The post you are reporting:
From Lloyds List. Trouble is no-one has a clue what ferry it could be !!
EUROFERRIES has announced plans to launch a new Ramsgate-Boulogne high speed service as early as March.
The company, which failed in its efforts to launch a Dover-Calais service in 2006, said in a website announcement that it would be using a 98m "state of the art" fast ferry to launch the service but did not identify the vessel.
In 2006, Euroferries had been planning to use the then US-owned Spirit of Ontario to start its Dover-Calais service but failed to conclude the purchase of the vessel from the city of Rochester in New York state.
After long, unexplained delays by Euroferries, the 86.6 m vessel was finally sold to Germany's Förde Reederei Deutschland (FRS) for $30m in May 2007. It is now in service for FRS Maroc under the name Tanger Jet II.
SpeedOne, the catamaran used by recently collapsed Dover Strait ferry operator SpeedFerries for its Dover-Boulogne service, is on the market but its 86 m length would indicate that it is not the right vessel for Euroferries.
The company, which was headed at the time of its previous attempt to break into the English Channel ferry market by former Hoverspeed chief executive Geoffrey Ede, indicated that it intended to start the new service at an undisclosed date in the spring.
It said yesterday that it was currently working on fares and timetables and would be making more information available "imminently".
Former UK shipping minister and MP for Thanet Stephen Ladyman, who was involved in negotiations between Euroferries, the port of Ramsgate and Thanet Council, revealed that the ferry to be used for the new service was due in Ramsgate in mid-February, with a view to going into service on March 1.
He hailed the planned new service as "great news for Ramsgate and East Kent" but warned against jubilation before it got under way.
"I'll breathe a sigh of relief when I see the service started," he said. "We should save our celebrations until then."
If it does start as planned, the new service risks finding itself in competition from the start with a new Dover-Boulogne service planned by Louis Dreyfus Armateurs' ferry and ro-ro subsidiary LD Lines.
The service, originally announced for the summer, is now reported to be set for launch early next month.