Superfast Ferries
| Superfast Ferries | |
|---|---|
| legal form | subsidiary |
| founding | 1993 |
| Seat |
 Greece
|
| Branch | transport |
| Website | www.superfast.com |
Superfast Ferries is a Greek shipping company and 100 percent subsidiary of the Greek Attica Group . It has three high-speed ferries built in Germany and Italy .
history
The Attica Group was founded in 1918 in Piraeus , Greece and was named Attica Enterprises in 2002 . In the summer of 2004, the group changed its current name to Attica Group SA. The company has been listed on the Athens Stock Exchange since 1924 and since then has had the addition of SA for a stock corporation under Greek law. The Blue Star Ferries (formerly Strintzis Lines ) brand belongs to Attica, as does Africa Morocco Link and Hellenic Seaways. The fleets are members of the Premium Alliance's international booking and sales network . Kyriakos Mageiras is Chairman of the Group's Board of Directors.
The concept of Superfast Ferries, to revolutionize ferry traffic between Greece and Italy with the help of RoPax ferries, was developed by the Greek entrepreneur Perikles Panagopulos and his son Alexander. In 1995, one year after the company was founded, the Superfast I and Superfast II high-speed ferries reduced the travel time from Greece to Italy by 40% (from 36 to 20 hours), with new standards of safety and comfort being achieved.
On November 1, 1999, about 15 nautical miles off the west coast of Greece, the Superfast III ferry caught fire. While all 307 registered passengers were rescued, 14 stowaways of Kurdish descent died.
The route from Bari to Igoumenitsa and Patras was opened in 1998, on which the new ships Superfast III and Superfast IV are used. By 2001, a total of twelve ferries had been built for Superfast Ferries. In 2004, Superfast Ferries received the very good award from ADAC in the Eastern Mediterranean ferry test report .
In 2008 Superfast acquired two unfinished RoPax ships from the Italian company Grandi Navi Veloci . They were completed by the Italian shipyard Nuovi Cantieri Apuania and are named Superfast I and Superfast II . The new Superfast I was delivered on October 6, 2008 and completed its maiden voyage on October 13, 2008. Since then she has been serving the Bari – Igoumenitsa – Patras route. The new Superfast II entered service on October 6, 2009 and operates the same route as her sister ship.
From June 1, 2011, Superfast Ferries cooperated with ANEK Lines for an initial three years on the Ancona –Igoumenitsa – Patras and Piraeus - Heraklion routes in order to improve the utilization of the ships. In 2019, the Anek Superfast working group will serve Ancona, Venice and Bari with the ports of Patras, Igoumenitsa and Corfu, as well as the ports of Piraeus with Chania and Heraklion on Crete in Greece.
fleet
- Superfast I (2008) (II)
- Superfast II (2009) (II)
- Superfast XI (2002)
stretch
Adriatic
- Patras - Igoumenitsa - Ancona
- Patras – Igoumenitsa – Corfu – Ancona
- Patras-Igoumenitsa- Bari
- Patras – Igoumenitsa – Corfu – Bari
- Patras – Igoumenitsa – Venice
- Patras – Igoumenitsa – Corfu – Venice
In the Adriatic Sea, the Superfast ferries call at the ports of Ancona, Bari, Venice, Patras, Igoumenitsa and, in the high season, Corfu. With a maximum cruising speed of 31 knots , for example, the Greek Patras can be reached from Ancona in Italy in around 20 hours.
Former routes
RoRo ferries
On February 10, 2007, the Ro-Ro ship Marin began the cargo ferry service between Venice and Patras.
Aegean
- Piraeus – Heraklion
Since March 2009 Superfast Ferries has operated daily with Superfast XII between Piraeus and Heraklion in Crete . The Superfast XII has been operating under the name Cruise Ausonia for the Grimaldi Group since 2018 .
North Sea
The Superfast X was sold to Veolia Environnement in August 2006 . The route has been operated since January 30, 2007 by Blue Star 1 , a passenger ferry of the Europe-wide Attica Group. This ferry connection was discontinued in mid-September 2008 and Blue Star I was relocated to the Mediterranean. Since 2009, Norfolkline has resumed the route.
Baltic Sea
From 2001 the Superfast VII and the Superfast VIII operated between Rostock (Germany) and Hanko (Finland). The success of the Finland route was so great that in November 2005 the Superfast IX was withdrawn from the North Sea and was used as the third Finland ship. At the beginning of 2007, the shipping company decided not to call at Hanko anymore, but to call at Helsinki West Harbor .
However, the concept of ships as “means of transport instead of cruises” could not prove itself on the Baltic Sea route in the medium term, and competition for larger and more comfortable ships continued. After five successful years of operation, Superfast Ferries announced at the end of March 2006 that the three ships on the Baltic Sea route, Superfast VII , Superfast VIII and Superfast IX , would be sold to the Estonian AS Tallink Group in April 2006 . The reason for the sale of the three Baltic Sea ferries was the upcoming competition from Finnlines , which had invested in even larger and therefore market-driven tonnage. However, the new owner kept the name and appearance of the ferries and paid license fees for them.
The Superfast IX was chartered to the Canadian shipping company Marine Atlantic in 2008 . In December 2009 Tallink announced that the route would be suspended from the beginning of 2010 until further notice due to a scheduled stay in the shipyard. Until March 2010, the Superfast VII and the Superfast VIII were used as replacement ships on various Baltic Sea routes. In March 2010 it was finally announced that Stena Line is chartering the ships. Passenger traffic was reduced on the Baltic Sea, smaller ships were used.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Company profile . In: Superfast Fernes. Retrieved November 5, 2019 .
- ↑ Superfast Fernes: FLEET. Retrieved November 5, 2019 .
- ↑ Biggest catastrophes in 1991 and 2000 on ORF online
- ^ History. In: ANEK LINES. Accessed November 5, 2019 (German).
- ↑ Anek Superfast ferry booking, timetables and tickets. Retrieved November 6, 2019 .
- ↑ a b Superfast Ferries. Retrieved November 5, 2019 .
- ↑ Vessel details for: CRUISE AUSONIA (Ro-Ro / Passenger Ship) - IMO 9227429, MMSI 247378700, Call Sign IBWC Registered in Italy | AIS marine traffic. Retrieved November 5, 2019 .
- ↑ Fleet. In: Grimaldi Group. Grimaldi Group, accessed November 5, 2019 .
- ↑ Superfast X sold ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Superfast Ferries, press release, August 8, 2006.
- ↑ Olaf Krohn: Fewer beds on the high seas . In: The time . April 11, 2001, ISSN 0044-2070 ( zeit.de [accessed November 6, 2019]).
