Pride of Bruges in the Port of Zeebrugge | |
History | |
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Name |
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Owner |
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Operator |
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Port of registry | |
Route | |
Builder | NKK, Japan |
Yard number | 1033 |
Launched | August 1986 |
Maiden voyage | May 1987 |
Out of service | 25 January 2021 |
Identification | |
Status | In Service |
General characteristics [1] | |
Tonnage | 31,598 GT |
Length | 179.35 m (588 ft 5 in) |
Beam | 25.09 m (82 ft 4 in) |
Draught | 6.10 m (20 ft 0 in) |
Installed power |
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Propulsion |
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Speed | 19 kn (35 km/h) |
Capacity |
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MS GNV Antares, originally the MS Norsun and then MS Pride of Bruges, is a ship operated by Grandi Navi Veloci.
The ship was built by Nippon Kokan K.K. Tsurumi Yard in Yokohama, Japan. The keel was laid in 1985 and was launched in 1986. Upon completion, the ship entered service in 1987 for North Sea Ferries, then a joint-venture between Dutch Nedlloyd and British P&O. The first years it sailed on the Rotterdam-Hull route with sister ship Norsea , replacing Norstar and Norland . The Norsun sailed under the Dutch flag and was owned by the Dutch half of the joint-venture, while the Norsea was British.
In 1996 ownership transferred to P&O Ferries when Nedlloyd sold its 50% stake to P&O. The ships sailed the Rotterdam route until 2001 when they were replaced by the Pride of Rotterdam and the Pride of Hull.
In 2002 the ships were transferred to the Zeebrugge-Hull route, [2] again replacing Norstar and Norland. Both ships were internally modernised before entering service on this new route. Norsun was renamed Pride of Bruges, her sister ship becoming Pride of York
In October 2016 it was announced that the two ships would be refitted. [3]
In October 2020, P&O announced that Pride of Bruges and Pride of York were to be taken out of service due to the decline in traffic caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. On 15 December 2020, P&O announced on Twitter that the service would be stopped from 1 January 2021. [4] Both Pride of Bruges and sister ship Pride of York were sold to Grandi Navi Veloci. [5]
Pride of Bruges docked at terminal 2, King George Dock, Hull. Just a few hundred yards away is the terminal for the Hull-Rotterdam ferries. To leave Hull the ship had to squeeze through the lock bow first which only has a few centimetres of clearance on each side. To come back to dock in Hull, she passed through the lock bow first before she had to turn clockwise and reverse into the dock.
Zeebrugge was much easier to dock at compared to Hull. The ship simply sailed into Zeebrugge harbour, turned to starboard into a docking area just south of Albert-II Dok and backed into the berth, opening her stern door on the linkspan. [6]
The Pride of Bruges featured in Episode Three of the BBC Documentary Engineering Giants: Ferry Strip-Down, first broadcast on BBC Two on Sunday 29 July 2012. Her sister ship, MS Pride of York , was also shown. [7]
The Norland was a P&O roll-on/roll-off ferry operating between Kingston upon Hull in Yorkshire, UK, and Rotterdam Europoort, Netherlands, and then Zeebrugge, Belgium. The 27,000 tonne ferry was built in 1974 by AG Weser, Bremerhaven, for Dutch North Sea Ferries partners Noordzee Veerdiensten N.V. Sistership MV Norstar sailed under Dutch flag and Norland under British flag and with (mainly) British crew. The ship transferred to P&O North Sea Ferries in 1996.
P&O Ferries is a British shipping company that operates ferries from United Kingdom to Northern Ireland, and to Continental Europe. The company was created in 2002 through mergers and acquisitions within P&O. It has been owned by Dubai-based DP World since 2019.
MS GNV Allegra is a cruiseferry owned by MSC. The ship was built by Wärtsilä Marine's Perno shipyard in Turku, Finland for Jahre Line as MS Kronprins Harald. In 1991 she passed under ownership of Color Line, for whom she sailed until sold to Irish Ferries in 2007. She was sold by Irish Ferries to Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) in 2019 and renamed GNV Allegra for service in the fleet of MSC subsidiary Grandi Navi Veloci.
MS Pride of Calais was a cross-channel ferry owned and operated by P&O Ferries. She operated the Dover–Calais route between 1987 and 2012. In early 2013, under bareboat charter to Transeuropa Ferries, she served on their Ramsgate–Ostend route and was re-named MS Ostend Spirit. After further lay-up in the Port of Tilbury, she was sold for scrap and finally beached at a salvage yard in Turkey on 13 November 2013.
MS Pride of Kent was a cross-channel ferry operated by P&O Ferries, it operated on the Dover to Calais route from 2003 until its retirement in June 2023. Before that, between 1992 and 2002, it had operated on the Dover to Zeebrugge route.
MS King Seaways is a cruiseferry operated and owned by the Danish shipping company DFDS Seaways on a route connecting North Shields, effectively the port of Newcastle upon Tyne,, England to IJmuiden in the Netherlands. She was built in 1987 as MS Nils Holgersson by Seebeckwerft, Bremerhaven, West Germany for TT-Line. Between 1993 and 2006 the ship was named MV Val de Loire, owned by Brittany Ferries and used on traffic across the English Channel. A DFDS vessel since 2006, she was originally named MS King of Scandinavia, before being given her current name in 2011.
The MS Anthi Marina was a ferry operated by GA Ferries. She was the first of three 'Spirit' class ferries built for Townsend Thoresen, as MS Spirit of Free Enterprise. Her two sister ships were MS Pride of Free Enterprise and MS Herald of Free Enterprise.
The MS Finbo Cargo is a roll-on/roll-off passenger ferry that was previously called the European Endeavour which was owned and operated by P&O Ferries until May 2019. Eckerö Line purchased the ship from P&O in 2019 and is expected to take delivery in June 2019 and renamed her MS Finbo Cargo.
MS GNV Cristal is a cruiseferry owned by the Italy-based SNAV and operated by their Grandi Navi Veloci brand. She was built in 1989 by Schichau Seebeckwerft in Bremerhaven, West Germany as MS Olau Hollandia for Olau Line. From 1994 to 2005 she sailed as MS Pride of Le Havre for P&O Ferries. From 2005 to 2017 she operated as the SNAV Sardegna between Civitavecchia, Palermo and Olbia.
Norstar was a P&O roll-on/roll-off ferry operating between Kingston upon Hull in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England and Rotterdam Europoort, Netherlands and later on the Hull-Zeebrugge, Belgium line.
GNV Blu is a roll-on/roll-off ferry currently operated by Grandi Navi Veloci. She used to be owned by Stena Line and operated on the Karlskrona – Gdynia service. She was built in 1986 by Van der Giessen de Noord as MS Koningin Beatrix for SMZ. In 1989 she passed under Stena Line's ownership and in 2002 was renamed Stena Baltica. In 2013 she was sold to SNAV. On October 23, 2014, SNAV leased the ship to Panamanian company Ferry Xpress Panama to start operations on the Colon – Cartagena – Colon and Colon – Bocas del Toro – Colon routes. Since 2015 the vessel is operated by Trasmediterránea, and is currently used by Grandi Navi Veloci to serve the Bari–Durres route.
MS Pride of Rotterdam is a Dutch registered passenger and cargo roll-on/roll-off ship/cruiseferry, in service with P&O North Sea Ferries on the Hull - Rotterdam route. The cruiseferry was also featured in the video game Ship Simulator Extremes.
MS GNV Aries was built as MS Norsea for North Sea Ferries as part of their response to the need for larger vessels in the mid to late 1980s. The 1974 ships MV Norland and MV Norstar were proving to be very popular, and were running at capacity. Therefore, North Sea Ferries designed their "3rd Generation" overnight ferry. The two parent companies within North Sea Ferries placed their orders in two separate locations. P&O placed its at Govan Shipbuilders on the River Clyde, and Nedlloyd placed their order with NKK in Yokohama, Japan.
MS Pride of Hull is a Bahamas registered passenger and cargo roll-on/roll-off cruiseferry in service with P&O North Sea Ferries on the Hull – Rotterdam route.
MS Norbay is a ro-pax vessel owned by the British ferry company P&O Ferries and currently chartered to Irish Ferries. She was built by Van Der Giessen-de Noord N.V., Netherlands in 1994.
MS Pride of Free Enterprise was a RORO Passenger and Freight ferry operating services between Almeria and Nador on a time-charter basis to the Spanish ferry operator Acciona Trasmediterranea. The ship was formerly called the M/F Oleander (2001-2013), P&OSL Picardy (1999-2001), Pride of Bruges (1987-1999) and Pride of Free Enterprise (1980-1987). She was operated by FerriMaroc and Comarit between 2010 and 2011 and previously owned and operated by TransEuropa Ferries between Ramsgate and Ostend. TransEuropa Ferries owned the ferry between 2001 and 2013 and operated her between 2001 and 2010 before placing her on charter. She was scrapped at Alang in late 2015 under the name Sher.
GNV Sealand is a ferry operated by Grandi Navi Veloci between Valencia, Palma de Mallorca and Ibiza.
MS Norstream is a cargo ferry owned by the Bore Ltd subsidiary company Bore Sky and operated by P&O Ferries with sister ship MS Norsky on the Tilbury–Zeebrugge route.
MS Norwind was a North Sea ferry that was later used in the Mediterranean Sea.
MS Rhapsody, is an Italian cruiseferry operated by Grandi Navi Veloci. She was built at Chantiers de l'Atlantique in Saint-Nazaire, France for the French ferry operator SNCM as Napoleon Bonaparte. In 1996, she was put on the Marseille–Corsica route, replacing the old ferry Napoleon which was moved to the Marseille–Algeria–Tunisia route. On October 27, 2012, the ship broke its moorings in the port of Marseille due to strong winds, violently struck the dock, and sunk in the harbour. Due to its financial difficulties, SNCM was unable to repair the ferry, and sold it to the Italian shipowner MSC in 2014. Refloated, the ship was renamed Rhapsody and transferred to Grandi Navi Veloci to sail first between Italy and Albania, and then from 2017 on the Genoa-Porto Torres route.
Media related to IMO 8503797 at Wikimedia Commons