St. Damian (ship)
 As Roslagen in July 2003
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The St. Damian is a ferry of the Italian shipping company European Ferries that was put into service in 1972 and flies the Panama flag . The ferry began its 47-year career under the name Viking 3 for the Viking Line and has since been in service under different names and owners. St. Damian , which runs between Brindisi and Vlora , has had its current name since 2016.
history
The Viking 3 was commissioned on September 11th by the Finnish shipping company Ab Sally and laid down on July 19, 1971 under the hull number 565 in the Meyer shipyard in Papenburg . She was one of a series of nine ships called " Papenburg Sisters ", six of which were built for service in Finland and three for service in Mexico . The ferry was launched on December 14, 1971. Instead of the Rederi AB Sally, the Viking 3 was delivered to the Viking Line, also in Finland, on April 16, 1972 and transferred to Helsinki , where the ship was presented on April 22 in the presence of Urho Kekkonen took place. Two days later the commissioning took place between Naantali , Mariehamn and Kapellskär .
On December 17, 1972, the Viking 3 ran aground off Korpo and could only be towed free the next day. Her sister ship Viking 1 previously took over the passengers. The ferry was repaired in Uusikaupunki . The Viking 3 then operated on various routes, most of them from Naantali.
In February 1976 the ship went to the Vasa-Umeå Ab, which renamed it Wasa Express in May of the same year . It continued between Vaasa and Umeå until the shipping company was taken over by Sally Line in March 1983 and the ferry was now used between Ramsgate and Dunkerque under its old name Viking 3 . In April 1984, however, it was renamed Wasa Express back.
In November 1988 the Eckerö Line bought the ship as Roslagen for the service between Kapellskär and Naantali, which it began in February 1989. In the following month, however, the ferry switched to the route from Eckerö to Grisslehamn . From 1990 onwards, the Roslagen was chartered out several times and was also used on other routes.
On August 20, 2007, the ship was decommissioned by the Eckerö Line and laid up in Berghamn . In October of the same year the Greek company Agoudimos Lines bought the ferry and transferred it to Keratsini under the name Ionian Spirit . In July 2008 the Ionian Spirit took service from Igoumenitsa via Corfu to Brindisi and from Brindisi to Vlora.
In December 2008, the ship suffered engine damage and was then laid up in Drapetsona . It was not until June 2010 that the Ionian Spirit started sailing again between Brindisi and Vlora. From February to April 2011, the ship was used to evacuate refugees from Libya . In March 2012 the ferry was arrested and relaunched in Brindisi due to financial problems of the owner.
In October 2016, the Ionian Spirit went to the Italian shipping company European Ferries under the name St. Damian . The ship, registered in Panama , operates between Brindisi and Vlora.
Web links
- Entry about the ship on the website of the port of Brindisi (English)
- the ship on faktaomfartyg.se (Swedish)
- the ship on ferry-site.dk (English)
- History of the ship on doverferryphotosforums.co.uk (English)