Fast cats
SWANSEA is bracing itself for a tourist bonanza thanks to a new high-speed ferry service linking the city with the South West of England.
Thousand of visitors are expected to make the trip every month from Ilfracombe to Swansea on two Flying Cat ferries, which will zoom across the Bristol Channel from next spring.
The crossing will take 50 minutes and cost around £22, with both vessels able to carry 360 foot passengers.
Business leaders on both sides of the channel hope the new service will deliver a much-needed shot in the arm.
The announcement follows confirmation that the Swansea-Cork ferry will resume sailing next March.
Swansea Docks are also in contention for a £20 million cruise liner refit, with a decision expected today or tomorrow.
Chris Marrow, the man behind the new Severn Link service, said he was confident of a huge demand for the Swansea-Devon route, which is expected to create around 50 jobs.
He said: "To my knowledge, there is no other comparable stretch of water in the world, linking similarly populated areas, which doesn't have a heavily utilised ferry service."
Mr Marrow, who has developed ferry services overseas, said the new link should boost the domestic holiday market, with greater scope for short breaks and day trips.
He added: "In addition I hope that Severn Link will become instrumental in helping to sustain the historic connections between the Celtic nations of Wales and Cornwall."
Swansea Council leader Chris Holley said: "A fast catamaran service from Swansea to Ilfracombe would be a boost for the city's tourism economy and would allow Swansea people easier access to the South West of England."
Severn Link chiefs said funding had come from a number of sources, but declined to say how much the venture has cost.
Although each boat can carry 360 people, they said the service was still assured with fewer passengers in the early stages.
They estimate running two return trips a day, with as many as five at peak times.
Plans to introduce other ferry links in South Wales and the South West of England will be announced in due course.
And they said they intended eventually to upgrade the Swansea-Ilfracombe link with a car ferry, but only if infrastructure work was carried out on the Devon side.
Councillor Holley added that the council would be talking to bus companies about providing transport from the port to the city centre, and that separate discussions about upgrading the port's facilities were underway.
Swansea West AM Andrew Davies was delighted about the new link.
"I wish it every success," he said.
67 Comments
View all
by ellie jay, swansea
Thursday, November 05 2009, 7:29AM
“this really does need to be a car ferry, thats why the waverly stopped being a success because the only place you could go to was Ilfracombe, I for one would use it regularly if it was a car ferry as have family in Devon.”
by geoff, Westcross
Tuesday, November 03 2009, 12:11PM
“Medusa
you s**t stiring LiL snake head
witch/warlock you hehe!
trying to keep this silly argument between myself and the"lunatic" from neath/p.talbot
may be funny to you and others out there ,but,iv moved on to other issues now,like the germ spreading badgers threatening bovine on the poor LiL Cows cya x hehe!!”
by Medusa, Abertawe
Tuesday, November 03 2009, 10:39AM
“Anti Welsh Language, Swansea, well with people like you I can understand why some might think that the (so-called) Welsh live in caves? You have such little etiquette, so common! Go in search of your ancestry you little pillock.
And Brian Morris, Neath Port Talbot: you little cretting you, being nasty to geoff, West Cross? BULLY.”
by geoff, Westcross
Tuesday, November 03 2009, 7:22AM
“this thread is no better than an unregulated msg..board
I admit that i can tease and wind the odd neath,p.talbot lot up.But there are calculated bullys out there waiting to pounce on ay one but their selves starts talking sense.hehe!!”
by Captain Pugwash, The Real World
Tuesday, November 03 2009, 2:40AM
“Swansea, shabby, run down post industrial city, population 250,000
Ilfracombe, pleasant, scenic, genteel seaside resort, population 10,000
It doesn't take a genius to work out just which side of the channel stands to gain the most from this venture.
The business people of North Devon will be rubbing their hand in anticipation at the generosity and stupidity of the fools in government on this side.”
by valleyboy, The Valleys
Monday, November 02 2009, 11:55PM
“I thought this thread was about the proposed ferry service between Swansea and Ilfracombe.
Unfortunately, it appears that this thread, like a lot of other threads on this Forum, descend into slagging each other off.
The threads start off ok, discussing the thread, but then someone starts slagging someone else off re: where they live in the Swansea area, who they vote for, if there's "Welsh" involved. It's amazing. I read Forums on a number of newspapers, and this is the worst for threads going off at a tangent, and attacking people. There would seem to be an awful lot of "aggro" out there in the Swansea area. Check out other newspapers for yourselves, this is the most aggressive, and childish. I have read so many posts in this Forum that end up a million miles away from whence they started.”
by geoff, Westcross
Monday, November 02 2009, 9:14PM
“brian
get yourself a good woman
that would sort you out
you seem very tense to me!!
I note you know how to spell A**h**e.tells me a lot about sad lonely old men like you hehe!
fa**ots come to mind!”
by Brian Morris, Neath Port Talbot
Monday, November 02 2009, 7:32PM
“Medusa - you little stirrer - we all know geoffy has exhausted his vocabulary in his last message so don't hope it's going to get any better. Oh one last thing geoffy, I know you're illiterate however I would have thought you would have known how to spell ars*hole having a boyfriend, it's not as*hole as you have typed - fool”
by Anti Welsh Language, Swansea
Monday, November 02 2009, 7:25PM
“Medusa, if you do not like living here in Wales - then go back to your birthplace London. If you think the London lot like the welsh you must have been living a very sheltered life there, because most londoners think the welsh still live in caves and walk around bare footed - so I don't know where you found londoners who liked the welsh from?? I have lived and worked in London and as I don't have a welsh accent bit was born in Bridgend, it was with amusement that I listened to the comments the londoners were making of the welsh colleagues. So being welsh yes WELSH I have my own views on how the welsh language is actually holding back Wales. The extra costs to support this dead language is taking much needed money that can be used in our hospitals, schools, Police forces and small businesses that need this money to keep jobs and develop jobs.
Welsh a dying language is a burden on the welsh that Wales can not afford. If there's anyone from the useless part-time Welsh Assembly Government that's reading these comments while being kept in luxury thanks to us taxpayers!!! Dump the welsh language support and the duplicity carried out by you wasters and save us welsh tax payers who work hard so that you can waste our taxes dump the duplicity and save millions...clowns!”
by Medusa, Swansea
Monday, November 02 2009, 7:07PM
“You tell him geoff, West Cross. Don't let that nit twit bully you x”