Blue Horizon (ship)

Blue Horizon

The Blue Horizon in the port of Piraeus, November 2016

Ship data flag  Greece other ship names Varuna (1987-1998) Superferry Hellas (1998-2000) Ship type Ferry home port Piraeus Owner Blue Star Ferries Maritime SA Shipping company Blue Star Ferries Shipyard Mitsubishi Heavy Industries , Shimonoseki Build number 899 Launch March 31, 1987 takeover July 20, 1987 Commissioning July 1987

Ship dimensions and crew length 187.13 m ( Lüa ) width 27.01 m Draft Max. 6.7 m measurement 27,320 GT

Machine system machine 2 × MAN Mitsubishi 8L58 / 64 diesel engines Machine performance 21,880 kW (29,749 hp) Top speed 23.5 kn (44 km / h) propeller 2

Transport capacities running track meters 1,800 m Permitted number of passengers 1,510 Vehicle capacity 870 cars

Others Registration numbers IMO 8616336

The Blue Horizon is a ferry of the Greek shipping company Blue Star Ferries which entered service in 1987 as Varuna . It is used on the route from Piraeus to Heraklion .

history

The Varuna was built under the construction number 899 at the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries shipyard in Shimonoseki and was launched on March 31, 1987. The delivery to the Japanese Higashi Nihon Ferry Company & Eiyu Shoji YK took place on July 20, 1987. In the same month, the ship began the ferry service between Sendai and Tomakomai . The sister ship of the Varuna was Victory, which entered service in 1989 .

After eleven years in service in Japan, the ship went to the Greek Strintzis Line in September 1998 as Superferry Hellas , for which it was in service from January 1999 onwards after renovation work on the route between Patras , Igoumenitsa and Corfu to Venice and Ancona . In 2000 the ferry went to the newly founded subsidiary Blue Star Ferries as Blue Horizon and operated on the same route.

From October 2003 the Blue Horizon called the port of Bari instead of Corfu, Venice and Ancona. In January 2004 she switched to the service from Piraeus to Chania . On March 20, 2004, a fire broke out on board the ship and the passengers had to be evacuated. However, the damage was minor. The Blue Horizon was able to resume service in the same month and was henceforth on the route from Patras via Igoumenitsa to Bari.

In the following years the ship changed the route several times. From April 2011 to January 2013, the ferry lay as a trailer first in Drapetsona and then in the port of Ermoupoli , before resuming service to Bari on February 18, 2013. The ship is currently used on the route from Piraeus to Heraklion.

Web links

Commons : Blue Horizon  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• official website of the vessel (English)
• The ship on faktaomfartyg.se (Swedish)
• The ship on ferry-site.dk (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Micke Asklander: M / S VARUNA. In: faktaomfartyg.se. Retrieved August 2, 2020 .