F/B AF Michela - Limassol

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F/B AF Michela

Photo © Michele Lulurgas, Ancona, 21/04/18 #19235

Ship	AF Michela (2017)	Building Spec.	Cantiere Navale Visentini, Porto Viro, Italy, 2001 – N° 196
Call Sign	5BZF3	IMO Number	9243447
GRT	24.418	DWT	7.384
Dimensions	186,49 x 25,6 x 6,5	Engines	2 MAN B&W 9L48/60 18.900 kW
Speed	23 knots	Passengers	950
Beds	306 in 76 cabins	Cars
Lane Metres	2.044	Sister Ships	AF Claudia Liverpool Seaways Napoles Optima Seaways Sicilia Strait Feronia
Registry Port	Limassol	Flag	Cyprus
Former Names/Own.	Cartour – Levantina Trasporti 09/2001-01/2004 Chartered to Caronte* & Tourist 09/2001-01/2004* Cartour – Caronte & Tourist 01/2004-10/2007 Vinashin Prince – Vinashin 10/2007-12/2007 Hoa Sen – Vinashin 12/2007-05/2014 Stena Egeria – Stena RoRo 05/2014-10/2017 Chartered to Yantai Bohai International Ferry* 07/2014-06/2017* AF Michela – Stena RoRo 10/2017-10/2019
New Names/Own.	Kerry – Stena RoRo 10/2019à Chartered to Brittany Ferries* 10/2019*à
Line

The “Cartour” is the fifth ferry of the Visentini ro-pax series; as the fourth vessel of this serie, the “Stena Forwarder”, her nearest sister, has surprisingly an higher yard construction number than those of the following two vessels of the serie which were delivered in 2002, the “Partenope” and “Trinacria” of TTT Lines. Delivered in October 2001 to Levantina Trasporti, was immediately chartered to Caronte & Tourist, one of the historical operators between the two shores of Messina Strait, linking Messina and Tremestieri in Sicily with Villa San Giovanni and Reggio Calabria on Italian mainland. Obviously the “Cartour” wasn’t the right ferry for that kind of service, so the company launched a new line, linking Salerno, south of Naples, with Messina, with a transit time of about 8 hours, avoiding to the drivers the long route via Salerno – Reggio Calabria motorway, leaving daily after noon from Salerno and around midnight from Messina, arriving in the morning at Salerno. This idea proves to be very successful, and other shipowners started to plan similar services, so Caronte & Tourist bought the ferry from Levantina Trasporti in 2004 and soon placed an order for two more improved units of the same family, which were delivered in 2006. This move, anyway, proved to be too brave, as long as the traffic on the line wasn’t enough to justify three vessels, so Caronte & Tourist agreed to sell the Cartour to Vietnamese company Vinashin Ocean Shipping. The ferry was soon renamed “Vinashin Prince” and left Italy for Vietnam, where was planned to sail on a “motorway of the seas” project between Ho Chi Minh city and Ha Long bay, stopping enroute to other main Vietnamese ports. The ferry was soon renamed “Hoa Sen”, the Vietnamese word for the Lotus flower, and started this new service, which proved to be very unsuccessful, and was stopped after only 39 sailings, revealing also many episodes of corruption among the State-owned company. Later chartered to China to serve a route to South Korea, was soon detained for debts, and remained without a service until 2014, when bought by Stena RoRo, renamed “Stena Egeria” and refitted in China, to be available for charter market. A charterer emerged after only two months as the Yantai Bohai International Ferry, a Chinese company which aimed to establish a ferry link between Yantai, China, and Pyongtaek, South Korea. After three years of charter, the “Stena Egeria” was handed back to Stena RoRo, which decided to bring her back to Europe, arriving at Perama, Greece, on August 15^th, 2017, awaiting a new charter. A new agreement was signed in October with Adria Ferries, which had to replace the chartered “Bridge”, for a yearly charter. The “Stena Egeria” was renamed “AF Michela”, as one of Adria Ferries shipowner’s daughters, and repainted in Adria Ferries’s colours, starting her career for the Italian company on Trieste – Ancona – Durres line. The charter was renewed for a second year, but then Adria Ferries started searching a ferry to be bought for their Ancona service, finding it in the original sister of “AF Michela”, the “California Star” of Baja Ferries. Some rumours said that CMN La Meridionale was interested in buying the vessel from Stena RoRo at the end of the charter with Adria Ferries, but the Swedish company signed an agreement with Brittany Ferries for a yearly charter. Redelivered to the Swedish owners at Viktor Lenac yard of Rijeka in October 2019, the ferry was fitted with scrubbers and repainted in Brittany Ferries’s colours under the new name of “Kerry” and starting at the end of the month the new link between Santander, Spain and Cork, Ireland. In early 2020, the ports of call switched to Bilbao in Spain and to Rosslare in Ireland.

CARONTE & TOURIST F/B Cartour – Photo © Wil Wejisters, Taormina, 26/06/06 #13666

VINASHIN LINE F/B Hoa Sen – Photo © Hans Schaefer from MarineTraffic.com

STENA RORO F/B Stena Egeria – Photo © Michele Lulurgas, Perama, 04/09/17 #19016

STENA RORO F/B Stena Egeria – Photo © Michele Lulurgas, Perama, 04/09/17 #19020

ADRIA FERRIES F/B AF Michela – Photo © Michele Lulurgas, Ancona, 21/04/18 #19227

ADRIA FERRIES F/B AF Michela – Photo © Michele Lulurgas, Ancona, 21/04/18 #19231

ADRIA FERRIES F/B AF Michela – Photo © Michele Lulurgas, Ancona, 21/04/18 #19232

ADRIA FERRIES F/B AF Michela – Photo © Michele Lulurgas, Ancona, 21/04/18 #19233

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