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Agoudimos Lines was operating on cargo services for a lot of years before starting
passenger services in 1989. Their first ship, the “Kapetan
Alexandros”, was enrouted on Rafina – Andros – Tinos – Mykonos service with an uncommon blue-painted
hull. On 1992 a
new ferry was purchased, the “Penelope A”, far lager and modern
than “Kapetan Alexandros”, which was
transferred from Cyclades line to a new service linking Brindisi
to Patras via Corfu and Igoumenitsa;
however, the link to Patras came very fast to an end,
and services stopped at Igoumenitsa. After eight
years of services, however, the “Penelope A” was sold to the new
Minoan Flying Dolphins, which acquired with the ship, also the licence to
operate from Rafina to Cyclades; then the company
acquired a new ferry, renamed “Penelope A”, which was put on Brindisi – Igoumenitsa service,
replacing the “Kapetan Alexandros”, which
starter a new route from Bari to Durres in Albania. It was very rare to hear
about Agoudimos Lines to purchase and operate other
ferries than the known two ones, but on winter 2003 two ships were purchased at
little time-distance, the “Blue Sky” from Attica Enterprises - Blue
Star Ferries and the “Express Penelope”, once a time the
“Penelope A”, from Hellas Ferries. The first one was renamed
“Ionian Sky” and deployed on Brindisi – Corfu – Igoumenitsa line, the second one another time
“Penelope A” and another time on Rafina
– Cyclades. It is funny to
notice that Agoudimos Lines owned two ferries with
the same name at the same moment, but this was possible because the two ferries
were flying two different flags. At the end of 2004 two sister ferries from
Shin Nihonkai Ferry of Japan, were purchased, the
“New Akashia” and the “Ferry
Lavender”, respectively renamed “Ionian Glory” and
“Ionian King”, even if the first one is only operated by Agoudimos Lines, being owned by Endeavor
Shipping of the Cephalonian shipowner
Vangelis Gianetatos. Far larger than the actually
owned ferries, were intended to start a new Bari – Igoumenitsa
– Patras service from June 2005, however some
delays made the service starting only at the end of August, even if with a
great success, as it seems; the “Ionian Glory” was also renamed to
“Ionian Queen”, a better-indicated name to operate in pair with a
ferry called “Ionian King”! On summer 2005 also another new fact
happened to Agoudimos Lines: the Bahamas-flagged
“Penelope A” entered the Hellenic Register of Shipping as
“Penelope” for a five-years service from Thessaloniki
to Crete (Heraklion) both via Sporades and Cyclades islands, replacing the
Minoan Lines service, and via Samos, Kalymnos, Kos,
Rhodes, Karpathos and Kassos
islands. After having relocated the Northern Aegean services several times,
leaving also from Kavala and mainly serving the islands of Limnos, Lesvos,
Chios, Samos and Ikaria, Agoudimos Lines closed down
the service early in 2008; this year many things changed among Agoudimos Lines services. The joint-venture with Endeavor Shipping came to an end, so the “Ionian
Sky” was relocated to Patras – Cephalonia
– Igoumenitsa – Bari line in order to
maintain a daily schedule with the “Ionian King”; the
“Penelope” was moved to Igoumenitsa
– Corfu – Brindisi line replacing the
“Ionian Sky” and a new ferry was introduced, the “Ionian
Spirit”. This one, a member of the well-know “Papenburger”
class of ferries, started a new Brindisi – Corfu
– Igoumenitsa – Paxi
service. On 2009 some other changes were made to Agoudimos
services: the “Kapetan Alexandros A”,
after nearly 48 years of life, was sold for scrap, being replaced on the
lucrative Brindisi – Vlore line by the
“Ionian Spirit”; the Bari line was reduced to a single-ship
service, operated by the “Ionian King”, offering four sailings
a-week (one only to Igoumenitsa), with the
“Ionian Sky” and the “Penelope” operating from Brindisi to Corfu, Igoumenitsa
and Zakinthos once a week on Summer. These routes
were confirmed for 2010, when Agoudimos made a
partnership with Ventouris Ferries; anyway this
wasn’t enough to help the company getting out its bad moment, due also to
the economical crisis which affects Greece, so at the beginning of 2011 the
flagship “Ionian King” was sold, leaving Agoudimos
Lines only with its services from Brindisi to Corfu, Igoumenitsa, Zakinthos and Vlore
with the “Ionian Sky”, “Penelope” and “Ionian
Spirit”, plus the classical Rafina line
operated by the “Penelope A” and a seasonal service from Bari to
Durres. During 2012 the company operated only three vessels: the “Penelope
A” on her usual service plus the “Ionian Spirit” and the “Ionian
Sky” out of Brindisi, the first one to Vlore
and the latter to Corfu and Igoumenitsa; anyway, the
Albania line stopped on September, and the Italy – Greece line was very
short, operating only from July 6th to September 10th;
the following season was the last one viewing an Agoudimos
ferry sailing, after the charter of the “Ionian Sky” and the end of
Albanian line: the “Penelope A” struggled to maintain the Rafina – Andros – Tinos – Mykonos between
various difficulties, when was finally arrested in September 2013, bringing the
company to its end.
AGOUDIMOS LINES's datas
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PHOTOALBUM
Agoudimos Lines –
Funnel of “Ionian King”, Perama, 05/08/05
Agoudimos Lines –
Funnel of “Ionian King”, Igoumenitsa,
30/05/06
Agoudimos Lines –
Funnel of “Ionian Spirit”, Piraeus, 25/06/08
Agoudimos Lines –
Particular of ship name on “Ionian King”, Perama,
05/08/05
Agoudimos Lines –
Particular of ship name on “Ionian King”, Patras,
03/09/07
Agoudimos Lines –
Particular of ship name on “Ionian Spirit”, Piraeus, 25/06/08
Agoudimos Lines –
Particular of ship name on “Penelope”, Perama,
27/05/06
Agoudimos Lines –
Particular of ship name on “Penelope A”, Rafina,
11/08/10
Agoudimos Lines –
Company livery on “Ionian Sky”, Igoumenitsa,
05/08/10
Agoudimos Lines –
Company livery on “Ionian Spirit”, Piraeus, 25/06/08
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