MV St Catherine

St Catherine at Gunwharf Quays
Career
Name:	2010: GB Conte MV St Catherine
Operator:	Delcomar 1983 – 2010: Wightlink
Port of registry:	2010: Cagliari[1] London
Builder:	Robb Caledon Shipbuilders, Leith
Cost:	£5 million
Yard number:	534[2]
In service:	3 July 1983
Identification:	IMO number: 8120557[3] MMSI Number: 247294300 (was 235031616[3]) Callsign: ICFZ (was GCZV[3])
Status:	Laid up at Hythe, Hampshire
General characteristics
Class and type:	Roll-on/roll-off car ferry
Tonnage:	2,036; 576 DWT[3]
Length:	77.05 m (252.8 ft)
Beam:	17.22 m (56.5 ft)
Draught:	2.48 m
Installed power:	3x 850bhp Harland & Wolff-MAN 6ASL25 diesel engines driving Voith Schneider cycloidal propellers
Speed:	12.5 knots (23.2 km/h; 14.4 mph)
Capacity:	771 passengers 142 cars

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.

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.^[4] 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 laid up at Hythe in Hampshire. She has been sold to Delcomar, repainted with their logo and renamed GB Conte.

'GB Conte' sailed from Hythe to Sardinia 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' are to be reunited, after spending five years apart, as 'St.Helen' has also been sold to Delcomar and will be repainted with their logo.

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 Two older ferries on the route were withdrawn from service, whilst another, MV Caedmon was transferred to join her sisters on the Lymington to Yarmouth route.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.

References