![]() | |
Industry | Maritime transport |
---|---|
Founded | 1941 |
Founder | Antonio Armas Curbelo |
Headquarters | , Spain |
Areas served | |
Website | www |
Naviera Armas is a Spanish company, founded in the 1940s, which operates a number of ferry services in Spain. The company mainly operates in the Canary Islands, with additional routes connecting the Canary Islands and the north African coast to the Spanish mainland. [1] As of August 2019, the company operates a fleet of 11 ferries and 5 fast ferries. [2]
Naviera Armas was founded in 1941 in Lanzarote by Antonio Armas Curbelo. Its initial activities were dedicated to the inter-island transport of salt and freight using wooden-hull boats. With the years, the company included steel-hull ships in its fleet and expanded to the old province of Spanish Sahara. [3]
In 1975, the company introduced the first roll-on/roll-off vessels in the Canary Islands. However, it was not until 1995 that the company began to offer passenger services. [3]
2003 saw the beginning of a fleet renewal plan with the arrival of the Volcán de Tindaya . [3]
In 2008, the company started offering services to Portimão, Portugal with a stopover on the Portuguese island of Madeira. However, in 2013, the service to Madeira was abruptly withdrawn due to a dispute over harbour fees. Services resumed in the summer of 2018 as a seasonal offering between 2 July and 20 September, being operated by Grupo Sousa using Naviera Armas's ship Volcán de Tijarafe, which provided the crossing prior to the 2013 discontinuation. With a maximum speed of 23 knots, the crossing was scheduled to take 24 hours. [4] [5] In the summer of 2019, this service was provided using the ship Volcán de Timanfaya. [6]
Naviera Armas operates a fleet of eleven ferries and five fast ferries. [2] The fast ferries were acquired as a response to competition from rival Canary Islands ferry company Fred. Olsen Express, which operates an entirely high speed fleet.
Not all of the ships operated by Armas are owned by the company. Those owned by Armas follow the company's naming convention: "Volcán de" followed by a name starting with the letter T.
Name | Built | Entered service | Tonnage | Notes | Source |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Volcán de Taburiente | 2006 | 2006 | 12,895 GT | Los Cristianos – San Sebastian de La Gomera - Santa Cruz de La Palma | [7] |
Volcán de Tamadaba | 2007 | 2007 | 19,976 GT | Las Palmas de Gran Canaria - Arrecife | [8] |
Volcán de Tamasite | 2004 | 2004 | 17,343 GT | Las Palmas de Gran Canaria - Morro Jable | [9] |
Volcán de Tauce | 1995 | 1995 | 9,667 GT | Algeciras - Tanger Med | [10] |
Volcán de Teneguía | 1997 | 1997 | 11,197 GT | Gran Canaria - Tenerife - Huelva | [11] |
Volcán de Timanfaya | 2005 | 2005 | 17,343 GT | Arrecife - Las Palmas de Gran Canaria - Santa Cruz de Tenerife | [12] |
Volcán de Tindaya | 2003 | 2003 | 3,715 GT | Corralejo - Playa Blanca. Entered service in 2003. Crossing time 35 mins. | [13] |
Volcán del Tinamar | 2011 | 2011 | 29,757 GT | Huelva - Tenerife - Gran Canaria | [14] |
Name | Built | Enterered service | Tonnage | Notes | Source |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Alborán | 1999 | 2014 | 6.346 GT | Incat Hull 052. Timechartered to Naviera Armas, Los Cristianos - Puerto de la Estaca | [15] |
Volcán de Tirajana | 2002 | 2015 | 6,581 GT | Incat Hull 062, 98 x 26 metres, 35 knots operational speed. 900 passengers, 287 cars | [16] |
Volcán de Teno | 2000 | 2016 | 6,360 GT | Incat Hull 056. 96 x 27 metres, 38 knots (70 kmh) service speed. 966 passengers, 290 cars. / Motril-Al Hoceïma (NOVEMBER 2017, laid up in Cadiz) | [17] |
Volcán de Tagoro | July 2019 | August 2019 | 10,800 GT | Incat 091. 111 x 31 metres, 35 knots operational speed, 1184 pass (155 business class), 390 cars. Cost €74 million | [18] [19] |
Volcán de Taidia | 2021 | 2021 | 10,800 GT | Incat 093. 111 x 31 metres, 35 knots operational, same class of ship as Volcan de Tagoro | . |
Funchal is the capital, largest city and the municipal seat of Portugal's Autonomous Region of Madeira, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean. The city has a population of 105,795, making it the sixth largest city in Portugal. Because of its high cultural and historical value, Funchal is one of Portugal's main tourist attractions; it is also popular as a destination for New Year's Eve, and it is the leading Portuguese port on cruise liner dockings.
Lanzarote is a Spanish island, the easternmost of the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean, 125 kilometres off the north coast of Africa and 1,000 kilometres from the Iberian Peninsula. Covering 845.94 square kilometres, Lanzarote is the fourth-largest of the islands in the archipelago. With 163,230 inhabitants at the beginning of 2024, it is the third most populous Canary Island, after Tenerife and Gran Canaria. Located in the centre-west of the island is Timanfaya National Park, one of its main attractions. The island was declared a biosphere reserve by UNESCO in 1993. The island's capital is Arrecife, which lies on the eastern coastline. It is the smaller main island of the Province of Las Palmas.
Incat Tasmania is an Australian manufacturer of high-speed craft (HSC) catamaran ferries. Its greatest success has been with large, sea going passenger and vehicle ferries, but it has also built military transports and since 2015 it has built smaller river and bay ferries. Based in Derwent Park, a suburb of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, it was founded by Bob Clifford.
Los Cristianos is a town in Spain with a population of 21,235 (2017), situated on the south coast of the Canary Island of Tenerife. Located in the municipality of Arona between the cone of the mountain Chayofita and the greater mountain Guaza. The town centre is around the Los Cristianos bay, but is rapidly expanding inland with modern development. The town is a popular tourist resort and includes a ferry port and two beaches.
Trasmediterránea operates passengers and cargo ferries between mainland Spain and the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands, and northern Africa's Spanish territories. Since 2017 the majority of the company belongs to Naviera Armas.
Fred. Olsen Express is an inter-island ferry service based in the Canary Islands, Spain. It operates a fleet of six modern fast ferries on five routes. Its fleet includes a trimaran fast ferry, the Benchijigua Express, which was the first such vehicle in the world when it entered service in 2005. The company is owned by the Olsen family-controlled Bonheur and Ganger Rolf, which among other things also owns the shipping companies Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines and First Olsen Tankers.
MV Madeleine II is a cruiseferry operated by the Canadian company Coopérative de Transport Maritime et Aérien (CTMA). It was previously operated by the Spanish company Trasmediterránea as the MV Villa de Teror.
The Madeira islands and Funchal have an extensive public transportation system. Travel between the two main islands is by plane or by ferries, the latter also allowing for the transportation of vehicles. Visiting the interior of the islands is now easy, due to major road developments, known as the Vias rápidas, on the islands during Portugal's economic boom.
Volcan de Teno is a high speed catamaran operated by Naviera Armas.
MV Volcán de Tacande was a ferry last owned by Naviera Armas, which was operated on routes around the Canary Islands. She was built by Brodogradiliste Jozo Lozovina Mosor, Togir, Yugoslavia in 1974 for Stena Ab, Göteborg as a roll-on roll-off car and commercial vehicle ferry, under the name Stena Nordica. It was launched on 17 June 1973.
MV Ocean Majesty is a cruise ship, originally built in 1966 as the ferry Juan March. The ship is now registered in the International Shipping Register of Madeira (MAR), Portugal.
FRS Iberia/Maroc are three independent companies operating under a single brand, one based in Morocco and the two others in Spain, founded in 2000 by their parent company Förde Reederei Seetouristik. The companies operate mainly in the Strait of Gibraltar with a fleet of eight ferries.
La Bocayna or La Bocaina is a sea strait that separates Lanzarote from Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands. The island of Lobos is situated on the southern side of the strait, close to Fuerteventura.
M/S Floria was a ferry ordered by Siljarederiet Ab in 1968 and constructed by Oy Wärtsilä Ab between 1968 and 1970. It was set to sail between Turku and Stockholm. The ship has a sister-ship called MS Botnia.
The Port of Funchal is the port and harbour of Funchal and is frequently used as a stop-over by transatlantic ships, en route from Europe to the Caribbean, as it is the northernmost Atlantic island that lies in the path of the Westerlies.
Bocayna Express is a catamaran fast ferry operated by the Spanish-Norwegian shipping company Fred. Olsen Express between the Canary Islands of Fuerteventura and Lanzarote in the Atlantic Ocean. It was delivered to Fred. Olsen in September 2003 and has been operating the route between the towns of Corralejo (Fuerteventura) and Playa Blanca (Lanzarote) since then. The ship is named after the Bocayna strait which separates the two islands it serves.
Volcán de Tagoro is a catamaran fast ferry operated by the Spanish shipping company Naviera Armas between the Canary Islands of Gran Canaria and Tenerife in the Atlantic Ocean. The ship's construction was completed in July 2019 and it commenced operations a month later, joining the two Canarian capitals, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and Santa Cruz de Tenerife, in just over an hour and a half. The short journey time not only gives Armas a competitive edge in sea transport between the two islands, but also allows it to compete with flights.
Volcán de Tindaya is a roll-on/roll-off passenger ferry operated by the Spanish shipping company Naviera Armas between the Canary Islands of Fuerteventura and Lanzarote in the Atlantic Ocean. It was built and delivered to Armas in 2002 and has been operating the route between the towns of Corralejo (Fuerteventura) and Playa Blanca (Lanzarote) since then. The ship is named after the Tindaya mountain on Fuerteventura.
Media related to Naviera Armas at Wikimedia Commons