British Rail Sealink Ltd

RETURN TO THE HOMEPAGE RAILWAY BRITAIN

Historically, the shipping services were exclusively an "extension" of the railways across the English Channel and the Irish Sea in order to provide through, integrated services to Europe and Ireland. The Big Four railways and their predecessors had developed the main ferry crossings.

Britain’s railway companies owned and operated a wide range of ships from 1846 to 1984. During that time, a total of about 60 operating companies owned some 1,250 ships of different types, including tugs, dredgers, estuary and cross-channel ferries, and pleasure steamers, according to their needs. This was investment on a massive scale, and at least as far as many of the larger companies were concerned, emphasized on the utmost importance they placed on extending their services across the water by providing ships capable of making comfortable and reliable short sea crossings.

To provide for this business, it was sometimes necessary to construct special harbours with connecting railways. They often gave rise to the need to own tugs, dredgers and other harbour craft. Pleasure steamers assumed a position of strategic importance only in a few railway owned fleets, especially on the Clyde. There was also some railway ownership of canals.

From the mid-1840s, railway companies could seek parliamentary powers to run steamers, but had to stipulate specific routes. The LSWR gained powers for services to the Channel Islands and Le Havre in 1848. From 1863 the power to run passenger steamers was freely granted to railway companies collectively, but individual routes still had to be specified. Pure cargo operations were subject to separate arrangements. These provisions were not altered until the British Railways Act 1967, which at one stroke swept away the conditions imposed by all previous Acts by enabling the Railways Board to operate services on any routes it wished.

As railway amalgamations took effect, ships and routes passed from owner to owner without the need for further applications for shipowning powers. There were changes in funnel colours and liveries. After the Grouping of 1923 the Big Four companies began to effect a high degree of ship standardisation, which was continued after nationalisation in 1948.

Joint operations with overseas railway companies was not uncommon. E.g. the LBSCR and the then Chemin de Fer de L’Ouest of France on the Newhaven to Dieppe route in 1863. This coordination continued until privatisation. Also the service from Fishguard to Rosslare from 1906 by the Fishguard & Rosslare Railways & Harbours Co which was jointly owned by the GWR and the GS&WR railway of Ireland. This operation has continued till 1984 as BR and CIE.

1948 British Transport Commission formed on the nationalisation of the railways.

- Railway Executive

- Hotels Executive

- Docks & Inland Waterways Executive

- Road Passenger Executive

- Road Haulage Executive

- London Transport Executive

Clyde Shipping Services (LNER and Caledonian Steam Packet Co. operations) become a division of British Railways on nationalisation. British Railways acquires the LMS share in David MacBrayne Ltd. Other Railway Shipping Services of the previous Big Four companies become part of BR regions.

The LNER's Harwich to Felixstowe ferry had been inaugurated in 1912 by the GER, using the launch Pin Mill. Later GER additions to the service were the Hainault and Epping. Brightlingsea was a new ferry built for the LNER in 1925 for use on the Harwich to Felixstowe ferry. She was the first new vessel delivered to the newly formed LNER. Brightlingsea and the Harwich - Felixstowe ferry service passed to British Railways on nationalisation in 1948. She continued to serve on the route until May 1964 when BR assigned it and the Brightlingsea to George Goodhew's Orwell & Harwich Navigation Co. As a result the ferry service passed out of railway ownership and control. In 1979 the Orwell & Harwich Navigation Co. was acquired by the Felixstowe Dock & Railway Co. (a subsidiary of European Ferries). In 1984 the Orwell Bridge was opened and resulted in a substantial decline in passenger numbers for the Harwich - Felixstowe ferry. However it soldiered on with the Brightlingsea until 1993 when her protected berth in Felixstowe Dock was closed for regeneration. As a result the service was discontinued.

1957 Clyde Shipping Services and all other railway shipping services in Scotland are renamed Caledonian Steam Packet Co.

1962 The British Transport Commission is abolished.

- Railway Executive > British Railways Board

- Hotels Executive > British Transport Hotels

- Docks & Inland Waterways Executive is split

- Docks > British Transport Docks Board

- Inland Waterways > British Waterways Board

- Road Passenger Executive > Transport Holding Company

- Road Haulage Executive > British Road Services

- London Transport Executive > London Transport Board

1963 The Scottish operations of the Transport Holding Company become the Scottish Bus Group.

1968 The Transport Holding Company is abolished and its subsidiaries pass to the National Bus Company.

1968 The Scottish Bus Group becomes part of the Scottish Transport Group.

1968 The Caledonian Steam Packet Co. becomes part of the Scottish Transport Group. The Scottish Transport Group also takes over the BR share in David MacBrayne Ltd.

1969 Railway Shipping Services are removed from the BR Regions into a new division called British Rail Shipping & International Services Division.

1969 David MacBrayne Ltd becomes part of the Scottish Transport Group when they take over the Coast Lines Ltd share of the company.

As international travel became more popular in the late 1960s and before air travel became generally affordable, the responsibility for shipping services was taken away from the British Rail Regions. BR's Shipping and International Services Division was established in 1968 and became fully operational in August the following year. Its assets embraced the considerable fleet of BR vessels and harbours.

With the advent of car ferry services the old passenger-only ferries were gradually replaced by roll-on / roll-off ships catering both for motorists and rail passengers as well as road freight. However, given that now there was now competition in the form of other ferry companies offering crossings to motorists, it became necessary to market the services in a normal business fashion (as opposed to the previous almost monopolistic situation).

Shortly afterwards the Shipping Division joined a consortium of shipping companies owned by the French Railways, the Belgian Marine and the Dutch Zeeland Steamship Company, to be marketed as Sealink. Thus Sealink became the brand name for the ferry services of British Rail which ran shipping services in the UK and Ireland. Services to France, Belgium and the Netherlands were also run by Sealink UK as part of the Sealink consortium which also used ferries owned by the SNCF, RMT (Belgium Maritime), and the Dutch "Zeeland Steamship Company".

In 1972 the Kingswear to Dartmouth passenger ferry operated by British Rail was passed to local authority control when British Rail closed the Kingswear line beyond Goodrington Sands. In 1977 the Kingswear to Dartmouth passenger ferry was taken over by Dart Pleasure Craft (Riverlink) from local authority control.

In 1973 the Caledonian Steam Packet Co. is merged with David MacBrayne Ltd to become Caledonian MacBrayne Ltd.

In 1973 the Government gave the go ahead for the construction of the Humber Bridge and construction commenced. As a result the three British Rail paddle steamers (Wingfield Castle, Tattershall Castle and Lincoln Castle) were withdrawn from service in 1973. The bridge was opened in 1981, spelling the death knell for the last remaining ferry, the diesel-electric paddler Farringford which had been transferred from the Isle of Wight.

As demand for international rail travel declined and the shipping business became almost exclusively dependent on passenger and freight vehicle traffic, the ferry business as was incorporated as Sealink UK Limited in 1978, a wholly owned subsidiary of the British Railways Board (BRB), but still as part of the Sealink consortium. Thus it became one of the biggest shipping companies in the world.

Sealink was privatised and sold for £66 million on the 27th July 1984 to British Ferries, a subsidiary of Sea Containers Ltd, an international sea freight company. This sale took place at a time when one large cross-channel ferry was valued at approximately £20 million. It was a bargain for Sea Containers who took over 37 ships of various size, 10 harbours and 9,390 staff of whom 2,529 were salaried. Thus Sealink became Sealink British Ferries Ltd. In 1991 Sea Containers Ltd decided to sell most of their Sealink British Ferries operations to Stena Line. They are renamed Stena Sealink Line and then Stena Sealink. These shipping operations also included the Tilbury - Gravesend Ferry.

Stena Line were keen to dispose of this smallest link in their shipping empire. As a result the Tilbury - Gravesend Ferry was taken over by White Horse Ferries in 1991. They chartered the Edith from Stena Line until the catamaran Great Expectations CD was delivered in 1992. In 1995, White Horse Ferries replaced the Great Expectations CD with the Martin Chuzzlewhit, the first of a series of small trimarans also built by themselves in Gravesend. Later deliveries were used on a Monday to Friday commuter service between Rotherhithe and central London. There was also a daily service between Greenwich and the Millennium Dome. Sadly White Horse Ferries went into receivership in 2000. The Tilbury to Gravesend Ferry service has now passed to the Lower Thames & Medway Passenger Boat Company, who acquired the Southend vessel Duchess M. This vessel continues to operate the ferry today.

However Sea Containers Ltd retained the Isle of Wight shipping services and re-branded them as Wightlink. They also retained the They also retained the ports of Heysham, Newhaven, Folkestone, development land in Harwich and the Lake Windermere Steamers. Sea Containers renamed the Lake Windermere Steamers as the Windermere Iron Steamboat Company, thus resurrecting a name from the distant past. They then passed control of the Windermere Iron Steamboat Company to the Sea Containers subsidiary, Orient Express Hotels.

In May 1993 the company returned to private local ownership when the Bowness Bay Boating Company purchased it. Today the historic Steamers (Tern, Teal and Swan) sail alongside elegant launches such as Miss Lakeland, Miss

Cumbria

and Queen of the Lake. Collectively, the company operates under the Windermere Lake Cruises house flag.

In 1995 Stena Sealink was finally rebranded as just Stena Line. P&O Stena Line was formed in 1998 after the merger of P&O European Ferries (Dover) Ltd and the Dover and Newhaven operations of Stena Line. In 1999 P&O Stena Line withdrew from the Newhaven - Dieppe route. Hoverspeed then took over the route with a high speed Seacat service. The route was continued using SuperSeaCat One. Hoverspeed's last service on the route was at the end of the 2004 summer season after which they withdrew. Transmanche Ferries has now taken over the route. The Newhaven-Dieppe service was run by Transmanche Ferries but the service has been put out to tender in early 2007 as part of the french operators parent company plan. The successful bid was submitted by Paris based LD Lines who also operate the Portsmouth - Le Harve service.

In April 2002 P&O announced its intention to buy out the 40% stake in P&O Stena Line owned by Stena and this was completed by August. P&O Stena Line then became part of P&O Ferries. They now operate the Dover - Calais ferry service.

Also in 1995 Wightlink were taken over by a management buyout from Sea Containers Ltd and become an independent company separate from Sea Containers Ltd as Wightlink - Isle of Wight Ferries. In 2005 Wightlink are taken over by the Macquarie Bank (an Australian bank) and their Macquarie European Investment Fund.

Summary of British Rail Sealink ferry routes:

Sealink UK:

Harwick Parkeston Quay - Hook of Holland

Dover - Calais
Dover - Boulogne
Dover - Dunkirk

Folkestone - Calais
Folkestone - Boulogne
Folkestone - Ostend

Newhaven - Dieppe

Southampton - the Channel Islands
Southampton - Le Havre
Southampton - St Malo

Weymouth - the Channel Islands

Fishguard - Rosslare

Holyhead - Dun Laoghaire

Heysham - Belfast

Fleetwood - Larne

Stranraer - Belfast

Other Routes:

Hull - New Holland Ferry

Tilbury - Gravesend Ferry

Kingswear - Dartmouth Passenger Ferry

Lake Windermere Steamers

Wightlink:

Portsmouth - Ryde
Portsmouth - Fishbourne

Lymington - Yarmouth

Websites:

Sea Containers Ltd
http://www.seacontainers.com

Stena Line
http://www.stenaline.co.uk

P&O Ferries
http://www.poferries.com

LD Lines
http://www.ldlines.com

Wightlink
http://www.wightlink.co.uk

Lower Thames & Medway Passenger Boat Company
http://www.princess-pocahontas.com/

Windermere Lake Cruises
http://www.windermere-lakecruises.co.uk/

Dart Pleasure Craft (Riverlink)
http://www.riverlink.co.uk

M.S. Brightlingsea (former Harwich - Felixstowe ferry)
www.msbrightlingsea.com