HA AGOUDIMOS LINES
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. And it seems that the news are not finished yet…
HELP ME BUILDING THE
SITE!!!
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