Mytilene is the capital of the Greek island of Lesbos, and its port. It is also the capital and administrative center of the North Aegean Region, and hosts the headquarters of the University of the Aegean. It was founded in the 11th century BC.
ANEK Lines is one of the largest passenger shipping companies in Greece. It was founded in 1967 by numerous shareholders who were inhabitants of Crete. It operates passenger ferries, mainly on the Piraeus–Crete and Adriatic Sea routes.
The MS Pride of Winchester, was a UK Ro-Ro/Passenger ferry, which was part of P&O European Ferries' fleet. She was built in 1975 by Aalborg as the Viking Viscount for Townsend Thoresen and was put into service by P&O European Ferries in 1989, when European Ferries Group was purchased by P&O. She was named after Winchester, a city in Hampshire, England.
The HSC Champion Jet 2 is an 86 m (282 ft) fast catamaran ferry owned by Greek ferry firm Seajets. Between 1997 and early 2015, she was operated by Condor Ferries and ran between the UK and the Channel Islands as Condor Express.
STX Europe AS, formerly Aker Yards ASA, was until 2012 a subsidiary of the South Korean STX Offshore & Shipbuilding.
The HSC Speedrunner Jet is a fast ferry owned by Seajets thαt operates between Sitia, Kasos, Karpathos, Chalki and Rhodos. She was built in 1999 at Fincantieri, Riva Trigoso, Italy, for Sea Containers as HSC SuperSeaCat Three. Under that name she sailed on Sea Container's services around the British Isles, as well as with its subsidiaries Silja Line and SuperSeaCat on the Baltic Sea.
A high-speed craft (HSC) is a high-speed water vessel for civilian use, also called a fastcraft or fast ferry. The first high-speed craft were often hydrofoils or hovercraft, but in the 1990s catamaran and monohull designs become more popular. Most high-speed craft serve as passenger ferries, but the largest catamarans and monohulls also carry cars, buses, large trucks and freight.
NEL LINES was established in 1972, as a company of popular base with shareholders the residents of Lesvos island and primary aim the purchase of a liner vessel for the Mitilini-Chios-Piraeus route. Since then, the company has expanded, serving most of the Aegean sea destinations.
The Port of Piraeus is the chief sea port of Athens, located on the Saronic Gulf on the western coasts of the Aegean Sea, the largest port in Greece and one of the largest in Europe.
Hellenic Seaways is a Greece-based ferry company founded in 1984. Hellenic Seaways is a subsidiary of Attica Group along with Blue Star Ferries and Superfast Ferries.
Vortigern was a 4,797 GRT combined train and roll-on/roll-off ferry built by Swan Hunter in 1969 for the British Railways Board. She was sold to Greece in 1988 and served until 2004 under the names Milos Express, Express Milos and Nisos Lemnos. She was renamed Limon in 2004 and reflagged to Saint Vincent & the Grenadines. Limon was scrapped in 2005.
The HSC Olympic Champion Jet , built as Highspeed 5, later Highspeed 7, for Hellenic Seaways, is an 85m high speed catamaran owned by Minoan Lines. In January 2024 she was chartered to Seajets. It has been renamed Olympic Champion Jet.
Elyrosis a Greek ferry, which is the second newest ship, being part of ANEK Lines fleet, following Asterion II. She is a motor Ro-Ro/Passenger ferryboat, built in 1998 at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries shipyard at Shimonoseki, Japan, and put into service by ANEK at 2008. It holds a total of 1,874 passengers and 620 vehicles, She has 323 passenger air type seats. She has two Pielstick 12PC4-2 engines, with combined power of 26,180 kW and reaches speeds of up to 24 knots. It also has an internet cafe. The ship has been awarded by ShipPax Awards 2009 as the ship with the best retrofit for 2008. It was named after Elyros; an ancient city of southwestern Crete.
Blue Star 1 is a Greek ferry, which is owned by Blue Star Ferries. She is a motor Ro-Ro/Passenger ferryboat, built in 2000 by Van der Giessen de Noord shipward in Krimpen aan den IJssel, Netherlands. She is a sistership to Blue Star 2. She holds a total of 1600 passengers and 640 vehicles and has 430 beds in 161 cabins for passengers. She has four MAN B&W 8L58 / 64 diesel engines, with combined power of 44,480 kW and reaches speeds of up to 27 knots.
SS Heimara was a passenger steamer operating the Piraeus – Thessaloniki route. The ship hit a reef and sank on 19 January 1947 in the Aegean Sea, killing around 400 people. It is Greece's deadliest maritime disaster.
MS Spero, was a British ferry ship, which was part of Ellerman Wilson's fleet. She was built by Camell Laird Shipsbuilders in 1966. She was later sold on to NEL Lines as the Sappho, and was the company's first ship. She was in use from 1973 up to 2001, when she was sold to Carra and Pontikos as the Santorini 3. She was eventually sold for scrap as the Santori.
The MS Mytilene was a ferry ship of Greece, which used to be part of NEL Lines' fleet. She was built in 1973 in Japan as the Vega and put into service for NEL in 1992. She is a sister ship of Virgo, which also came to Greece as the GA Ferries' Rodanthi. She could accommodate up to 1300 passengers and 225 vehicles. The shipis powered by two Pielstick 16PC2-5V diesel engines with a maximum combined power of 19,200 bhp and reached service speeds up to 21 knots and maximum speed up to 23.8. She had economy class seating, a salon and bar for A and economy class passengers, a self service restaurant, dining room, jewellery safekeeping room, telephone and gift shop. She took her name from Mytilene, the largest city and capital of Lesvos.
The HSC Aspasia T, is an inactive passenger ferry speedboat, which was part of the fleet of the Lesvos Shipping Company (NEL) - NEL Lines. She was built in 2000 at Alsthom Leroux Naval S.A. of France as the Aeolos Express. She could hold a total of up to 1000 passengers and 210 vehicles and was powered by four Pielstick diesel engines with a combined 32,400 kilowatts (43,400 hp) and reached speeds of up to 36 knots. She had Pullman seats for people of economy and 1st class passengers, economy and 1st class bar, 127 satellite TVs, headsets for music in the seats, elevator for passengers, escalator staircase, reception, Jewellery safekeeping room, telephone and toilets for disabled, and was fully-airconditioned. She took her name from Aeolus, the mythical treasurer of the winds according to Greek Mythology, but also Costas Kenteris, a modern Greek runner.
The MS Arion was a passenger car ferry, which was part of the NEL Lines fleet. She was built in 1965 in Glasgow, United Kingdom and was put into operation by NEL in 1975. She took her name from Arion, a lyric poet from Mithymna (Molyvos) of Lesvos.
The MS Aqua Jewel is a Greek passenger car ferry, which is part of the fleet of SeaJets Ferries. She was built in 2003 in Perama, Attica and was put into service at SeaJets in 2017. The ship initially belonged to the shipowner Georgios Perogiannakis and in 2010 she was chartered by the Shipping Company of Lesvos - NEL Lines. Since 2017, she belongs to SeaJets, which occasionally charters her to Atlanticoline. At the time of her construction, the Aqua Jewel was the largest passenger ferry ever built in Greece, with a length of 108 meters. She no longer holds this record, since the construction of Hellenic Seaways' 141-meter -long Nissos Mykonos. The Aqua Jewel was intended as a mega-yacht named Nissilios, while the initial cost was about 25,000,000 US dollars. The Aqua Jewel has a maximum speed of 18.5 knots and a cruising (service) speed of 0.5 knots lower than the maximum. Aqua Jewel facilities include two bars, a hospital and a helipad. On the 6th of February 2024 she was accidentally beached while exiting the port of Diakoftiou in Kythera.
Greece
Greece (2001-Present)
