Closure
After years of losses due to strong competition and the Channel Tunnel link, Hoverspeed announced that they would cease operations on the Dover-Calais route, ending over 40 years of service. The last ferry run was on November 7, 2005.
It was initially thought that both the 81m Seacats would move to Sea Containers Mediterranean services; however in March 2006 both the Seacat Rapide and Seacat Diamant were put up for sale by Sea Containers. Superseacat One which had operated for Hoverspeed on its now closed Newhaven - Dieppe (2000 and 2002–2004) and Dover - Calais / Ostend (2001) fast ferry services was sold in April 2006 to Acciona Trasmediterránea and was renamed Almudaina Dos. Although the company ended Hovercraft service, they still retained ownership of the remaining 2 SRN 4 until 2006 when they were sold to Wensley Haydon-Baillie. They currently reside at the Hovercraft Museum in HMS Daedalus and are open to offers.
Since the closure of Hoverspeed in 2005, the Dover Hoverport had remained unused until SpeedFerries moved to the site from the Eastern Docks. They operated from the hoverport to Boulogne from Easter 2007 until November 2008 when SpeedFerries went into administration and their services ceased. The hoverport site then lay abandoned for the second time in its thirty year history until demolition of the site began in May 2009 in preparation for the redevelopment of the Western Docks and a new Cruise Terminal. Except Calais hoverport (which itself remains abandoned and subject to demolition), all the cross Channel hoverports have now been lost.
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