HIGH speed ferry, the Flying Cat, probably used up most its nine lives yesterday when it collided head on with Chinese red tape and garbage on the high seas on its maiden journey to Shenzhen.
Instead of flying over the two-hour round trip, the catamaran took nearly six hours.
Embarrassed officials operating the vessel said this was a ''slight hiccup'' on the route intended to prove the viability of using Shenzhen airport as an alternative to building the expensive new facility at Chek Lap Kok.
The vessel was to have made its maiden voyage in mid-December, but that was abandoned when delivery of the new ferry was held up by bad weather in the Philippines.
Fifty reporters and 150 VIPs saw yesterday's proud event turn into a public relations nightmare.
It began even at the scheduled departure time, when organisers realised the mainland pilot was missing and decided that to keep the crowd happy, they would take a harbour tour from China Ferry Terminal in Tsim Sha Tsui until he turned up.