1995
NorTH Adriatic
The starring port
of this scenery this year is Venice, for many
years main departure port to Greece.
The operator which comes back to Venice
after many years is an unexpected joint-venture between Minoan Lines and Strintzis Lines,
which signed an agreement to cooperate for 1995 and 1996 season. The agreement
stated the establishment of a new North-Adriatic ferry service: the
initially-chosen port was Trieste, with daily
departures operated by seven ships, five of Minoan ( Ariadne, Fedra, Daedalus on Saturday, Festos,
El Greco) and two of Strintzis Lines (Ionian
Galaxy and Ionian
Island). Anyway, the
final destination is Venice, with a daily
service leaving at 18.00 operated by four ferries, the El Greco, the Fedra,
the Ionian
Island and the Daedalus, coming back
from Patras daily at 22.00, under the classical
Minoan timetable scheme. Anek Lines instead operated at Ancona only the El. Venizelos, on Wednesday at 12.30, and on
Saturday, by the way omitting the call at Ancona and leaving Trieste at 19.00 instead of 13.30.
ANCONA
This year starts
the ferry revolution between Italy
and Greece, having its main
scenery at Ancona,
which is the main port from some years now. The starring operator of this revolution
is Superfast Ferries, a newly-established
operator, owned by the former owner of Royal Cruise Line. The company
introduces on Ancona
Patras direct link two sister ships, the Superfast I
and the Superfast II, crossing the Adriatic in only 20 hours due to the remarkable
cruise-speed of 25 knots. The ferries, designed and built in Germany, had a
great space for trailers, with two drive-through decks, but were extremely
rationalized in their internal spaces, which were extremely simple. Anyway they
had two super-modern ferries, which had a fantastic success; the other
operators struggled as they could do it. We know that Minoan Lines and Strintzis Lines
made a joint-venture, which initially stated for Ancona
a timetable with seven ferries sailing daily, alternating calls at Italian
ports of Trieste and Ancona, with Ionian Galaxy
sailing on Saturday, Ionian Island, El Greco, Daedalus,
Ariadne, Fedra and Festos. Anyway the joint-venture deployed at Ancona
only three traditional ferries, the Ionian Galaxy, the Ariadne
and the Festos. The three ferries sailed six
times a-week from each port; the two Minoan ships made the afternoon sailings
on weekend from Patras, the Ionian Galaxy made two
noon sailings instead of the one required, leaving always on Wednesday and
Saturday from Ancona.
The two companies anyway didnt stopped here their program from Ancona: plus of the classic line, they offered also the
direct line, serviced by the two ro-pax Ionian Star
and Erotokritos, plus the first newbuilding of Minoan Liness
history, the Aretousa. The ferry was very similar
to the Superfast pair for many aspects, and her
maximum speed was 25,8 knots, anyway her cruise-speed
was about 23 knots and the company decided to operate her under the same
timetable of the Erotokritos, crossing the Adriatic
in 24 hours with five weekly sailings from Ancona on
Monday at 14.00, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday at 20.00, then from Patras on tuesdat, Thursday and
Friday at 18.00, Saturday and Sunday at 23.50. Also the Ionian Star was
engaged on direct sailings, anyway, being very slower than the Minoan vessels,
had a particolar timetable, sailing from Ancona on Tuesday and Friday at 13.00, arriving in Patras the following day at 17.00, leaving at 22.00 to
arrive in Ancona again the day after at 23.50. Anek Lines answered the new
competition with two well-known ferries: the first one, the Lato,
was leaving Ancona on
Saturday at 14.00, back from Patras on Sunday
evening, then on Tuesday at 21.00 from Ancona
and on Thursday at 23.00 from Patras, making a part
of the trip along the El. Venizelos. The second
ferry was the Talos, which in fact was the former Kydon after a renovation of passenger spaces, which was
employed on the former timetable of the Lato,
omitting the call at Corfu. Also Marlines
did an interesting timetable, deploying at Ancona the best of
its fleet that time, the Dame M, the Crown M and the Countess M.
The first two vessels, considerably faster than the other one, were leaving Ancona four times a-week, on Monday, Tuesday, Friday and
Saturday to Igoumenitsa and Patras,
calling at Corfu on Monday and Saturday departures, finally docking in Patras at late night; on Monday and Tuesday departures,
when the ferry stayer overnight in Patras, the company offered the free-overnight
accommodation to the passengers. The third ferry, the Countess M sailed on
Saturday evening to Patras, Heraklion
and Cesme, continuing to offer a direct sailing to Crete on one hand, and attracting the Turkish workers
going home for summer holidays. The last ferry calling at Ancona was the Carlo R, chartered by Egnatia Ferries,
sailing on the same timetable of the former year from Ancona to Patras, Heraklion, Cesme and Igoumenitsa.
BARI
This year Ventouris Ferries,
the leader at Bari,
had a very important flow on their services, as long as all the other
operators. Particularly, the Patras services
decreased a lot, while the Corfu Igoumenitsa ones were still quite a lot. Ventouris Ferries decreased its presence from six vessels
to five: Polaris
and Venus
were engaged on Patras line, then on Igoumenitsa line the Athens Express, the Vega plus the Pegasus,
a new entry acquired from the Tirrenia group. Anek Lines
reduced their services to one ship, the Kriti,
sailing on Bari
Igoumenitsa Patras
line, as did Poseidon
Lines, deploying the Sea Serenade on the same line. Arkadia Lines
instead maintained the two ship service, performed with the Dimitrios Express
and the Megistanas, the new name chosen for
the old Silver Paloma, reflagged
from Greece to Malta.
Even Marlines
cut away from its timetable the daily sailing for Patras,
leaving the historical Southern Italy duo Duchess M and Baroness M to link Bari with Corfu and Igoumenitsa;
calling at Patras was the duty of Charm M,
the new name chosen for Viscountess M, on her way
to Cesme, calling sometimes on Igoumenitsa.
Anyway the ferry distinguished herself for her slow timetables, performing the
itineraries in a very long time.
BRINDISI
Otranto
Even Brindisi
in 1995 unveiled many news. Only Adriatica
confirmed unaltered its service, performed with Laurana,
Sansovino and Egitto Express;
also the Ionian
Sun was still on its service, even if under the Minoan Lines
Strintzis Lines joint venture. After the
sale of the Corinthia, HML put on the evening sailing
the Media
II and the Egnatia, which completed the Ionian
destinations of its service calling also at Lefkada;
the Poseidonia was on the other departure
to Patras, while Lydia
and Apollonia II stayed on the shorter
routes to Corfu, Igoumenitsa
and Paxi. A.K. Ventouris
instead showed its potential with two other ferries operating along the Anna V.
and the Arion, the Igoumenitsa Express
and the Agios Vassilios,
these latter sailing only to Igoumenitsa and Corfu. The Agios Vassilios in fact was a
well-known presence at Brindisi
port, being the former Eolos of Fragline,
which after many years decided to operate to Brindisi with only
a ferry, the Ouranos. The well-known brand of
Mediterranean Lines disappeared from Brindisi,
leaving the scene to Vergina Ferries, which operated the
former ferries of Mediterranean Lines, the Valentino and the Brindisi the new name of
the former Raffaello, reflagged
to Malta.
Med Link
Lines added to Afrodite II
and Poseidon
a third ferry, the Agios Andreas, which releaved the Poseidon when this ferry was redeployed to Brindisi
Cesme line. The last Brindisi operator was Ventouris Ferries,
which served Corfu and Igoumenitsa
with the ro/pax Saturnus.
Le foto in questa pagina sono gentile
concessione di Matteo Fasce, Pieter Inpijn, Fleet File Rotterdam,
Egidio Ferrighi, Kurth Warth, Emilio Barenghi, Gunnar Menzer, Michele Lulurgas, Stefanos Antoniadis, oltre a
cartoline e fotografie ufficiali.
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