Holyman
Encyclopedia
Holyman was an Australia
n company that operated cargo ships and ferries in Australia and other countries worldwide. The company had three divisions; Domestic shipping and transport services, Ferries and Bulk commodity handling.
The company was born of the Shipping and Development Division of global transport group, TNT, and was floated on the Australian Stock Exchange as an independent entity in 1994. Assets in the original float included a gas pipeline, a coal loading terminal, bulk ore carriers, bulk sugar carriers, a 50% interest in Condor Ferries (Guernsey), and premium commuter ferry service, Express Navigation (New York).
Not long after the float, the company expanded its presence in the fast ferry industry by taking a majority stake in a start-up ferry operation, Catlink, in Denmark. The fast car ferry revolutionised transport in Denmark, and the start-up took at 25% market share during its first summer season.
In the same year, it redeployed one of its fast ferries to New Zealand during the Northern Winter / Southern Summer, operating from Wellington to Picton.
The company also expanded its US holdings by acquiring a stake in Catalina Cruises, which operated ferries between Long Beach and Avalon (Catalina Island) in California. To take that holding, Holyman devised an innovative ownership approach, delivering effective financial and management control, while still remaining within the highly restrictive Jones and Passenger Services Acts, laws that prevent foreign ownership of US Domestic shipping interests. The intention was to replicate that structure in investment in other lucrative US domestic ferry opportunities.
In 1997, Holyman over-reached, acquiring a majority interest in Sally Line, which operated a ferry between Ramsgate (UK) and Oostende (Belgium). It replaced the conventional vehicular ferry with a fast Incat built ferry.
For a brief time, at its apogee, Holyman was the world's leading fast vehicle ferry operator.
Unfortunately, the Holyman Sally route was unable to attract sufficient revenue to make the service profitable. Weather conditions and technical issues with the Incat vessel also hampered operations, and ten months after Holyman Sally commenced, the company was in trouble. Interestingly, the poor financial performance of Holyman Sally was almost identical to financial projections prepared during the early analysis of the route's viability by Holyman's development team but these early analyses were dismissed as being too conservative, and the Managing Director pressed on with the project.
At the same time, marketing inertia from local management, coupled with technical and environmental issues, meant Catlink also began to lose money.
The company's losses were fatal, and by mid 1998, the Board of the company began disposing of assets to stave off bankruptcy.
By late 1999, Holyman was a shell, with most of its assets sold, and in 2000 what was left of Holyman Ltd was acquired by Lang Corporation
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Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n company that operated cargo ships and ferries in Australia and other countries worldwide. The company had three divisions; Domestic shipping and transport services, Ferries and Bulk commodity handling.
The company was born of the Shipping and Development Division of global transport group, TNT, and was floated on the Australian Stock Exchange as an independent entity in 1994. Assets in the original float included a gas pipeline, a coal loading terminal, bulk ore carriers, bulk sugar carriers, a 50% interest in Condor Ferries (Guernsey), and premium commuter ferry service, Express Navigation (New York).
Not long after the float, the company expanded its presence in the fast ferry industry by taking a majority stake in a start-up ferry operation, Catlink, in Denmark. The fast car ferry revolutionised transport in Denmark, and the start-up took at 25% market share during its first summer season.
In the same year, it redeployed one of its fast ferries to New Zealand during the Northern Winter / Southern Summer, operating from Wellington to Picton.
The company also expanded its US holdings by acquiring a stake in Catalina Cruises, which operated ferries between Long Beach and Avalon (Catalina Island) in California. To take that holding, Holyman devised an innovative ownership approach, delivering effective financial and management control, while still remaining within the highly restrictive Jones and Passenger Services Acts, laws that prevent foreign ownership of US Domestic shipping interests. The intention was to replicate that structure in investment in other lucrative US domestic ferry opportunities.
In 1997, Holyman over-reached, acquiring a majority interest in Sally Line, which operated a ferry between Ramsgate (UK) and Oostende (Belgium). It replaced the conventional vehicular ferry with a fast Incat built ferry.
For a brief time, at its apogee, Holyman was the world's leading fast vehicle ferry operator.
Unfortunately, the Holyman Sally route was unable to attract sufficient revenue to make the service profitable. Weather conditions and technical issues with the Incat vessel also hampered operations, and ten months after Holyman Sally commenced, the company was in trouble. Interestingly, the poor financial performance of Holyman Sally was almost identical to financial projections prepared during the early analysis of the route's viability by Holyman's development team but these early analyses were dismissed as being too conservative, and the Managing Director pressed on with the project.
At the same time, marketing inertia from local management, coupled with technical and environmental issues, meant Catlink also began to lose money.
The company's losses were fatal, and by mid 1998, the Board of the company began disposing of assets to stave off bankruptcy.
By late 1999, Holyman was a shell, with most of its assets sold, and in 2000 what was left of Holyman Ltd was acquired by Lang Corporation
Patrick Corporation
Patrick Corporation Ltd was an Australian publicly listed logistics conglomerate. Headed by CEO Chris Corrigan before it was absorbed by Toll Holdings in 2006, Patrick had interests in shipping, rail and aviation, including a 62% shareholding in airline Virgin Blue...
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History
- 1994: Acquired TNT Shipping's 50% stake in Condor FerriesCondor FerriesCondor Ferries is an operator of ferry services between mainland England and the Channel Islands, between England and France, and between France and the Channel Islands.-Recent history:...
. - 1995: Acquired Townsend Deliveries
- 1995: Commenced Catlink fast car ferry operation between Aarhus and Kalundborg in Denmark
- 1996: Acquired 50% stake in Catalina Cruises, Long Beach, California
- 1997: Commenced joint fast car ferry operation with Sally LineSally LineSally Line UK was a British ferry operator on the English Channel and North Sea.-History:Sally Line was founded in 1981 by Michael Kingshott as a subsidiary of the Finland-based Rederi Ab Sally, and initially marketed as Sally Viking Line, with a livery that was nearly identical with that of...
. - 1998: 50% stake in Condor FerriesCondor FerriesCondor Ferries is an operator of ferry services between mainland England and the Channel Islands, between England and France, and between France and the Channel Islands.-Recent history:...
sold to Commodore Shipping. HoverspeedHoverspeedHoverspeed, formed in 1981 by the merger of Seaspeed and Hoverlloyd, was a ferry company that operated on the English Channel from 1981 until 2005....
acquires English Channel services. - 1999: American ferry operator Express NavigationSeaStreakSeaStreak is a private ferry system that provides high-speed commuter service between points in Manhattan and the Raritan Bayshore in Monmouth County, New Jersey, as well as special event and sightseeing excursions in New York Harbor.-History:...
sold to Sea Containers. - 2000: Holyman acquired by Lang CorporationPatrick CorporationPatrick Corporation Ltd was an Australian publicly listed logistics conglomerate. Headed by CEO Chris Corrigan before it was absorbed by Toll Holdings in 2006, Patrick had interests in shipping, rail and aviation, including a 62% shareholding in airline Virgin Blue...