#Condor102 – Condor Ferries have confirmed since our report as to the identity of which fast-craft the Channel Islands operator are to replace when fast-ferry Condor 102 enters service in early 2015, writes Jehan Ashmore.

Condor 102 as the name suggests is a 102 metre long craft built by Austal in Fremantle, which was acquired by Condor Ferries for £50m as previously reported. She is currently making her delivery voyage of 10,500 nautical miles from the Philippines to the UK.

When the western Australian built 880 passenger / 250 vehicle trimaran is renamed, she is scheduled to launch sailings on the Poole-Channel Islands services from March 2015 replacing the Tasmanian InCat built 86m fast-ferries Condor Vitesse and Condor Express.

This will leave third sister, Condor Rapide which was launched from Incat's Hobart yard in 1997 to remain in service for Condor Ferries which this year celebrates 50 years of operations.

Since 1964, the operator, have built up a network of routes from UK ports of Poole, Portsmouth and Weymouth to Guernsey and Jersey. In addition the Channel Islands are linked to France using the Normandy port of St. Malo.

Asides operating fast-ferries, Condor's fleet includes ro-pax Commodore Clipper, which serves the main conventional ferry services to and from the UK in addition to freight-only ferry, Commodore Goodwill which also links to France.