Condor's first car-carrying fast ferry, the 74m Condor 10 was delivered by Incat in 1993 and has managed to persevere in the fleet as a succession of later craft have come and gone. The ship was ground-breaking for the Channel Islands on her introduction and over the subsequent decade of service, Condor have managed to outlast the original opposition with British Channel Island Ferries' conventional ferry service being taken over in early 1994.
The later generation Incats employed on Condor's services saw the Condor 10 leave the island routes for a variety of charter operations. These included Viking Line in Summer 1995 and Stena at Fishguard in Summer 1996 whilst, out-of-season, the ship spent five successive winters from 1994/95 on charter in New Zealand to Tranz Rail under the marketing name The Lynx. For the European Summer of 1997, she was transferred to Holyman Sally (a sister company of the then part Holyman-owned Condor) for the final, ill-fated, season of Sally's Ramsgate-Dunkerque service. After the demise of this route, the ship saw service twice more with Tranz Rail before being laid up in Australia from 1999 to 2002. Finally returning to the UK after refurbishment back at her builders, the ship recommenced Condor service on a Channel Islands-St Malo run. |
