SeaCat
 |
|
| Limited company | |
| Industry | Passenger transportation |
| Fate | Dissolved |
| Founded | 1991 |
| Defunct | 2004 |
| Headquarters | Belfast, Northern Ireland |
|
Area served
|
Northern Ireland, Scotland, England |
| Owner | Sea Containers |
SeaCat was the marketing name used by Sea Containers Ferries Scotland for its services between Northern Ireland, Scotland and England between 1992 and 2004. The company was originally based in Stranraer later moving to Belfast. The name originates from the use of high-speed catamaran ferries.
SeaCat announced that they would open a service from Belfast to Stranraer in Scotland. The route would take just 90 minutes, berth to berth. On 1 June 1992 the service opened using SeaCat Scotland, a fast 74 metre Incat craft built in the same year.
Services to Stranraer ran smoothly until Stena Line announced in November 1995 they would move to Belfast from Larne and operate to Stranraer. In 1999 SeaCat was feeling the pinch of the growing success of the Stena HSS and on 29 April that year began a daily service to Troon alongside the Stranraer service. Dumfries and Galloway council requested that SeaCat dropped the Troon link in favour of Stranraer, or else SeaCat would have to vacate Stranraer by 2000. SeaCat ceased operations to Stranraer on 13 March 2000; however, there was an agreement in place that SeaCat could use the port in the "event of an operational need".
In 2003, P&O Irish Sea began to serve Troon on a seasonal basis, in direct competition to SeaCat. SeaCat incurred losses, despite the service being far more popular than that run by P&O and being a year-round service. By December 2003 the SeaCat service switched to being a seasonal service. The 2004 season started on 12 March and ended on Monday 1 November 2004.
In January 2005 SeaCat announced they were to 'review the service' and a 'definitive' decision would be made within 30 days. On 7 February 2005, SeaCat closed their 12-year-old service.
When SeaCat were reviewing their service they expressed views on how the shipping industry underwent immense change.
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Wikipedia