The New Akashia was built under construction number 2972 at Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries in Kure and was launched on April 27, 1988. The delivery to the Shin-Nihonkai Ferry Company took place in July 1988, the commissioning in the same month on the route from Otaru via Niigata to Tsuruga and Maizuru . The ferry was one of a series of four ships that were put into service between 1987 and 1994.
In December 2004, the New Akashia went to the Greek shipping company Endeavor Lines as Ionian Glory . The ship arrived on January 13, 2005 in Drapetsona , where renovation work was carried out for service in the Mediterranean. The ferry was named Ionian Queen in June 2005 . The commissioning between Patras , Igoumenitsa and Bari took place on August 20 of the same year . From March 2008 the Ionian Queen called at the ports of Corfu and Brindisi instead of Bari .
In February and March 2011, the ship participated in the evacuation of refugees from Libya to Heraklion . It then returned to the ferry service. On September 11, 2012, the Ionian Queen was arrested in Patras due to financial difficulties at Endeavor Lines. After more than three years of inactive lay-time, the ship was auctioned off to the shipping company Hellenic Seaways for around 300,000 euros and resumed service as Nissos Samos in July 2016 . The ferry, which is flying the flag of Cyprus , serves the route from Piraeus via Psara, Inousses and Chios to Mytilini.
