1997

Traduction by Davide Tognolini

 

NorTHERN Adriatic SEA

 

The majestic ferry “El. Venizelos”, flagship of Anek Lines, is no longer alone in Trieste: she is backed up by “Talos”, coming from Ancona, which now leaves from Trieste on Mondays, from Patras on Wednesdays and, on Fridays, from Trieste to Igoumenitsa, from where she leaves on Sunday morning. She's a good ro-pax ferry, even if she cannot be compared to “El. Venizelos”. In Venice, there are some interesting news: Minoan and Strintzis have broken their partnership. The two companies are now fighting each other. From Patras to Venice, Minoan Lines reintroduces daily departures, and inaugurates the "camping on board" concept: this chance is offered twice a week on board “Erotokritos”. This ship doesn't follow the same timetable followed by “Daedalus” and “Fedra”: she services twice a week the Greece-Italy route and leaves from Patras at midday. The other ferries operating the Patras-Venice route are “Fedra” and “Daedalus”, now calling also at Kefalonia, and the veteran (and slower) “Festos” which can't keep the pace of the former ones and no longer calls at Corfu. She berths in Venice at 1 pm instead of 10.30 pm. Strintzis Lines, which owns a less competitive fleet, decides to use “Ionian Galaxy” on Thursdays and “Ionian Island” on Saturdays from Venice (departure at 5 pm); the former leaving from Greece on Tuesdays and the latter on Thursdays.

 

ANEK LINES - F/B Talos

MINOAN LINES F/B Erotokritos

STRINTZIS LINES - F/B Ionian Galaxy

MINOAN LINES F/B Festos

 

 

ANCONA

 

The first operator reacting to Superfast is Anek Lines, which introduces “Kriti I” and “Kriti II”. It is the most expected response, still these ferries can't rival Superfast. We could split the ro-pax ferries in Ancona (from 1990 to 2006) into four categories: “Pre-Superfast I”, which includes large, but slow, vessels as “Erotokritos” and “Ionian Star”; the first fast ro-pax ferries as “Superfast I”, “Aretousa” and “Blue Star ; second-generation fast vessels as “Ikarus”, “Pasiphae” and the four new Superfasts; third-generation fast vessels as the two last Supefasts, Minoan “Palaces”, and ANEK “Olympic Champion” and sister. In 1997, Minoan and Superfast introduces their second-generation fast ferries, while ANEK introduces “pre-Superfast” vessels: Japanese-built “Kriti I” and “Kriti II” have a speed of 22 knots and operate the Ancona-Patras route in 24 hours, 29 when calling at Igoumenitsa. There were two direct journeys and one via Igoumenitsa; the ferries operating on the direct route landed at Ancona at an inconvenient time, and only one direct crossing permitted to land at Patras before night. When calling at Igoumenitsa, the journeys were the classical crossing from Greece; differently from those from Italy to Greece, departure was in the afternoon (twice at 4 pm, once at 7 pm on Saturdays) and landing at Patras was late in the night. A good thing for local hotel keepers, but not for passengers. Superfast Ferries employs “Superfast I” e “Superfast II” as usual, but with a new timetable. The two weekly departures at 4 pm are postponed at 5 pm and the two departures at 10 pm are advanced at 9 pm. Minoan Lines, which at first wanted to use “Knossos” on the Ancona – Corfu – Igoumenitsa – Kefalonia – Patras route, decides to employ only “Aretousa” on the Ancona-Patras direct route (22-hour crossing). Those operators which can't put into service new ferries, try to fight the others with lower fares. No doubt, the winner was Strintzis Lines and the loser was Marlines. Strintzis ferries in Ancona are the well known “Ionian Galaxy”, “Ionian Island” and “Ionian Star”; the departures are on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 12 am (“Ionian Star” at 1 pm) and landing at Patras (after calling at Corfu and Igoumenitsa) is at 6.30 pm. It wasn't such a good timetable, but it wasn't inconvenient either. Departures from Greece are on Mondays, Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays at 11 pm. Marlines uses “Crown M” -- leaving from Ancona on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 4 pm and from Greece on Mondays and Thursdays in the evening -- and “Duchess M” -- which sails from Ancona on Sundays at 1 pm and lands at Patras (via Igoumenitsa) after 36 hours! On Thursdays, she lands to Igoumenitsa at 1 pm and sails back to Ancona at 8 pm on Fridays. The company announced a new route to Turkey which should have begun in 1998, but never began; then tried to buy four new-built vessels but came to nothing. 

 

ANEK LINES F/B Kriti I

ANEK LINES F/B Kriti II

SUPERFAST FERRIES H/S/F Superfast I

MARLINES FB Duchess M

 

 

BARI

 

No news in Bari. Ventouris Ferries still operates on the Bari to Patras route via Igoumenitsa or Corfu with the superb ro-pax ferries “Polaris” and “Venus”, while “Athens Express” and “Vega” services on the Bari to Corfu and Igoumenitsa route. “Pegasus” was to be used too, but she eventually remained in Greece where she operated on internal routes. Marlines puts into service “Countess M” and “Charm M”, after having sold the memorable “Baroness M”. Once a week, the Croatian company Jadrolinija operates the Bari-Igoumenitsa route -- on Mondays from Bari and on Tuesdays from Igoumenitsa -- with “Marko Polo” and, occasinally, with “Liburinija” and “Dubrovnik”.

 

JADROLINIJA F/B Marko Polo

VENTOURIS FERRIES F/B Vega

MARLINES F/B Charm M

 

 

BRINDISI – Otranto

 

As already said, between former partners Mionoan and Strintzis a war has begun. In summer, Minoan Lines introduces “Knossos”, which follows the timetable of Strintzis “Ionian Sun” (but with slower speed), on the Brindisi-Igoumenitsa route. During off-season periods, she operates only four times a week. Strintzis Lines puts into service the new ro-pax ferry “Ionian Bridge”, which leaves from Brindisi at 8 pm and from Igoumenitsa at 8 am. Adriatica still uses “Egitto Express”, this year no longer in tandem with “Laurana” but with “Palladio”. Historic competitor HML uses the same ships used in 1996: “Media II”, “Poseidonia”, “Panther” and “Apollonia II”.  The Brindisi – Corfu – Igoumenitsa route is operated by Fragline with “Ouranos”, Ventouris Ferries with  “Saturnus” -- which does not call at Corfu --, and Vergina Ferries with “Queen Vergina”. The latter uses on the Patras route “Brindisi” and “Valentino”, competing with another ro-pax operator, Med Link Lines which, as usual, deploys on this line “Afrodite II”, “Poseidon” and “Agios Andreas”.

 

MINOAN LINES F/B Knossos

ADRIATICA F/B Palladio

Photos in this page are courtesy of Daniele Miglio, Pieter Inpijn, Fleet File Rotterdam, Kurth Warth, Emilio Barenghi, Michele Lulurgas, Stefanos Antoniadis; other images are official photographs and postcards.

 

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