''Super Runner Jet'' is a fast ferry owned and operated by

Seajets Seajets is a Greek/ Cypriot ferry company operating passenger and freight ferry services in the Aegean Sea. History Seajets was established in 1989. Today, it operates a fleet of 14 high speed vessels, and 3 conventional Ro-Ro ferries which serv ...

. She was built in 1999 at

Fincantieri Fincantieri S.p.A. () is an Italian shipbuilding company based in Trieste, Italy. Already the largest shipbuilder in Europe, after the acquisition of Vard in 2013, Fincantieri group doubled in size to become the fourth largest in the world (2014 ...

Riva Trigoso Riva may refer to: People * Riva (surname) * Riva Castleman (1930–2014), American art historian, art curator and author * Riva Ganguly Das (born 1961), Indian diplomat * Riva (footballer), Brazilian former footballer Rivadávio Alves Pereir ...

, Italy, for

Sea Containers Sea Containers was a Bermudan registered company which operated two main business areas: transport and container leasing. It filed for bankruptcy on 16 October 2006. In 2009 its maritime container interests were transferred to a new company SeaCo ...

, but entered service only in 2000 for Sea Container's subsidiary

Silja Line Silja Line is a Swedish-Finnish cruiseferry brand operated by the Estonian ferry company AS Tallink Grupp, for car, cargo and passenger traffic between Finland and Sweden. The former company Silja Oy—today Tallink Silja Oy—is a subsidiary ...

. In 2006 she was transferred to another Sea Containers subsidiary, SuperSeaCat. In 2009 she began service with

Aegean Speed Lines Aegean Speed Lines is an inactive Greek ferry company that was operating high-speed ferry services between Piraeus and the Cyclades. History Aegean Speed Lines were formed in 2005 as a joint venture between Sea Containers and the Eugenides Gr ...

between

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; el, Πειραιάς ; grc, Πειραιεύς ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens' city centre, along the east coast of the Saronic ...

Serifos Serifos ( el, Σέριφος, la, Seriphus, also Seriphos; Seriphos: Eth. Seriphios: Serpho) is a Greek island municipality in the Aegean Sea, located in the western Cyclades, south of Kythnos and northwest of Sifnos. It is part of the Milos reg ...

Sifnos Sifnos ( el, Σίφνος) is an island municipality in the Cyclades island group in Greece. The main town, near the center, known as Apollonia (pop. 869), is home of the island's folklore museum and library. The town's name is thought to come f ...

Milos Milos or Melos (; el, label=Modern Greek, Μήλος, Mílos, ; grc, Μῆλος, Mêlos) is a volcanic Greek island in the Aegean Sea, just north of the Sea of Crete. Milos is the southwesternmost island in the Cyclades group. The ''Venus d ...

Kimolos Kimolos ( el, Κίμωλος; la, Cimolus) is a Greek island in the Aegean Sea. It lies on the southwest of the island group of Cyclades, near the bigger island of Milos. Kimolos is the administrative center of the municipality of Kimolos, which ...

Folegandros Folegandros (also Pholegandros; el, Φολέγανδρος) is a small Greek island in the Aegean Sea that, together with Sikinos, Ios, Anafi and Santorini, forms the southern part of the Cyclades. Its surface area is and it has 765 inhabitant ...

and

Sikinos Sikinos ( el, Σίκινος) is a Greek island and municipality in the Cyclades. It is located midway between the islands of Ios and Folegandros. Sikinos is part of the Thira regional unit. It was known as Oenoe or Oinoe ( grc, Οἰνόη, ...

, as well as

Paros Paros (; el, Πάρος; Venetian: ''Paro'') is a Greek island in the central Aegean Sea. One of the Cyclades island group, it lies to the west of Naxos, from which it is separated by a channel about wide. It lies approximately south-east of ...

and

Naxos Naxos (; el, Νάξος, ) is a Greek island and the largest of the Cyclades. It was the centre of archaic Cycladic culture. The island is famous as a source of emery, a rock rich in corundum, which until modern times was one of the best abr ...

. In 2016, she was sold to

Golden Star Ferries Golden Star Ferries is a Greek ferry company operating from the Greek mainland to the Cyclades islands in the Aegean Sea. Golden Star Ferries was founded in 2011 by Andriot brothers Giorgos and Dimitris Stephanou, who also own the ''Bright Navi ...

and renamed it ''Super Runner''. In June 2021

sold to

her ships ''Superferry II'', ''Superspeed'', ''Supercat'' and ''Super Runner''.

renamed it ''Super Runner Jet''.

History

''SuperSeaCat Four'' was the fourth and last mono-hulled fast ferry to be built for

. Originally it was planned that she would be set in traffic between

Brindisi Brindisi ( , ) ; la, Brundisium; grc, Βρεντέσιον, translit=Brentésion; cms, Brunda), group=pron is a city in the region of Apulia in southern Italy, the capital of the province of Brindisi, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. Histo ...

, Italy and

Çeşme Çeşme () is a coastal town and the administrative centre of the district of the same name in Turkey's westernmost end, on a promontory on the tip of the peninsula that also carries the same name and that extends inland to form a whole with the ...

, Turkey. The plan was abandoned however, and after delivery in May 1999 SuperSeaCat Four was laid up in

La Spezia La Spezia (, or , ; in the local Spezzino dialect) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy. La Spezia is the second largest city ...

, Italy. In 1999 Sea Containers acquired the majority of shares in classic Finnish shipping company

. Silja were at the time operating traditional ferries on the highly lucrative route between Helsinki and Tallinn, the capitals of Finland and Estonia respectively, but had no fast ferries operating on the route. Sea Containers decided to set their extra SuperSeaCat on that route, and from 17 April 2000 onwards SuperSeaCat Four sailed on the route under Silja Line SuperSeaCat brand. Due to the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...

freezing during winter, the service could not be operated between January and April each year. The ship spent those months laid up. In 2003 Sea Containers added a second SuperSeaCat to the route, HSC ''SuperSeaCat Three''. For the summer season of 2005 a third ship, HSC ''SuperSeaCat One'' was added to the service. In late 2005 Sea Containers decided to sell all of their ferry operations, including the profitable Silja Line. Silja Line was sold to the Estonian ferry operator

Tallink Tallink () is an Estonian shipping company operating Baltic Sea cruiseferries and ropax ships from Estonia to Finland, Estonia to Sweden to Sweden and Finland to Sweden. It is the largest passenger and cargo shipping company in the Baltic Sea r ...

, who already operated several fast and conventional ferries between Helsinki and Tallinn. Taking over the SuperSeaCats would have given them a

dominant market position Market dominance describes when a firm can control markets. A dominant firm possesses the power to affect competition and influence market price. A firms' dominance is a measure of the power of a brand, product, service, or firm, relative to c ...

on the route. Because of this the SuperSeaCats were branched off from Silja to form a separate company, SuperSeaCat. In 2008, ''SuperSeaCat Four'' was sold to

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

company

, along with her sister ship ''SuperSeaCat Three''. Both ships remained in service between Helsinki and Tallinn. However, in 2009, the company decided to bring both ships to Greek service. The ''SuperSeaCat Four'' arrived on June 17, 2009, was renamed ''Speedrunner IV'' and began service on her owner's main service: the

line, which she also served in 2010 and 2011. In 2012, her service was only limited to Serifos, Sifnos and Milos, and in 2013 she was laid-up in

Eleusis Elefsina ( el, Ελευσίνα ''Elefsina''), or Eleusis (; Ancient Greek: ''Eleusis'') is a suburban city and Communities and Municipalities of Greece, municipality in the West Attica regional unit of Greece. It is situated about northwest ...

Bay due to her company's economic difficulties. She returned to service the following year, operating on the

line for the summer. In 2015 she returned to service in Serifos, Sifnos and Milos, while in 2016 her service was extended to Kimolos, Folegandros and

. After the summer of 2016, the ''Speedrunner IV'' was sold to Greek company Golden Star Ferries. She is due to enter service with them in 2017, operating from

Rafina Rafina ( el, Ραφήνα) is a suburban port town located on the eastern coast of Attica in Greece. It has a population of 13,091 inhabitants (2011 census). Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Rafina-Pikermi, of ...

to the

Cyclades islands The Cyclades (; el, Κυκλάδες, ) are an island group in the Aegean Sea, southeast of mainland Greece and a former administrative prefecture of Greece. They are one of the island groups which constitute the Aegean archipelago. The nam ...

under her new name, ''Superrunner''. In June 2021 ''Super Runner'' sold to

and renamed it ''Super Runner Jet''.

Gallery

Image:SuperSeaCat Four Helsinki 2007.jpg, ''Superseacat Four'' in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

Image:Superseacat Four Kustaanmiekka.jpg, ''Superseacat Four'' in the Kustaamiekka Strait

References

External links

SuperSeaCat Four at Fakta om Fartyg
(in Swedish) {{DEFAULTSORT:Super Runner Ships of Seajets Ferries of Greece Ferries of Finland Ferries of Estonia Ships built in Italy MDV 1200-class fast ferries Ships built by Fincantieri 1998 ships et:SuperSeaCat (laev)