Hoverspeed

Hoverspeed
Industry	Passenger transportation
Predecessor	Seaspeed & Hoverlloyd
Founded	25 October 1981
Defunct	7 November 2005
Fate	Dissolved into Norfolkline
Headquarters	Dover, England
Area served	English Channel
Key people	Geoffrey Ede, Managing Director
Number of employees	530 (Permanent); 350 (Seasonal)
Parent	Sea Containers

Hoverspeed was a ferry company that operated on the English Channel from 1981 until 2005. It was formed in 1981 by the merger of Seaspeed and Hoverlloyd. Its last owners were Sea Containers; the company ran a small fleet of two high-speed SeaCat catamaran ferries in its final year.

Hoverspeed played a part in developing the hovercraft, and ran six SR.N4 Mountbatten class hovercraft and one SEDAM N500 Naviplane. Hoverspeed last operated hovercraft on its Dover to Calais service. They were withdrawn on 1 October 2000 and Hoverspeed continued to use Seacat catamarans built by Incat.