Seattle-Victoria -- Seacat: No Ordinary Ferry In Speed, Price

The high-tech SeaCat catamaran car ferry that is expected to ply the Seattle-Victoria route beginning next spring is intended to be the foundation of a luxury-class leisure-travel network in the Pacific Northwest, said James Sherwood, president of Sea Containers Ltd.

In Seattle last week, Sherwood hinted at his plans, including spending $15 million refurbish the venerable Princess Marguerite ferry as a cruise vessel. The ship then might spend summer seasons back in the Northwest, sailing the Canadian Inside Passage between Vancouver and Prince Rupert and possibly forming a sea link with a luxury train route back south.

According to financial and travel sources, Sherwood has the reputation of accomplishing such seemingly lofty goals.

Among his 26-year-old, $1.2 billion corporation's wholly owned subsidiaries is Orient-Express Hotels, which owns and operates the classic Venice Simplon-Orient-Express trains and top-rated hotels such as the Windsor Court in New Orleans; the Hotel Cipriani in Venice; the Copacabana Palace in Rio; and the Mount Nelson Hotel in Cape Nelson, South Africa.

Although the 58-year-old Sherwood seemed confident of the Princess Marguerite's rebirth in Singapore shipyards, other spokesmen for the London-based company were less sure.

After the Marguerite was retired about two years ago, experts said it would never sail again. It was gutted with the intention of transforming it into a hotel.

For Sherwood, the floating-hotel plan remains a second choice.

Operation of the SeaCat ferry here seems a goal within easier reach. Moorage negotiations in Victoria and Seattle are proceeding, and contracts may be signed in January, Seattle port officials said. SeaCat would become the first direct car-ferry service between the two ports since the Stena Line ceased operation last November.

But don't think of SeaCat as just a ferry.

Don't expect it to be anything like the Black Ball from Port Angeles, the state ferry out of Anacortes, or the B.C. ferry from Tsawwassen.

If you take the SeaCat from Seattle's Pier 48 starting in May, you and your car will get to Victoria twice as fast as with any of those other ferries and in considerably more comfort - but for at least three times the price.

The cost for the luxury, convenience and high technology that the craft represents will be $30-$35 one-way per car, plus $73-$85 round-trip per adult passenger (including driver). In other words, a couple's SeaCat transportation-only costs for a summer weekend on Vancouver Island could be as high $240, according to fares that Sherwood announced last week. A couple in a car with two children might pay more than $350. (Discounts are planned for children and senior passengers, company officials said, as are special promotions and package prices.)

The 244-foot long, 87-foot-wide SeaCat will carry 450 passengers and 80 cars on three Seattle-Victoria round trips per day through next September or October. Four diesel engines and four waterjets push it to a top speed of nearly 50 mph. A one-way trip will take about two hours.

By comparison, the Victoria Clipper's 130-foot vessels - the most direct competition - currently carry 300 only foot passengers for low-season round-trip fares of $69. Round-trip Lake Union Air flights cost $119-$140 a person.

Sea Containers currently operates SeaCat service across the English Channel and between mainland Australia and the island of Tasmania. Its conventional ferries serve the Isle of Wight in England and the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea.

In 1992, in addition to the Seattle-Victoria route, it plans to inaugurate SeaCat service between Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The company plans to sail one of its catamarans 8,300 miles from Tasmania to Seattle next spring. It hopes to have a SeaCat based permanently in Seattle by 1993 - possibly a larger one, for 150 cars and 600 passengers.

Sherwood thinks the market can handle the enterprise. He said the recession combined with loss of the Stena Line's car ferries contributed to a about $67 million in lost tourist revenue to Victoria this year.

Though the Victoria Clipper was able to pick up some of the foot-passenger slack, Sherwood said, there seems room for car-ferry service as a complement.

Darrell Bryan, Clipper vice president and general manager, reserved comment on the potential competition until he had more time to review the SeaCat proposal.

Based on the company's experience on the English Channel, Sherwood said he wouldn't be surprised if SeaCat helped generate up to 25 percent market growth - as an attraction itself drawing new traffic from throughout western states.

It will thrive where the Stena Line ferry-cruise concept didn't, he predicted, because people want to get to Victoria quickly and spend more of their holiday time on land.