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In what could herald the latest outbreak of ferry wars on the short sea crossing between England and France, a British-based company has put in an order for five French-designed Bateaux à Grande Vitesse (BGV) 60mph trimarans up to 210 metres long which could challenge the dominance of the current Channel ferry players.

The ambitious plan is for the BGVs which are twice the length of a football pitch or almost as long as an aircraft carrier, to carry passengers and freight from Boulogne to Sheerness, and transforming the Medway port in north Kent into a gateway for traffic from the continent to the London Olympics in 2012. 

The challenge to the dominance of P&O and SeaFrance comes from Chikara Shipping, a UK subsidiary of a US company registered in Belize, fronted by entrepreneur John Paul Airs. 

The £270m fleet of trimarans will transform cross-Channel travel, according to Airs, who has refused to disclose Chikara's backers but insists its finances are in place. 

Unveiling plans for the trimarans, capable of carrying up to 1,500 passengers, 260 cars, 84 lorries and 10 coaches, Airs has told shipping executives the BGVs will 'change the face of shipping and transport'. He plans a 'sea motorway network' linking Sheerness and Boulogne with Santander and Vigo in northern Spain and Drammen in Norway. 

The super-fast trimarans are in development with BGV France, which is based in the south of France, but with contracts for their construction yet to be signed they are unlikely to be in commission in the Channel until the summer of 2008. 

By then Chikara may have been overtaken by another would-be entrant into the short sea market, Euroferries, a new venture headed by Geoffrey Ede, the former boss of the Hoverspeed SeaCat. Its Channel operations were closed down 13 months ago by its financially troubled parent Sea Containers. 

Ede is in negotiation to bring to the UK the £16m fast-ferry Spirit of Ontario, which has been serving passengers between Toronto and the state of New York. 

It is currently out of service having been brought down the St Lawrence river to Nova Scotia in readiness for transfer to Britain. 

Euroferries plans to run its cross-Channel service out of Dover after the port rejected Chikara's proposals. 

Current short-sea operator SpeedFerries, run by Scandinavian entrepreneur Curt Stavis, is planning to launch a second catamaran between Dover and Boulogne by the summer.