HSC ''Superexpress'' is a

wave piercing A wave-piercing boat hull has a very fine bow, with reduced buoyancy in the forward portions. When a wave is encountered, the lack of buoyancy means the hull pierces through the water rather than riding over the top, resulting in a smoother ri ...

catamaran A Formula 16 beachable catamaran Powered catamaran passenger ferry at Salem, Massachusetts, United States A catamaran () (informally, a "cat") is a multi-hulled watercraft featuring two parallel hulls of equal size. It is a geometry-stab ...

built by

Incat Incat Tasmania is an Australian manufacturer of high-speed craft (HSC) catamaran ferries. Its greatest success has been with large, sea going passenger and vehicle ferries, but it has also built military transports and since 2015 it has built s ...

, owned by

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

and chartered to

Viking Line Viking Line Abp is a Finnish shipping company that operates a fleet of ferries and cruiseferries between Finland, the Åland Islands, Sweden and Estonia. Viking Line shares are quoted on the Helsinki Stock Exchange. Viking Line is operated from ...

. During her delivery voyage on 9 June 1998, as ''Catalonia'', she set the record for the fastest Atlantic Eastbound Record, previously held by another Incat craft ''

Hoverspeed Great Britain HSC ''High Speed Jet'' is a ocean-going catamaran built in 1990 by Incat for Hoverspeed and currently owned by Seajets. In 1990, as ''Hoverspeed Great Britain'', she took the Hales Trophy for the fastest eastbound transatlantic journey, making ...

''. She made the run from

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, US to

Tarifa, Spain Tarifa (, Arabic: طريفة) is a Spanish municipality in the province of Cádiz, Andalusia. Located at the southernmost end of the Iberian Peninsula, it is primarily known as one of the world's most popular destinations for windsports. Tarifa ...

in 3 days 7 hours 54 minutes, traveling at an average speed of . During that same voyage, the ship became the first passenger ship to cover or more in one 24-hour period. In covering in one day, beating the . record set by SS ''United States'' in 1952. Six weeks later, sister craft HSC ''Fjord Cat'' took the record. As of January 2016

P&O Ferries P&O Ferries is a British shipping company that operates ferry, ferries from United Kingdom to Ireland, and to Continental Europe (France, Belgium and the Netherlands). The company was created in 2002 through mergers and acquisitions within P&O ...

announced that they would end the Larne-Troon service provided by HSC Express, this has ended 25 years of fastcraft service between Northern Ireland and Scotland.

Mediterranean service

Following her record-breaking

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

crossing, the vessel changed name to ''Catalonia L'' and entered service with

Buquebus Los Cipreses S.A., doing business as Buquebus, is a Uruguayan company that operates ferry services from Buenos Aires to Montevideo and Colonia. The company also operates a fleet of coaches to Termas del Arapey, Termas del Dayman, Salto, Urugua ...

between

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

and

Palma, Majorca Palma (; ; also known as ''Palma de Mallorca'', officially between 1983–88, 2006–08, and 2012–16) is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. It is situated on the south coast of Mallorc ...

and later between

Ceuta Ceuta (, , ; ar, سَبْتَة, Sabtah) is a Spanish autonomous city on the north coast of Africa. Bordered by Morocco, it lies along the boundary between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It is one of several Spanish territorie ...

Málaga Málaga (, ) is a municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 578,460 in 2020, it is the second-most populous city in Andalusia after Seville and the sixth most pop ...

and

Algeciras Algeciras ( , ) is a municipality of Spain belonging to the province of Cádiz, Andalusia. Located in the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula, near the Strait of Gibraltar, it is the largest city on the Bay of Gibraltar ( es, Bahía de Algeci ...

English Channel service

In 2000 she was chartered to P&O Portsmouth for service between

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

and

Cherbourg Cherbourg (; , , ), nrf, Chèrbourg, ) is a former commune and subprefecture located at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French department of Manche. It was merged into the commune of Cherbourg-Octeville on 28 Feb ...

replacing the smaller ''Superstar Express'' and adopted the trading name ''Portsmouth Express'' though her official name remained ''Catalonia''. Her first season as ''Portsmouth Express'' was marred by a series of serious technical problems which at one point resulted in the ''Superstar Express'' returning to the route from

P&O Irish Sea P&O Irish Sea was the trading name of P&O Ferries in the Irish Sea from 1998 to 2010, when it was rebranded P&O Ferries. History The P&O Irish Sea brand was formed in 1998 by merging the ferry operations of Pandoro Ltd (who operated freight-or ...

. The ship operated with P&O Portsmouth during the 2000, 2001 and 2002 summer seasons and returned to Buquebus for the rest of the year, in each summer season on the Cherbourg route the ship experienced a number of technical problems which often resulted in the ship running on three or less of its four engines. In 2002 the ship's marketing name became ''Express'' after P&O Portsmouth became part of

. In 2004 the ship was officially renamed ''Express'' but her marketing name became ''Cherbourg Express'' to differentiate the service from ''Caen Express'' which P&O started that year. In September 2004 the ship completed her final Portsmouth-Cherbourg sailing and the ship was laid up at A&P

Birkenhead Birkenhead (; cy, Penbedw) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; historically, it was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the south bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liver ...

Irish Sea service

In 2005 her charter was transferred to P&O Irish Sea and the ship once again replaced ''Superstar Express''. Prior to her entering service with P&O Irish Sea the Club Lounge was removed and standard seating installed with the Club Bar rebranded to P&O's Harbour Coffee Company. The large shop was divided into a smaller retail outlet, gaming area, quiet lounge and 'Poets' bar. ''Express'' sailed with P&O Irish Sea on the routes between

Troon Troon is a town in South Ayrshire, situated on the west coast of Ayrshire in Scotland, about north of Ayr and northwest of Glasgow Prestwick Airport. Troon has a port with freight services and a yacht marina. Up until January 2016, P&O Ferrie ...

Cairnryan Cairnryan ( sco, The Cairn;
gd, Machair an Sgithich) is a vi ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

and

Larne Larne (, , the name of a Gaelic Ireland, Gaelic territory) is a town on the east coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland, with a population of 18,755 at the United Kingdom census, 2011, 2011 Census. It is a major passenger and freight Roll-on/ro ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. In 2010 she began operating sailings from Larne to

Douglas Douglas may refer to: People * Douglas (given name) * Douglas (surname) Animals *Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking *Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civil W ...

on behalf of the

Isle of Man Steam Packet Company An isle is an island, land surrounded by water. The term is very common in British English. However, there is no clear agreement on what makes an island an isle or its difference, so they are considered synonyms. Isle may refer to: Geography * Is ...

during the

Isle of Man TT The Isle of Man TT or Tourist Trophy races are an annual motorcycle racing event run on the Isle of Man in May/June of most years since its inaugural race in 1907. The event is often called one of the most dangerous racing events in the world ...

season. Leaving Larne at 23:59 - arrive Douglas 2:44, Leave Douglas - 03:00 - Arrive Larne - 05:45. By doing this they have fitted it in around the normal timetable on the Larne - Cairnryan and Larne - Troon Routes. In 2013 ''Express'' received a £500,000 interior refurbishment which included reinstatement of the Club Lounge which was removed when the ship moved to the Irish Sea. From 2013 ''Express'' no longer makes a roundtrip between Larne and Cairnryan instead operating two roundtrips between Larne Harbour and

. The Express charter was not renewed after the summer season ending September 2015 and is believed to be heading to run on a Scandinavian route next year. She is currently laid up in Helsingborg (Feb 2016) her P&O livery has already been painted over. P&O announced on 13 January 2016 that the Troon-Larne service was to close with immediate effect.

Sister ships

''Express'' is one of four 91-metre wave piercing catamarans built by

but differs from the other three because of her addition lounge and large scenic window over the stern. The bridge of the ''Express'' and other Incat 91 metre craft is very similar to the Incat 81 metre craft Hull 038-Rapide, Hull 040-Stena Lynx 3, Hull 041-Diamant ; Sister ships * * *

References

External links

Incat hull 047

P&O Irish Sea Ferries official website

at ''VesselTracker'' , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Superexpress, HSC 1998 ships Blue Riband holders Ferries of Northern Ireland Ferries of Scotland Ferries of the United Kingdom Incat high-speed craft Ships built by Incat