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Is it a plane ? No, a new ferry By Jane Wharton

CROSSING the English Channel is set to take on a whole new dimension with the launch of this giant ferry.

The owners vow to "change the face of shipping" with their fleet, which is expected to set sail with the first cargo of holidaymakers next summer.

The revolutionary trimaran, called a Bateaux a Grande Vitesse, could soon be a regular feature in the world’s busiest shipping lanes after a French based company placed an order worth £270million.

The ships will be the first of their kind and look likely to launch a new outbreak of cut- price ferry wars with the established cross Channel lines P&O and SeaFrance.

The French designed BGV is capable of travelling at more than 60mph.

At 210 metres long, il is twice the length of a football pitch and can carry 1,500 passengers, 260 cars, 84 lorries and 10 coaches.

The new ferry will be based at Sheerness in Kent, where it is hoped that the port could become a gateway for intercontinental sea traffic heading to Britain for the 2012 Olympics.

Four of the ferries will operate in the Channel between Sheemess and Boulogne and Ostend, white a fifth will sail between Boulogne and Drammen in Norway.

A spokesman for the owners Chikara, the subsidiary of a US company based in Belize, described the new venture as “a milestone”.

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