The Chartres was designed for rail, vehicle and passenger transport in the English Channel and put into service on February 25, 1974 on the route from Dover to Dunkirk . In 1978 there was a collision with the pilot boat Louis Magniez in Calais , but the extent of the damage was relatively minor. During the Second Gulf War , the ship was chartered by the French government to carry French military equipment to the area of operations in the Middle East.
Express Santorini
In 1993 the ship was sold to the Greek shipping company Agapitos Express Ferries , renamed Express Santorini and used as a replacement for the Aigaion in the ferry service between Piraeus and the Cyclades islands. In 1999 it was sold to Minoan Flying Dolphins and in 2007 it was chartered to the Portuguese shipping company Atlânticoline , which was founded in 2005 and which used it in liner services between the islands of the Azores from 2007 to 2016 .
Al Salmy 4
In autumn 2016, the Express Santorini was bought by Salem Al Makrani Cargo Co (SAMC), a shipping company from the United Arab Emirates . In the course of this, the name was changed to Al Salmy 4 .
