y d r o f o i l s e n t e r s e r v i c e o n n e w a i r p o r t f e e d e r r o u t e s i n I t a l y

CLASSICCLASSICFFAST FERRIESFERRIES 1 / 2004 33

RHS 160 Calarossa, pictured here in Ustica Lines colors last year, will be introduced by Alimare in June on longer routes linking the airportat Reggio and the Eolie Islands /DANIELE ALLETTO photo

operated in Italy, the Caribbean and Spainbefore being acquired by Ustica Lines in1996 and introduced between Trapani insouth-west Sicily and the Egadi Islands. Ithas since been used also elsewhere on thecompany's route network. More recently, as more and largervessels have been added to the Usticafleet, both hydrofoils had been at thecompany's maintenance base in Trapanistanding by as reserve craft. n

summer on a longer route linking theairport and the Eolie Islands. A seasonalservice, the 170-seat vessel, RHS 160Calarossa, will be operated from June 15to September 15. Inter-island connectionswill also be offered. Scheduled journey times are 18 minutesto Messina, 40 minutes to Taormina and 1hour 50 minutes to the Eolie Islands. Atthe airport the hydrofoils operate to/from a point about 900m from theterminal building where a free bus transferwill be available. The hydrofoil timetablehas been composed to coordinate withflight arrivals and departures, for instance,it will leave Messina 55 minutes prior totake-off. Originally named Curl Curl, the RHS 140had been ordered by Port Jackson &Manly Steam Ship Company for itsSydney–Manly route and was shippedfrom the Rodriquez shipyard to Australiain 1972. It operated on Sydney harboruntil 1991 following which it returned toItaly in February 1992 having beenpurchased by Rodriquez's operatingcompany Aliscafi SNAV. The vessel neverentered service with this operatorhowever, but was sold on to Ustica Linesin 1995 which introduced it between theislands of Lampedusa and Linosa off Sicily'ssouth coast. Calarossa was built in 1974 as Lilau forFar East Hydrofoil in Hong Kong andfollowing ten years with them was later

Alimare will be operatingtwo Rodriquez hydrofoils on

routes across the Strait ofMessina and to the EolieIslands this summer. The

Airport–Messina shuttle willbe working year-round

/ALIMARE photo

& D E V E L O P M E N T S


Further to our report in the October2003 CFF, Victor Hugo reentered service,as planned, in April. The KværnerFjellstrand FlyingCat 35m catamaran wasacquired from a Norwegian operator byLe Conseil Général de la Manche at theend of 2002 and introduced betweenNormandy and the Channel Islands byConnex/Socièté de Navigation deNormandie last August. This season the 199-seat vessel is beingoperated from Diélette and Cherbourg onalternate days to the Channel Islands ofAlderney and Guernsey. Trip times are 60minutes for both Diélette–Guernsey (St.Peter Port) and Guernsey–Alderney, 45minutes Diélette–Alderney and 70–75minutes between Cherbourg andAlderney. The other catamaran acquired by CGM,in 2003, FlyingCat 40m Marin Marie, has

entered service further south and isoperating out of Granville to Jersey andGuernsey. Further south still and to the west newfaces are appearing in the Brittany port ofSt. Malo. Established operator EmeraudeLines is now known as Emeraude JerseyFerries following financial trouble and thesubsequent take-over by Sogestrantoward the end of last year. Moreover,Emeraude's flagship Kværner FjellstrandJumboCat 60m Solidor 5 delivered in 2000is currently grounded in a shipyard atCherbourg in a disagreement about who,the former or present owners, are to payfor the vessel's engine maintenance costs.It is believed the dispute will not be solvedany time soon. Planned to replace Solidor 5 on theSt.Malo–Jersey route in time for theEaster holiday was Incat 74m wave-

piercing catamaran Hoverspeed GreatBritain leased from Sea Containers, but theintroduction of this was delayed as somemodifications needed be carried out onthe vessel, likewise in Cherbourg, before itcould use the berth at St. Malo. Slightlyrenamed Great Britain the 450-passenger80-car wavepiercer should have nowentered service.

F r a n c e – C h a n n e l I s l a n d s U p d a t e


Emeraude JerseyFerries' JumboCat

60m catamaranSolidor 5 laid up atCherbourg on April

18, 2004/JACQUES

LEGANGNEUX photo

P&O Ferries has sub-leased Incat 91mwavepiercing catamaran Max Mols from

Mols-Linien renamed it Caen Express andintroduced it on the English Channel

between Portsmouth and Caen. It is seenhere arriving at Ouistreham on April 4

/JACQUES LEGANGNEUX photo


T

The newly refurbishedFlyingCat 40m Marin

Marie at Cherbourg inJuly last year. It has

since entered serviceout of Granville

/JACQUESLEGANGNEUX photo

Emeraude's other catamaran, Westa-maran 5000CF Aline, built by Westamarinin 1987 and acquired by Emeraude in1999 and until recently named Solidor 4,was used on the route in February andMarch when it suffered an engine failure.Even with this fixed the vessel's capacity of302 passengers and 40 cars is notadequate during the high season. With no Emeraude services operatingfrom late March, Condor Ferries, Channel

Islands' oldest fast ferry operator, wasgranted a permission to operate betweenJersey and St. Malo carrying cars, whichthe company had hitherto not beenallowed, from April 2. Allocated to theroute is Condor 10, another Incat 74mwavepiercer, delivered by the Tasmanianyard in 1993.

On a related note, P&O Ferries added asub-leased Incat Tasmania 91mwavepiercing catamaran from Danishoperator Mols-Linien to its cross-Channelroutes last month. Linking Portsmouthand Caen, in Normandy, the wavepiercerhas been named Caen Express by P&O butcontinues to carry also its Danish name

Max Mols. The vessel was originallydelivered as Cat Link IV to another Danishoperator, Scandlines Cat-Link, foroperation across the Kattegat in 1998,and has since seen service in as diverseplaces as between Canada and the UnitedStates in 2000 and Sweden and Latvia in2002. n

Condor Ferries' Incat 74m wavepiercing catamaran Condor 10 departing St. Malo in July 2002. A slightly modified corporate logo has sincebeen introduced by the operator /JACQUES LEGANGNEUX photo

FlyingCat 35mVictor Hugoreentered servicelast month and isseen arriving at St.Anne harbor onAlderney in theevening of April 16/JACQUESLEGANGNEUX photo


The three Morye Voskhod-2M hydrofoilsdelivered to Dutch operator Connexxion FastFlying Ferries in 2002, Voskhod 604, Voskhod 605and Voskhod 606 have been renamed Karla,Catharina Amalia and Rosanna. The vessels were given their proper names in aceremony held at Velsen on March 10. Thenaming ceremony was arranged in cooperationwith the Province of Noord-Holland, which is thegranting commission for the Velsen/ IJmuiden–Amsterdam hydrofoil service, and amongst theinvited guests were the minister of Verkeer andWaterstaat Karla Peijs, vice chairman of the boardof Connexxion directors Rob van Holten andrepresentatives of the Ukraine where theVoskhods were manufactured.

Two of the hydrofoils have been named afterpresent day females, the aforementioned ministerof V&W, Karla, and the daughter of Prins WillemAlexander and Maxima Zorrequita, CatharainaAmalia whereas Rosanna was the niece of engineerThomas Madison, one of many British meninvolved in the building of the Noordzeekanaalbetween IJmuiden and Amsterdam and whomConnexxion FFF wished to honor, includingRosanna who only lived to be 15. Two of the original FFF Voskhods, Annemarieand Archimedes, remain with the operator and arefor sale while a third was sold in Malaysia lastAugust. The sole Polesye hydrofoil, Meteoor II, islikewise still owned by the company and availablefor purchase. n


Decorated with flags andyellow and red and blue

balloons Connexxion FastFlying Ferries' three eye-

catching Voskhod-2Mswere finally named in aceremony at Velsen on

March 10/MARK VAN RIJZEN photo,

both

N u m b e r s n o m o r e o n D u t c h V o s k h o d s


A n e w s e a s o n f o r n o r t h a n d e a s t A d r i a t i c o p e r a t o r s


Slovenian operator Top Line, based in Portoroz,and Croatian operator Atlas residing in Dubrovnikhave signed a five-year contract to join forces inoperating fast ferries in the Dalmatian archipelagobetween Split and Dubrovnik. Atlas has beenoperating Kometa and Kolkhida hydrofoils fornearly forty years while Top Line introduced apair of Kolkhidas previously operated in Canada inthe north Adriatic between Portoroz and Venicein the summer of 2002. Last year Top Line operated the Kolkhidas,Adriatic Joy and Venice Carnival, from early May tomid-June when the Italian authorities requiredvoyage data recorders be installed in the vessels.Considering the cost for this and also newcompetition arriving in the area the operatordecided against continuing on the route with thehydrofoils, instead repositioning the craft toDalmatia having been chartered by Atlas as one ofits own hydrofoils had suffered an engine failureand needed be substituted. So as not to lose out on the Istria/Venicemarket, Top Line teamed up with two otheroperators, Venezia Lines and CommodoreCruises. Venezia Lines introduced a pair of CirrusCIRR 120P surface effect ships built in Norway in1990, San Frangisk and San Pawl, in May 2003 on a

seasonal service linking seven ports in Croatia andSlovenia and Trieste and Venice in Italy.Commodore has a Marinteknik Verkstads 41mmonohull Dora, originally delivered by the Swedishyard to Kvarner Express in 1989 as Iris andintroduced the following year in the south Adriaticbetween Paxos and Corfu in Greece and Brindisiin Italy. Also last year Top Line decided to change thepropellers on Venice Carnival by which its fuelconsumption dropped by more than 20% whilespeed increased from 36.5 to 41.5 knots. Verypleased with the results the shafts and propellerson Adriatic Joy have now likewise been changedand the first test run was to begin as this issueclosed for press. The company's involvement in the northAdriatic with Commodore and Dora continues thisseason also. n

The 41m monohull originally entered service between Italy and Greece withKvarner Express in 1990 and is seen here leaving Brindisi for Corfu in July 1992 /TIM TIMOLEON photo

M A I N P H O T O : MarinteknikVerkstads 41MPV Dora can be found inthe north Adriatic operating between the

Istrian peninsular and Venice/TOP LINE photo



Two former Norwegian fast ferries thatwere imported to Sweden last year arecurrently being prepared for service thissummer in the country's south-east. Built by Westermoen Hydrofoil forFosen Trafikklag in 1973 and the lastWestamaran 86 catamaran to operate ascheduled service in Norway, Kongsbussenwas acquired by a Swedish company andarrived in Stockholm in April 2003. At theend of the year it was sold to anothercompany, Bornholm Line, and transferredto Skillinge, a small fishing village in thesouth, for rebuilding and upgrading totrade on an international route. Yet to berefurbished and renamed at the end oflast month, the Westamaran is to enterservice on June 1 between Simrishamnand Allinge on the Danish island ofBornholm. Three daily return crossingsare scheduled until August 31, when theseasonal service stops, with a fourthevening roundtrip being added in July.Operational hours (in July) will be from0800 to 2130, the single journey takes 60minutes and cost SEK 140 adult, SEK 90child or SEK 110 for senior citizens. Theroute has been served on a seasonal basisby a variety of companies and catamaransin the past, however not during the lastcouple of summers. Also at Skillinge in late April beingextensively rebuilt to meet Swedishregulations was Fjellstrand 26m monohullVitaskär. Built in 1982 as Øydronningen thishad been operated in north Norway bySaltens D/S and Ofotens og VesteraalensD/S before being acquired last October

by Haglunds Shipping and taken toSweden. The monohull will enter servicefurther up the coast between themainland and the island of Hanö inAugust. At the other end, so to speak, Polishoperator Zegluga Gdanska will be runninga Kolkhida hydrofoil, Delfin IV, betweenPoland and Bornholm from July 3 toAugust 29. Delfin IV will make one dailyroundtrip to Nexø from Ustka on

Monday, Saturday and Sunday, fromDarlowo on Tuesday and Friday and fromKolobrzeg on Wednesday and Thursday.Trip times are 2½ hours from Ustka andtwo hours from Darlowo and Kolobrzeg. During the past three seasons anotherPolish company, KZP, KolobrzeskaZegluga Pasazerska, has operated anotherKolkhida, Delfin I, between Kolobrzeg andNexø, but it has been indicated that thiswill not return to the route this year. n

A B O V E : Being prepared for service in south-east Sweden and Denmark at the end oflast month were Fjellstrand 26m monohull Vitaskär (left) and Westamaran 86 Kongsbussen /TIM TIMOLEON photoB E L O W : Zegluga Gdanska's Kolkhida hydrofoil Delfin IV alongside at Nexø, Bornholmin July last year /LINUS ANDERSSON photo

S o u t h B a l t i c f a s t f e r r y d e v e l o p m e n t s


THE HOVERING YEARSS C A N D I N A V I A N A I R L I N E S S Y S T E M :

It's an unbelievable twenty years ago this Junethat Dampskibsselskabet Øresund, DSØ, and

Scandinavian Airlines System, SAS, introduced apair of British Hovercraft Corporation AP1–

88/100 hovercraft on a new cross-Øresundairport feeder service linking Malmö, Sweden and

Copenhagen Airport, Denmark.AP1–88/100 Liv Viking taking offat Malmö on a nice summer's day.Compare this view to the one onpage 14 /TIM TIMOLEON photo


almost equally hard to believe that tenyears have now passed since the last service onthe route by hovercraft was operated. The hovercraft idea had come about as SASwanted a direct and exclusive link for, mainly,business air travelers flying into or out ofCopenhagen Airport, which is located atKastrup next to the Øresund, and continuing onto or coming from Malmö. Hitherto, the mostpopular connections between the two pointshad been either a combination of hydrofoil orcatamaran and coach transfer between the fastferry terminal at Copenhagen and the airport,operated by DSØ and its Swedish counterpartSFL, or a through bus from downtown Malmöto the airport via the Limhamn–Dragør ferry. Athird possibility was SAS's Twin Otter shuttle,but this had become less attractive with peopletraveling from/to Malmö and southwestSweden with the relocation in the early 70s ofthe city's airport to Sturup some thirtykilometers from downtown Malmö.

pass through security controls and board theirflights right away at the airport – and vice versa. While the DSØ/SAS concept was new, aircushion vehicles were not entirely new to thearea as twelve years earlier a pair of 270-seatVosper Thornycroft VT.1 semi-amphibiousACVs had been briefly operated betweenMalmö and Copenhagen by a Swedish company,Centrumsvävarna, in the summer of 1972. Afew years later, in 1978, a company made up ofa group of fast ferry officers announced itintended to introduce an airport shuttlebetween Copenhagen Airport and Malmö usinga fleet of four 60-seat hovercraft. These plansnever eventuated.

AP1–88 – TAKING IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL

The new fully amphibious AP1–88 first wasannounced toward the end of 1980. Theprototype, designated AP1–88/80 and alteringsomewhat from the initial design drawings, was

Both the fast ferry/bus transfer and throughbus options were relatively time consuming.With the hovercraft alternative the terminal-to-terminal journey time was cut from betweensixty-five and ninety minutes to 35–40 minutesas the hovercraft was able to travel up onto therunway at Kastrup via a ramp – although it didnot go all the way to the terminal building. Also,travelers now could check in already at thehovercraft in Malmö, where an entire airport ofsorts was built, including checking their luggageright through to their final destinations withouthaving to worry any more about it as well as

completed in 1982 and entered commercialservice with Hovertravel on its Ryde–Southsea/Portsmouth route the following year. Developed by British Hovercraft Corporation,based in Cowes on the Isle of Wight, the newdesign was to take the hovercraft to the nextlevel, as compared to the then most widely usedbut ageing type, the SR.N6 Winchester, by, forexample, being of a welded marine aluminumconstruct and powered by four Deutz air cooledmarine diesel engines (two for lift and two forpropulsion) rather than the riveted aircraft lightalloy and single gas turbine of the former.

S A

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T H

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H O

V E

R I

N G

Y

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It is

AP1–88/100 Lommenabout to leave the

pontoon at Malmö ona crew training tripprior to the servicebeing introduced in

June 1984/TIM TIMOLEON photo


This meant a heavier but also more robustvehicle, lower production and running costs aswell as reduced noise level thanks to the dieselengines and twin ducted propellers. With a lenght overall of 21.4m, beam of10.1m and up to 90 plus seats in its ferry role,passenger capacity on the AP1–88 was morethan twice that of the SR.N6. Also contrary tothe SR.N6, the AP1–88 featured a raisedwheelhouse, among other things. Passengeraccess was through a door either side at thevery rear of the superstructure.

The order for the two Danish craft was placedby DSØ in May 1983. Due for delivery in thespring the following year, these were the secondand third production AP1–88/100s, with thefirst acting as a BHC demonstrator and the pairof pre-production AP1–88/80s before it havinggone to Hovertravel. On the production craftthe overall lenght was increased by 3m to24.5m and the beam to 11m, it featured alarger cockpit and also a number of technicaland structural modifications were adopted. A relatively low-density accomodation was

A B O V E : Activity in,around and on top of one

of the DSØ/SAS AP1–88/100s. The sign on thecockpit window says you

must wear soft shoes/ASI EUROPE photo

L E F T : Svalan prior tocommencement of theCopenhagen Airport–

Malmö service and beingrenamed Freja Viking/TIM TIMOLEON photo


opted for by SAS, with a total of 81 EuroClassand tourist class seats in a single SAS DC–9-stylepassenger cabin. Also equipped were a galleyand two washrooms. For passengers' checkedbaggage a system with detachable luggagecontainers carried aft on the deck on either sideof the cabin was chosen. At Malmö a 1,845 sq.m two-storey terminalbuilding was erected on the quay in only sixmonths. In addition to the facilities required tobe granted the status of an international airport,albeit compact, this featured a small duty-freeshop, a Scanorama lounge for EuroClass andFirst Business Class travelers and a restaurantfor everybody else. Docking arrangements was in the form of apurpose-built floating pontoon placed alongsidethe quay/terminal onto which the hovercraftwould park for passenger exchange. At Kastrup, apart from the aforementionedramp between the Øresund and runway, alikewise purpose-built fully equipped mainten-ance base was etsablished.

IN AND OUT OF SERVICE

The two craft, initially named Lommen andSvalan, made their delivery trips from Britain toDenmark under their own power. Lommendeparted Cowes on April 30, 1984 andcompleted the journey to Kastrup in five daystraveling along the coastlines of the Dutch andGerman West and East Frisian Islands and viathe Kiel Canal, whereas Svalan, which left onMay 22, was taken on a more northerly routearound the Jutland peninsular and still managedto make the trip in only four days. On arrival in Denmark a crew trainingprogram, of which indeed the delivery trips hadbeen part, was immediately initiated. Thesewere experienced DSØ/SFL hydrofoil andcatamaran crews. The hovercraft service was officially openedby Princess Christina of Sweden on June 14.Prior to this the vessels had been renamed LivViking and Freja Viking by SAS thus blending inwith the naming of its aircraft. Where BHC

A B O V E : Thehovercraft terminal at

Malmö included all thingsnecessary to be worthy

the name of aninternational airport,

although compact/TIM TIMOLEON photo

B E L O W : Both craft onthe opening day on June

14, 1984 having beenofficially (re)named FrejaViking and Liv Viking by

Sweden's PrincessChristina

/TIM TIMOLEON photo


DSØ's Rodriquez PT.50 hydrofoil Springeren(left), built in 1967, got the honor of filling in forthe hovercraft when these had to be pulled outof service for mechanical reasons a few weeks

into the new airport feeder service/TIM TIMOLEON photo

instance, concerns were expressed by theDanish nature conservancy association andmembers of the environmentalists organizationGreenpeace and others about the noise leveland routing of the hovercraft which, it was felt,were too high and close to the bird and sealcolonies on the small island of Saltholm situatedapprox. half-way between Denmark andSweden. Following discussions betweenSAS/DSØ and the Minister for the Environmentan agreement to partially reroute was reachedat the beginning of July. Then at the end of the month somemechanical trouble related to a vibrationproblem started to appear resulting in bothhovercraft being pulled out of service for sixweeks and replaced by oneof DSØ's hydrofoils, aRodriquez PT.50 deliveredin 1967. A Westamaran 95catamaran would later take overfrom the PT.50. Since obviouslynone of these could operate intothe airport itself a small harbor justnext to it had to be used withpassengers being transferred bycoach to/from the terminal building.

had somewhat left the aviation industry way ofthinking as far as the AP1–88 was concernedand looked upon the new design more as amarine vehicle, for SAS, perhaps not entirelysurprising, it was all very much an airline route. Revenue service on the 14 nautical mile routewas inauguarated the following day. Initially upto ten flights were operated in each directionbetween 07:30 and 22:10 on weekdays, but thetimes and number of services were alteredseveral times during the running-in. Some hick-ups were experienced not longafter the service had been introduced. For


One of the advantages with operatinghovercraft eyed by SAS at an early stage wasthat these can travel in almost any climaticcondition – including ice, as opposed tohydrofoils and catamarans. Little did anyoneknow that the winter of 1984/85 would provethe worst in the area in years with temperaturesdropping to well under –15 C, and stay there,resulting in the Øresund eventually freezing overgrounding the other fast ferries for months andpresenting difficulties also for the conventionalferries to maintain a scheduled service. However, it was not entirely a picnic for LivViking and Freja Viking either. For instance,before the sea got totally frozen over icegenerated by the spray would quickly build upon the craft in the low temperatures, and attimes the craft had to be de-iced after eachcrossing. Another problem was traveling over

rough ice with sharp edges which would shortenskirt finger life considerably.

THIRD CRAFT

Unusually for the area, similar although notquite as harsh winter weather conditions wouldoccur during the following years and it becameclear that in order to secure a reliable service allyear round a third craft was needed. This wasacquired in September 1988 and enteredservice in early 1989. Contrary to Freja Vikingand Liv Viking which had been built to DSØ/SASorder, this, Idun Viking, was the first AP1–88/100 off the production line, likewise in 1984,which, apart from acting as a demonstrationcraft for BHC, had seen service in BritishColumbia, Canada with HoverWest during Expo'86 in Vancouver as Expo Spirit.

S A S : T H E H O V E R I N G Y E A R S

A B O V E : Liv Vikingarriving at Malmö on a

late (and freezing!)afternoon crossing – or

flight, to use SASterminology – from

Kastrup/TIM TIMOLEON photo

R I G H T : Idun Vikingbeing inspected at Malmö

after having hit abreakwater and grounded

in September 1989/TIM TIMOLEON photo


The following year it was leased to a Norwegiancompany, Hovertransport, which introduced itin the Oslofjord in April 1987 serving OsloFornebu airport and other points on the fiord.Originally to have been a one-year lease, theservice came to a halt in November and thecraft returned to BHC. Some months into its Øresund career IdunViking made the headlines as approaching Malmöharbor late at night on September 4, 1989 it hita breakwater head-on and grounded. None ofthe crew or 53 passengers was severly injured,and all were rescued and taken ashore by aconventional ferry which was also just arriving atMalmö on a crossing from Copenhagen. Thehovercraft was lifted off the breakwater twodays later and brought to Malmö for inspection.

of the Swedish built Marinteknik 33mcatamarans, Ørnen, delivered to DSØ in 1986,received new seating and SAS logos on theoutside and was transferred from theCopenhagen–Malmö route to the airportservice. To accomodate the catamaran at theairport a new pier was built next to thehovercraft ramp and maintenance base. Soonbecoming first-choice vessel, this was thebeginning of the end for the three AP1–88s onthe route, for two years later, in August 1994,

COMPETITION AND HOVERCRAFTPHASE–OUT

Also in 1989 DSØ/SAS faced new competitionas a newly formed company, Fast Ferries,introduced a JetRider 3400 surface effect shipdesigned and built in Sweden and Norway byKarlskronavarvet and Westamarin betweenMalmö and the small harbor at Kastruppreviously used by DSØ/SAS. Although notreally an airport shuttle, Fast Ferries' weaponwas its much lower fares and also, contrary tothe hovercraft, anybody could travel on theJetRider whether they were flying or not. Thiscompetition lasted for only three months thoughas Fast Ferries' parent company ran into financialdifficulties and the service was closed toward theend of August. In 1991 another company, Bornholmer Pilen,likewise operated between Malmö and Kastrupfor a few months using a Westamaran 3700catamaran before transferring its activities to themore lucrative and user-friendly Malmö–Copenhagen route. With Idun Viking having joined the other twoAP1–88s only in 1989, a somewhat unexpecteddevelopment occured at the end of 1992 as one

A B O V E : TheMarinteknik Verkstads

33m catamaran Ørnen,delivered in 1986, was

transferred from DSØ'sCopenhagen–Malmö run

to the airport route in1992 thus foreshadowing

what was to come/TIM TIMOLEON photo

L E F T : Freja Viking andIdun Viking at the

maintenance base atKastrup. The airport hasdirect access to the sea

/TIM TIMOLEON photo

A pair of KværnerFjellstrand FlyingCat

40m catamarans, KrakaViking and Sifka Viking,were introduced in 1994

putting to an end tenyears of hovercraftoperation between

Copenhagen Airportand Malmö

/TIM TIMOLEON photo


they were made redundant with the intro-duction of a pair of 168-seat Fjellstrand single-deck FlyingCat 40m catamarans, Kraka Vikingand Sifka Viking. The AP1–88s however remained laid up atKastrup for another three years before beingacquired by Hovertravel in mid-1997. IdunViking was rebuilt to Hovertravel requirementand entered service, keeping its name, on theonly 4 nautical mile 10-minute Ryde–Southseacrossing, operated by the company since 1965,already during the following year. Freja Viking was put in storage, along with LivViking, in the Isle of Wight for the time being butthe former emerged as Island Express toward theend of 2001 having been completely rebuiltincluding re-engined with MTU water cooleddiesels for propulsion in place of the originalDeutz air cooled ones and is now designatedAP1–88/100S. Work on Liv Viking should nowbe in progress. Island Express continues to be operated acrossthe Solent whereas Idun Viking has moved tosomewhat more demanding surroundings andcan now be found in the Caspian Sea,Kazakhstan. Acquired by F H Bertling two yearsago, the craft sailed under its own power fromthe Isle of Wight on August 24, 2002 toOostende, Belgium where it was loaded onto aship to be transported to its final destination,incidentally, along with another AP1–88, apassenger/cargo AP1–88/300, previouslyoperated as a supply vessel in Angola, Brazil and

Peru by ASI Europe. A company engaged inhovercraft operations for the gas and oilindustry, ASI has offices in Wales, the Isle ofWight and Kazakhstan. The conditions andtemperatures Idun Viking (and its staff!) has toput up with in the north-east part of the CaspianSea varies between –40 and +40 degrees C. It iscurrently based in Tengis.

FIXED LINK KILLED THE CAT

The DSØ/SAS Malmö–Copenhagen Airportservice was altogether discontinued in 2000coinciding with the opening of the fixed linkbetween Denmark and Sweden. With a newhigh-speed rail service connecting downtownMalmö and the airport via the new bridge/tunnel every twenty minutes and using only 21minutes for the journey compared to the 40minutes used by the catamarans and bustransfer, there was no longer a market for aseaborne service. The two FlyingCats weresubsequently sold for operation in Mexico andshipped from Copenhagen in January 2001. The white and blue SAS hoverport building inMalmö still stands (as do the maintenancefacilities at Kastrup) and is currently being usedby various long distance coach operators. In factit is the only one left of once several ferryterminal buildings dotted along the quay thathave all been demolished one by one with thedemise of all ferry services running betweenMalmö and Copenhagen. n

B E L O W : Heading forthe future... of sorts... The

fixed link betweenDenmark and Swedenwhich opened in 2000meant goodbye to the

seaborne airport feederservice, and soon also the

rest of the fast ferriesoperating across the

Øresund/TIM TIMOLEON photo


W H E R E D I D T H E Y G O ?

Idun Viking was sold byHovertravel to F H

Bertling in August 2002and shipped to

Kazakhstan (right)where it is currently

operated in the CaspianSea by ASI Europe

(above + top) .Conditions here are a

bit different from thoseexperienced by the craft

while in the Solent . . .

A L L P H O T O S O N T H I S P A G E : A S I E U R O P E


Rebuilt and renamed Island Express, the former Freja Viking entered service with Hovertravel inlate 2001. It is seen here arriving at Southsea in September 2002 /Matthew Davies photo

Keeping itsname, Idun

Viking joinedHovertravel's

other AP1-88sacross the

Solent in 1998/ Edward Brian-

Davis photo

Liv Viking is thelast of theDSØ/SAS trio tobe refurbished toHovertravelstandards. Here itis still laid up onthe Isle of Wightin September2002 /MatthewDavies photo


C a t a m a r a n s o n F r a n c e ' s A t l a n t i c c o a s t

Three catamarans not previously reportedon here in CFF are those of Frenchoperator SMN, Socièté Morbihannaise deNavigation. The 194-seat Gourinis, a FjellstrandAlumaran 165, was originally built forNorwegian operator Saltens Dampskibs-selskab as Børtind in 1979 and acquired byCompagnie Morbihannaise et Nantaise deNavigation in 1987.

Dravanteg carries 182 passengers andwas built in France in 1991 by NavalAluminium Atlantique in Saint-Nazaire. Both catamarans are normally operatedout of Quiberon on Brittany's Atlanticcoast to the islands of Houat and Hoëdic.Crossing times are between 30 to 40minutes to Houat and 60 minutes toHoëdic via Houat.

The third catamaran in the SMN fleet,Locmaria 56, is a FlyingCat 40m deliveredin 1998 by Kværner Fjellstrand'sSingapore yard. The 376-seat vessel isbeing operated during the summermonths to the bigger island of Belle-Ile-en-Mer from either Quiberon or Lorientfurther up the coast. Transit times are 20minutes and one hour respectively. n

Pictured alongside atQuiberon and Lorient in

March this year are NAAcatamaran Dravanteg

(above) and FjellstrandAlumaran 165 Gourinis,

both of which immaculatelykept by SMN

/MATTHEW DAVIES photo, both


T h e r e w a s a t i m ew h e n t h e c l a s s i c f a s t f e r r i e s w e r e n e w s

B E C O M E P A R T O F T H E F U T U R E F A S T F E R R Y H I S T O R Y – S H A R E Y O U R N E W S W I T H R E A D E R S O F C L A S S I C F A S T F E R R I E S . T O D A Y A N D T O M O R R O W .


SHOT

: W H E N

: W H E R E

: W H Y

: W H O

A classic fast ferry line-up in a classic fast ferry port! Pictured alongside atBergen in the early 1980s are Westamaran 86 catamarans Fjordtroll and

Fjordglytt belonging to Fylkesbaatane i Sogn og Fjordane, FSF, and Øygarowned by Øygarden og Sotra Rutelag. Behind this is Bergen Nordhordland

Rutelag's Fjellstrand 31.5m catamaran Lygra. In the right front corner is halfof a Westermoen S75 monohull, Solundir, also in the FSF fleet.

A lot has changed since this picture was taken with Fjordtroll andFjordglytt, the latter of which was the first W86 built, in 1971, having beensold in Sweden in 1989 and 1995 respectively. The former Fjordglytt is still

active with the Swedish operator, however not as a fast ferry. The monohullwas sold in 1990. W86 Øygar was acquired by Hardanger Sunnhordlandske

D/S in 1986 and sold to another Norwegian company in 1995 which continuesto operate it on chartered tourist excursions on the fiords.

Bergen, Norway

Early 1980s

Lars Helge Isdahl photo

Documents

Classic Fast Ferries · 2 classicfast ferries 1 / 2004 news and articles about civil hydrofoils, hovercraft & catamarans n editor/publisher : tim timoleon n all articles, layout &