History | |
---|---|
Name |
|
Owner |
|
Operator |
|
Port of registry | London, United Kingdom |
Builder | Astilleros Españoles S.A. (AESA) Seville, Spain. |
Yard number | 287 |
Launched | February 1998 |
Maiden voyage | October 1998 |
Identification |
|
Status | Active |
General characteristics | |
Tonnage | 22,152 GT |
Length | 179.93 m (590.3 ft) |
Beam | 25.24 m (82.8 ft) [1] |
Draught | 6.5 m (21.3 ft) |
Decks | 9 |
Installed power |
|
Propulsion | 2 Wärtsilä-Wichmann controllable pitch propellers |
Speed | 22.5 knots (41.7 km/h; 25.9 mph) |
Capacity |
|
MS Kaiarahi is a roll-on/roll-off ferry operated by Interislander on the Wellington to Picton interisland route between the North and South islands of New Zealand.
Built as the Dawn Merchant for Cenargo International Ltd in 1998 and was launched in February 1998, that same year she was chartered to Und RORO for service in Turkey. In 1999 she was chartered to Norse Merchant Ferries and the Norfolkline in 2002. In 2005 she transferred back to Norse Merchant Ferries and was sold to Daybreak Shipping Ltd, where she was renamed the Europax Appia. In 2006 she was chartered to Balearia, where she was then renamed the Pau Casals and then in 2009 to T-Link Lines, where she was renamed the T-Rex. In 2010 she was renamed the Norman Trader and chartered to LD Lines, she remained with them until the closure of the Dover to Boulogne route where she then transferred to other LD Lines routes until 2011, where she was chartered to both P&O Ferries and Stena Line and then she was laid up in the River Fal at Falmouth.
In May 2013 Stena Line announced that they were going to purchase the Norman Trader for their Gdynia to Karlskrona route, she headed by tow to Gdynia where she was refitted and renamed the Stena Alegra in June 2013, on 8 July 2013 she started operating on the Gdynia to Karlskrona route.[ citation needed ] On 28 October, Stena Alegra was driven ashore at Karlskrona during the St Jude storm. [3]
In November 2013 she was chartered by Interislander in New Zealand to operate on the Wellington–Picton route for six months. The charter was to assist Interislander's two other ships (MV Kaitaki and DEV Arahura) with peak summer loadings while its third ship, DEV Aratere, was out of service for repairs after losing a propeller in early November. [4] During the charter, she suffered several mechanical problems, including an engine failure in Wellington Harbour, a six-metre gash in the hull during berthing difficulties, and the loss of part of a propeller blade, though she was repaired and put back into service shortly after these incidents.
On 9 December 2014, an announcement was made that she would again be chartered long-term by Interislander to replace the aging Arahura, which had been in service since 1983 and was to retire in 2015. Before returning to New Zealand, she was refitted to better suit the Wellington to Picton route. [5] [6] She has been named Kaiarahi, from the Māori word for "leader" (kai- = agentive prefix, arahi = "to lead"). [7]
Kaiarahi suffered a major gearbox failure while on a regular Cook Strait sailing 31 August 2021. It has been out of service since. After lengthy repairs to her gearbox she resumed freight only operation on 17 September 2022. [8]
Stena Line is a Swedish shipping line company and one of the largest ferry operators in the world. It services Denmark, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Latvia, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Finland and Sweden. Stena Line is a major unit of Stena AB, itself a part of the Stena Sphere. It is a sister company to one of the world's leading tanker company Stena Bulk.
MV Kaitaki is a roll-on/roll-off ferry built in 1995. It previously operated under the names, Isle of Innisfree, then Pride of Cherbourg, Stena Challenger and Challenger. As of 2008, MV Kaitaki was the largest ferry operating the Interislander service between the North and South Islands of New Zealand having taken her latest name in 2007. KiwiRail, the operator of the Interislander service, bought the Kaitaki in 2017.
DEV Arahura was a roll-on/roll-off train ferry that operated on the Interislander service between Wellington and Picton in New Zealand from 1983 until 2015.
DEV Aratere is a roll-on/roll-off rail and vehicle ferry operated by KiwiRail in New Zealand. Built in 1998 for the then private company Tranz Rail and lengthened in 2011, she operates four daily crossings on the "Interislander" service across Cook Strait from Wellington to Picton each day.
Interislander is a road and rail ferry service across New Zealand's Cook Strait, between Wellington in the North Island and Picton in the South Island. It is owned and operated by state-owned rail operator KiwiRail. Three roll-on roll-off (RORO) vessels operate the 50-nautical-mile route, taking about three hours to complete the crossing.
Cotentin is a ROPAX ferry owned and operated by Brittany Ferries between Poole and Cherbourg from January until March 2021 and then Portsmouth and Le Havre from March 2021 until June 2021. She previously operated for Brittany Ferries between 2007 and 2013 between Poole–Cherbourg before being chartered to Stena Line as Stena Baltica serving the route between Gdynia and Karlskrona. The vessel was constructed by Aker Finnyards in Finland and delivered to Brittany Ferries on 9 November 2007. Cotentin sails under the French flag and is registered in Morlaix. The ship's gross tonnage is 22,308.
HSC Hanil Blue Narae is a 74m fast catamaran ferry that formerly operated in England, New Zealand, Australia and South Korea.
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 Stena Europe is a ferry owned by Stena Line which operated on its Fishguard—Rosslare route until withdrawn from that service in July 2023.
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.
Stena Vision is a cruise ferry owned and operated by Stena Line. As Stena Germanica, she operated the overnight Kiel–Gothenburg route and the Gothenburg–Fredrikshavn route. As Stena Vision, she has operated on the Karlskrona–Gdynia route. She now sails on Cherbourg–Rosslare route.
Stena Spirit is a large cruiseferry owned by Stena Line. She entered service in 1988 as Stena Scandinavica and after a major refit in Gothenburg is now in service between Karlskrona and Gdynia.
Stena Nordica is a ro-pax ferry owned and operated by Stena Line.
Celtic Link Ferries was an Irish ferry company which used to operate a passenger and freight roll-on/roll-off service between Rosslare and Cherbourg. Celtic Link Ferries ceased operating in February 2014 with Stena Line taking over their route.
GMV Aranui was a roll-on/roll-off train ferry operating across the Cook Strait between 1965 and 1984.
MV Connemara is a RORO passenger and freight ferry currently sailing across the Cook Strait in New Zealand on StraitNZ's Bluebridge service, after being purchased from Stena RoRo. From 2007 to 2010, she was operated by Balearia as Borja, then between 2010 and 2011 as Baltic Amber for AVE Lines and then DFDS Seaways, before subsequently spending four years on charter to LD Lines. She spent the majority of autumn 2014 and 2015 on charter to Inter Shipping sailing from Algeciras, Spain, when she was then chartered by ANEK Lines, being replaced by Nova Star Cruises's Nova Star. The ship was renamed Asterion which comes from Greek Mythology of Asterion, the King of Crete.
Speedlink Vanguard was a 3,514 GRT train ferry which was built in 1973 as Stena Shipper. She was charted to a New Zealand operator on completion and renamed Union Wellington and saw further service as Alpha Express and Stena Shipper before entering service with Sealink as Speedlink Vanguard. The ship was involved in a collision with European Gateway in 1982, which sank the latter ship with the loss of six lives.
MV Αrmenistis is a ferry in service in Greece. She was built in 1971 as Anderida for Stena Line, serving under charter with Sealink until 1980. She then served under the names Truck Trader, Sealink and Mirela before she was sold to the Coopérative de Transport Maritime et Aérien (CTMA) in 1986 and renamed C.T.M.A. Voyageur. In January 2020 it was announced that the ship was sold to the Greek company Ainaftis. Her new name is Armenistis.
Stena Livia is a roll-on/roll-off (Ro/Ro) ferry operated by Stena Line on their Travemünde–Liepaja service. It was built in 2008, and originally named Norman Voyager.