F/B Ouranos - Limassol

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F/B OURANOS

$Descrizione: K:\SFONDI\NAVI\Zilletto Ferries Website\Personali\FRAGLINE FB Ouranos.jpg$

Photo © Michele Lulurgas, Corfu, 29/07/94 #389

Ship	Ouranos (1999)	Building Spec.	Jos L. Meyer – N° 545 Papenburg, Germany, 1969
Call Sign		IMO Number	6922341
GRT	4.860	DWT	981
Dimensions	108,11 x 17,4 x 5,97	Engines	2 MAN V6V 40/54, 9.860 kW
Speed	21,5 knots	Passengers	1.000
Beds	426 in 143 cabins	Cars	160
Lane Metres		Sister ships
Registry Port	Limassol	Flag	Cyprus
Former Names/Own.	Vikingfjord – Nordlandfähre 08/1969-11/1970 Chartered to Fred Olsen* 07/1970-10/1970* Chartered to Moltzau* Line 10/1970* Prinz Hamlet II – Nordlandfähre 11/1970-08/1974 Operated by Prinzen* Lines 11/1970-11/1973* Agadir – Compagnie Marocaine de Navigation 08/1974-05/1986
New Names/Owners	Golfinho Azul – Azores Islands Government 05/1999-10/2006 Scrapped at Alang (India) in January 2007 as “Golf”
Line

One of the first car ferries (if not the first herself) built by Jos L. Meyer yard of Papenburg, Germany, was the “prototype” of “Papenburger” class of ferries, the class which made the yard well known among the shipbuilders. She started serving a link between Cuxhaven (Germany) and the ports of Stavanger and Bergen (Norway) in 1969 as “Vikingfjord”. Was on this service only for a year, then was chartered many times from 1970: in June to Fred Olsen for the Norway - Holland - England service (before of Blenheim’s delivery), then in October to Moltzau Line for Gedser - Travemunde link, in November to Prinzen Line, being renamed “Prinz Hamlet II” and serving the line Hamburg - Harwich. Three years later the new “Prinz Hamlet” join the fleet, so this ship was sold in 1974 to Cie Marocaine as “Agadir” linking for 12 years France and Morocco. After this long period of service was purchased by Fragline to join the “Eolos” on Adriatic services and renamed “Ouranos” but, opposite to this ship, was registered in Limassol instead of Piraeus. Originally on Patras - Igoumenitsa - Corfu - Brindisi link in 1994 she stopped serving Patras because of Eolos’s sale and the company decision to maintain a daily link from Italy to Greece. In opposition of most Brindisi - Corfu - Igoumenitsa services, the “Ouranos” departed from Italy daily at 20.45 instead of morning departures. In 1999 Fragline bought from Minoan Lines the “Ariadne” and sold this “Ouranos” to Azores Island Government, renaming the new ship as this one and employing her on the same route without giving any notice and still advertising the old “Ouranos” on company brochures: this was a great surprise for passengers arriving to Brindisi for embarkment! Starting inter-Azores ferry connections in 1999, the company had a service licence granted till the end of 2005; after the first few years, anyway, the “Golfinho Azul” started to appear in the sales lists and, worse than that, also on the lists of detained ships for safety deficiencies. The first time happened in Piraeus, Greece on April 26^th, 2002, when she was there for Winter lay-up and annual overhaul; Açor Line usually chose Greece for these works, finding them to be more convenient, and for the same reason that year replaced the Portuguese crew with Romanians and Brazilians. The “Golfinho Azul” was again detained in 2003 Summer, having also had her certificates withdrawn for eight days, before being allowed to sail again, even if on certain routes only. At the end of 2003, European Commission included her among the vessels to be banned from EU ports if they were again detained. Further problems with certificates happened in 2004, and in 2005 was again detained for 103 days. In 2006 she didn’t operate and at the end of the year was sold for scrap.

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NORDLANDFÄHRE F/B Vikingfjord – Official Nordlandfähre postcard

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PRINZEN LINE F/B Prinz Hamlet II - Photo by courtesy of Micke Asklander

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COMANAV F/B Agadir – Official Co.Ma.Nav. postcard

$Descrizione: K:\SFONDI\NAVI\Zilletto Ferries Website\Authorized by Per Jensen\FRAGLINE FB Ouranos.jpg$

$Descrizione: C:\Users\Michele\Documents\Immagini\Indice generale foto\Acor Line\ACOR LINE FB Golfinho Azul 03_Nikos Thrylos 22Fe04.jpg$

$Descrizione: C:\Users\Michele\Documents\Immagini\Indice generale foto\Acor Line\ACOR LINE FB Golfinho Azul 02_Nikos Thrylos 22Fe04.jpg$

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