Superfast Ferries is a Greece-based ferry company founded in 1993 by Pericles Panagopulos and Alexander Panagopulos. Superfast Ferries is a member of Attica Group and operates 5 car-passenger ferries, offering daily connections between Ancona and Bari in Italy, and Patras and Igoumenitsa in Greece. Together with Blue Star Ferries, Africa Morocco Link, ANEK Lines and Hellenic Seaways, it is a subsidiary company of Attica Group, which is listed on the Athens Stock Exchange.
ANEK Lines was one of the largest passenger shipping companies in Greece. It was founded in 1967 by numerous shareholders who were inhabitants of Crete. It operated passenger ferries, mainly on Piraeus-Crete and Adriatic Sea lines.
Minoan Lines is one of the largest passenger ferry companies in Europe, and one of the dominant passenger ferry companies in Greece, sailing between Piraeus and Crete and, in the Adriatic Sea, between Patras and various Italian ports. The company was founded in May 1972. Since 2008 Grimaldi's Compagnia di Navigazione SpA owns and controls 95.9 of the stock of Minoan Lines.
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 Black Sea hostage crisis took place January 16–19, 1996 on the Black Sea during the First Chechen War. The Panamanian-registered ferry Avrasaya with 177 passengers and 55 crew members on board was hijacked in a Turkish port of Trabzon by an international armed group, which threatened to kill the more than 100 Russian passengers unless the Russian forces ceased its attack against the Chechen separatists in the Kizlyar-Pervomayskoye hostage crisis.
Attica Holdings S.A. is an operator of international ferry services in Europe. Attica Group's operations include its subsidiaries Superfast Ferries, which began in 1995 with the launch of its first ships, Superfast I & Superfast II, and Blue Star Ferries which operates ferries in the Aegean Sea to the Greek islands. In June 2018 Attica Group increased its share in Hellenic Seaways to 98.83%. Hellenic Seaways is 100% controlled by the Attica Group following the acquisition of minority interest of 1.17% in July 2019. It also has a partnership in Africa Morocco Link which operates mainly in the Strait of Gibraltar. In December 2023 it absorbed 100% of ANEK Lines, rendering the operator number two in the number of passengers commuted in Europe.
MS A Nepita is a fast ropax ferry for Corsica Linea. The ferry was refurbished in Gdańsk, Poland for her new service and was returned to her original design before her SeaFrance career and looks identical to her sisters Stena Superfast VII & VIII. Before November 2014 she operated between Dover and Calais for DFDS Seaways France and between 2008 and 2012 for SeaFrance.
MS Ancona was a car-passenger ferry owned by Blue Line International and operated on it service linking Ancona in Italy to Split, Croatia. She was built in 1966 by Lindholmens varv in Gothenburg, Sweden, for Rederi AB Svea as MS Svea. As Svea, she was used on the joint Sweden–United Kingdom service operated by Ellerman's Wilson Line, Swedish Lloyd and Rederi AB Svea. In 1969 Svea was sold to Swedish Lloyd and renamed MS Hispania. In 1972, she was renamed MS Saga. In 1978, she was sold to Minoan Lines following the closure of Swedish Lloyd's passenger services and renamed MS Knossos. In 1998, she passed to Diler Lines, becoming their MS Captain Zaman II. In 2003, she was sold to Blue Line and was renamed Ancona. She was sold for scrap in October 2010 and breaking up was commenced on 15 December 2010.
Erdinç Tekir is a Turkish member of the IHH of Abkhaz origin. He was previously convicted for his participation at the Black Sea hostage crisis. He worked for the IHH since he was released from prison and joined the Gaza Flotilla.
M/V Kefallinia was a Greek ro-ro ferry. It was the first passenger ferry for Strintzis Lines. It was built in 1965 at the Th. Zervas & Sons shipyard in Perama, Greece. It could hold up a total of 600 passengers and 70 vehicles. It had Two 8-cyl, Werkspoor diesel engines with combined power of 2942 kW and could reach speeds up to 15 knots.
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.
The MV Al Salmy 4 was a former train ferry, converted to RO-RO/Passenger ferry.
Transcontainer I was built in 1968 for SNCF as a combined ro-ro ferry and container ship. She was converted to a train ferry in 1974. The ship was sold in 1991 to a Panamanian company and renamed Nour I. A further sale in 1995 saw her renamed Niobe I. She served until scrapped in India in 2000.
MS Norman Atlantic was a roll-on/roll-off passenger (ROPAX) ferry owned by the Italian ferry company Visemar di Navigazione. The ferry was chartered by ANEK Lines from December 2014. On 28 December 2014, she caught fire in the Strait of Otranto, in the Adriatic Sea.
MV Lion was a passenger ferry operated by P&O Ferries across the Irish Sea between 1968 and 1976, and across the English Channel until 1986.
The MS El. Venizelos is a Greek ferry, and 2nd oldest ship in the ANEK Lines fleet. It is a motor Ro-Ro/Passenger ferryboat, built in 1984 at Stocznia im. Komuny Paryskiej, Gdynia, Poland as Stena Polonica and completed in 1992 in Perama, Piraeus, Greece as El Venizelos. It is one of 4 sister ships, Stena Vision and Stena Spirit, both owned by Stena Lines, and the unfinished Lelakis' Regent Sky. It can hold a total of 2300 passenger and 850 cars and has 1606 beds for passengers. It has four Zgoda-Sulzer 16ZV 40/48 diesel engines, with combined power of 34,130 kW and can reach a speed of 22 knots.It also has WiFi Internet, two restaurants. two bars, an amusement arcade, a casino, a church, a duty-free shop, a playground, a hospital, escalators, elevators, air-conditioning and a swimming pool and its cabins can be either "lux", 2-bed, 4-bed or for the Disabled. It is named after Eleftherios Venizelos, a Greek politician who served as Prime Minister of Greece and has Cretan origins. On 30 March El Venizelos laid-up since three days in Piraeus Anchorage had cases with the COVID-19. On 2 April at nine pm El Venizelos moored at the Piraeus Port. From 25 April 2020 to 13 April 2023 she was laid up at Perama.
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.
The MS Cruise Smeralda is a RO/PAX ferry operated and owned by Grimaldi Lines. The ship was built as Ikarus in Fosen Mek Verksteder A/S, Norway for Minoan Lines in 1997, and later renamed Ikarus Palace. She has a sister ship Jean Nicoli now with Corsica Linea.
MS Jean Nicoli is a French RO/PAX ferry, now owned and operated by Corsica Linea. The ship built in 1998 at Fosen Mek Verksteder A/S, Norway for Minoan Lines. Her first name was Pasiphae and then renamed Pasiphae Palace. She has a sister ship Cruise Smeralda, previously named Ikarus Palace.
The MS Kriti I is a RO/PAX ship owned and operated by ANEK Lines. Along with El. Venizelos (ship) and her sister ship Kriti II she is the oldest ship in the fleet of ANEK Lines. The ship was built in 1979 at Koyo Dockyard, Japan and her original name was New Suzuran.
