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'Sealink' was a ferry company based in the United Kingdom, operating services to France, Belgium, Netherlands, Channel Islands, Isle of Wight and Ireland. Ports served by the company included Dover, Folkestone, Newhaven, Southampton and Harwich for services to the European continent Holyhead, Fishguard and Stranraer for services to Ireland, as well as services to the Channel Islands from Weymouth.

Contents

History

Hovercraft

See also

External links

History

Sealink was originally 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 French national railway, ''SNCF'', the Belgian Maritime Transport Authority, ''Regie voor maritiem transport / Regie des transports maritimes (RMT/RTM)'', and the Dutch ''Zeeland Steamship Company''.
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. 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 and in 1969 centralised in a new Division - British Rail Shipping and International Services Division.
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). Thus, with the other partners mentioned above, the brand name Sealink was introduced for the consortium.
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.
The service was sold to Sea Containers Ltd in 1984, becoming Sealink British Ferries. In 1991 it was sold to Stena Line, becoming Sealink Stena Line, then Stena Sealink. It was finally rebranded to Stena Line in 1995.
Its livery from 1984 to 1995 was a distinctive blue-on-white. Previously, the British Rail logo had been used, with a black and red livery.

Hovercraft

In the 1960s, British Rail started hovercraft services from Dover to Calais and Boulogne, and also across the Solent. Rather than use the name Sealink, the services were marketed as "Seaspeed". Seaspeed merged with rival Hoverlloyd in 1981 to create Hoverspeed.

See also

SeaFrance

External links

★ Sealink-Holyhead.com a guide to the history of the sea route between Holyhead and Dún Laoghaire

★ Picture of the Sealink car ferry the ''MV Hengist'' beached at Folkestone during the Great Storm of 1987 showing the blue-and-white livery.