Cost £5 million In service 3 July 1983 Draft 2.48 m | Yard number 534 Length 77 m Builders Henry Robb, Leith | |
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Name 1983–2010 St Catherine
2010–present GB Conte Operator 1983–2010 Wightlink
2010–present Delcomar Port of registry 1983–2010 London
2010–present Cagliari | ||
MV St Catherine is a Roll-on/roll-off car and passenger ferry. She served the Wightlink crossing from Portsmouth to Fishbourne, Isle of Wight from 1983 to 2009. In 2010, she was sold to Delcomar and renamed GB Conte.
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History
St Catherine was built by Robb Caledon Shipbuilders, of Leith at a cost of £5 million. When she entered service on 3 July 1983, she was the biggest ferry ever in the Sealink Isle of Wight fleet, and the first able to carry more than 100 cars. Local papers reported that she made the other Isle of Wight ferries looked like toys in comparison to her. St Catherine remained the largest ship in the fleet only until her sister, MV St Helen entered service later in 1983.
St Catherine was present at the International Fleet Review in 2005, representing Wightlink with a number of her sisters. She was later laid up at Hythe in Hampshire.
In 2010 St Catherine was sold to Delcomar and sailed from Hythe to Sardinia as 'GB Conte' on 31 July 2010, with a crew of 11 on board. In March 2015, it was announced that sisters 'St Catherine' ('GB Conte') and 'St Helen' were being reunited, after spending five years apart, as 'St Helen' has also been sold to Delcomar, she has been repainted with their logo and renamed Anna Mur, she was reunited with her sister in September 2015.
Layout
St Catherine was the first of the Isle of Wight ferries to use a Voith Schneider asymmetric three-propeller layout with a bridge mounted forward. Two decks of passenger accommodation are provided above the car deck, with two bar areas and seating space. One of the fastest car ferries in the company at the time, she allowed Wightlink to provide a 35-minute crossing of the Solent. Two older ferries on the route were withdrawn from service, whilst another, MV Caedmon was transferred to join her sisters on the Lymington to Yarmouth route.
Service
St Catherine entered service with Sealink in 1983, becoming Wightlink in 1991. She sailed between Portsmouth, on the English mainland and Fishbourne, Isle of Wight until 2009.