Hoven/0ns doomed by takeover?
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• Hoverspeed's bid to launch a cross-Channel accompanied freight service looked likely to die an early death this week, following British Ferries' acquisition of the company.
British Ferries, Sealink's American parent company, has paid approximately £5 million for the management-owned cross-Channel hovercraft operator and is making no firm commitment to how it will operate the business after the end of this year.
Hoverspeed finance director Tim Redburn is being made managing director of the company, which will remain otherwise unaltered for the rest of this year.
After that, British Ferries wants to remove the overlap between the hovercraft and conventional ferry services run by the group so that it can compete against the Channel Tunnel.
The five operational craft run by Hoverspeed on its Dover-Calais/Boulogne crossings have an estimated life of five years ahead of them, after which the new owner hopes "wave piercing" catamarans will have been developed sufficiently to replace them.
The three smaller craft may have their vehicle accommodation removed so that British Ferries can use them in place of conventional ferries for foot passengers using connecting rail services.
That leaves major doubts hanging over the future of Hoverspeed's plans to expand its share of cross-Channel freight traffic.
It has been carrying TNT 'pee, Securicor, National C: riers-Roadline and Lep Inte national vans on its service: as a means of compensatnu for low passenger demand peak and announced plans ii April for an accompanied ex press parcels service marketed jointly with a Kent express van firm.
That service, operated b! Wheeltrak UK of Canterbur has started, but negotiation: with Roads, the Winchester based hauliers' co-operative have failed so far to expand beyond London and South-1 England.
British Ferries was unabli to give any indication of the future of these plans when CM contacted it this week, it is hard to see where they would fit into a passengerbiased hovercraft operation.