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The three Stena HSS vessels are just under twice the size of the new LD Lines Incat. They are gas turbine powered and the fuel prices have made them horrendously expensive to run. The one on the North Sea has been retired and the two on the Irish Sea are living on borrowed time. Shame because they were revolutionary when they came out and were the reason for Stena pulling out of Dover and leaving it to P&O. I don't think there was ever any serious intention to run an HSS from Dover as they require specialised berths at either end and the time saving on the short sea crossing was not worth the trouble, particularly with the frequent congestion delays at both ends eroding any benefit.
LD said they would not rescue Speed One when they sank into the financial morass, as every fast craft from Dover, and pretty well everywhere else, had done before them. They said that it was not possible to make money on a fast craft which could not carry freight. The one they are chartering from Incat is much larger than Speed One and can indeed carry a certain amount of freight. At 11,000 gross tonnes, she is somewhat larger than the generation of conventional ferries built at the start of the eighties, of which the SeaFrance Renoir is the last passenger ferry survivor. Rather cheekily, they are going to name her the "Norman Arrow," one in the eye for P&O and the others.
She has four 9,000 kW diesels to give her a speed of 40 knots. Obviously they have done their sums but it will be interesting to see if the proceeds merit the fuel consumption. For comparison, this is almost exactly the same installed power as that on the Maersk D's, which are over three times the size with all which that implies for carrying capacity. They can achieve 25 knots but, in common with all other companies, have extended the journey time marginally to complete it at a lower speed since a reduction of just a few knots dramatically reduces the fuel consumption. Apart from manoeuvring at either end, when all four engines are required, they rarely use more than two engines on passage except when needing to make up time.