HIGH SPEED JET (ΧΑΪ ΣΠΙΝΤ ΤΖΕΤ)

-Sea Jets

Built in 1990 (age 35). Registered in Piraeus. Current line: None (laid-up in Chalkida)

​

The high speed ferry HIGH SPEED JET was built in 1990 in Australia, having been originally ordered as the CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS for the British conglomerate Sea Containers. After she was launched, she was delivered as the HOVERSPEED GREAT BRITAIN. During, and was due to begin service under the SeaCat brandname. She made history by capturing the Blue Riband Challenge Trophy (also known as the Hales Trophy) for having made the fastest Eastbound Atlantic Ocean crossing, while performing her delivery voyage from New York to Falmouth, thus breaking the record which had been held by the former ocean liner SS UNITED STATES of the American company United States Lines for 38 years. She held the record until 1998, when it was surpassed by the Australian-built high speed ferry CATALONIA of the Argentinian company Buquebus (today known as the SUPEREXPESS of the Greek company Golden Star Ferries). During her debut season, she operated on the Cherbourg-Portsmouth line on the Channel. In 1991 she was deployed on the Boulogne-Calais-Dover line. From late 1992 to early 1993, she was briefly chartered to the Argentinian company Ferry Líneas Argentina, for whom she operated on the Buenos Aires-Colonia line, thus linking Argentina with Uruguay. She then returned to Europe and she was deployed on the Stranraer-Belfast line on the North Channel. In 1994 she returned to the Channel as she was deployed on the Boulogne-Folkestone line. In 2001 she moved to the Heysham-Belfast line on the Irish Sea, while in 2002 she returned to the Calais-Dover line. In 2003, following an engine failure she was laid-up in Birkenhead. In 2004 she was chartered to the French company Émeraude Ferries, being renamed ÉMERAUDE GREAT BRITAIN, and she was deployed on the St Malo-Jersey-Guernsey line. In 2005 she joined the newly-established company Aegean Speed Lines, and she was renamed SPEEDRUNNER I. After a refit in Croatia, she began service on the Piraeus-Serifos-Sifnos-Milos-Folegandros-Paros on the Cyclades. In 2006 she operated on the Piraeus-Serifos-Sifnos-Milos-Folegandros line, while in 2007 she was on the Piraeus-Serifos-Sifnos-Milos-Kimolos-Folegandros-Paros-Santorini line. In 2008 she was bought by the Greek company Panagiotopoulos Shipping (which became known as Idomeneas Lines in 2015) and she entered service for them on the Heraklion-Rethymnon Santorini line as the SEA RUNNER. In 2009 she operated on the Heraklion-Santorini-Paros-Mykonos-Tinos line, before being laid-up in 2010 in Keratsini due to technical issues and the poor financial situation of her owner. In 2011 she was sold to Sea Jets, being renamed COSMOS JET. After a refit in Elefsina, she was deployed on the Chania-Heraklion-Santorini line. Her season ended prematurely after suffering another major engine failure, which was never repaired and the ship was sent for lay-up in Keratsini. In 2013 she was sent for further lay-up in Chalkida, and in 2015 she was renamed HIGH SPEED JET. She has not returned to service since 2011, and her future remains uncertain.

​

PHOTOS (2024):

​

​