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H/S/C SPEEDRUNNER II
Photo © Apostolos Kaknis,
Piraeus, 18/07/10 #10806
Ship |
Speedrunner II (2007) |
Building Spec. |
Fincantieri,
Riva Trigoso, Italy, 1996 – N° 5965 |
Call Sign |
P3TF9 (27/06/08) SVAD6 (27/06/08) |
IMO Number |
9125891 |
GRT |
3.750 |
DWT |
905 |
Dimensions |
95 x 16 x 2,89 |
Engines |
4 MTU 1163V, 24.000 kW |
Speed |
36 knots |
Passengers |
723 |
Seats |
723 |
Cars |
150 |
Garage |
80 lane metres (?) |
Sister Ships |
Queen Nefertiti |
Registry Port |
Limassol (27/06/08) Piraeus
(27/06/08) |
Flag |
Cyprus (27/06/08) Greece (27/06/08) |
Former Names/Own. |
Pegasus
One – Ocean Bridge Developments S.A. 1996 Stena Pegasus – Stena Line 1996/05-1996/10 (charter) Pegasus
One – Ocean Bridge Developments S.A. 1996-02 Pegasus One – Conferry S.A. 1997/05-1999/07
(charter) St.
Matthew – DMF Investments 2002-04 Tallink Autoexpress 4 – Tallink 2004-07 |
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New Names/Owners |
Paraguana I – Naviera Paraguana 09/2015-12/2018 Charter a
Hellenic Shipping - Atlanticoline 05/2016-09/2016 Paraguana I – Conferry S.A. 12/2018 |
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Line |
At the half of ‘90s a new type of ferry
started to become popular, the fast aluminium monohull,
which was able to match a cruise-speed in excess of 30 knots with a good car
capacity, often being able to accommodate in her garage also buses; these
characteristics were absolutely unseen before that moment on fast crafts, which
were mainly catamarans or hydrofoils. Among the ship builders which entered
this new niche of market was the Italian Fincantieri,
which designed the Pegasus MDV 1200 type, built at Riva Trigoso
yard. Two of these vessels were ordered by Ocean Bridge Developments, which
intended to place them on charter market; the first one, named “Pegasus One”,
was delivered to the owner on May 29th, 1996 and soon chartered to
Stena Line for their cross-Channel Newhaven – Dieppe service, after being
renamed “Stena Pegasus” but flying the Italian flag having Brindisi as her home
port. The
charter came to an end on October 1996 and, as long as Stena didn’t intend to
renew it for the future, the ferry reverted back to the original “Pegasus One”
name and was laid up at Le Havre until the following May, when she crossed the
Atlantic Ocean for a trip to Venezuela. The “Pegasus One” was chartered by the
Venezuelan company Conferrys, for the Puerto La Cruz
– Punta de Piedras crossing, linking Venezuelan mainland to Margarita island
for two years, from July 1997 to July 1999; then the ferry sailed to Greece,
but she wasn’t put in any Greek service: she was instead laid up at Eleusis, it
seems also due to financial difficulties of the owner with banks. On 2002 the
ferry changed ownership, name and flag, being registered at Gibraltar as the
“St. Matthew”, where she was towed for another long period of lay up; this
lay-up finished only in 2004, when the “St. Matthew” was bought by Tallink and renamed as the “Tallink
Autoexpress 4” for the Helsinki – Tallinn line. This
service was performed for 2004, 2005 and 2006 seasons; later, maybe due to the
great expansion of Tallink Group which had bought
many conventional ferries for the Helsinki – Tallinn line, the company decided
to get rid of the fast monohulls, so this one was
sold at the end of March, 2007, to Aegean Speed Lines for 8 millions Euros.
After having been repainted in the company’s colours,
she started her Greek career sailing from Piraeus to both Aegean Speed Lines’s services, the newly-opened
one for Paros, Naxos, Ios and Santorini, and the
classic line to Western Cyclades, Serifos, Sifnos, Sikinos, Folegandros and Milos. On 2008 season, after the sale of
her fleet-mate, she sailed only to Western Cyclades, where she stayed until the
arrival in Greece of her “bigger sisters”; this arrival caused a livery change,
abandoning the sky blue for the plain white, and the move to the Piraeus – Sifnos – Sikinos – Ios – Santorini line. The “Speedrunner
II” in 2010 was rumoured to be offered for sale or
charter, but this didn’t happened and the 2009 timetables were confirmed also
for the 2010, receiving also a little change in her livery colours;
a charter of the vessel from October 1st was anyway announced by NEL
Lines, but it didn’t take place: the
ferry remained then in Winter lay-up except for a trip between Benghazi and
Alexandria, carrying refugees escaping from Civil War in Libya. On Summer 2011
the ferry sails again to Santorini, but not from Piraeus: she sails from
Heraklion, making only a round-trip per day involving a long stay in the
volcanic island. In the past years, the Crete – Santorini line was very popular
in the Greek one-day cruise market, as long as the Piraeus – Aegina – Poros – Hydra or the Rhodes – Marmaris line, with many
operators offering this excursion to the Crete-based tourists from both
Heraklion, Rethymnon and Agios
Nikolaos ports; between these we can remember both the former Greek cruise firm
Epirotiki Lines and Minoan Lines. The ships usually
involved in this market were small boats, publicized as cruise liners and
featuring services like restaurant, Disco, Piano Bar and swimming-pool, with a
travel time between Crete and Santorini of about four hours; since few years
anyway, these vessels were replaced by high speed ferries like this one and, by
chance, also the first vessel of Aegean Speed Lines was used on this service.
This type of ferries is undoubtedly good for cutting the sea crossing time, but
it is interesting to notice that a lot of garage space is wasted on a route
while the car traffic is absent at all. Two more notes: the “Speedrunner II” on her first year and half of Greek service
sailed under Cyprus flag instead of Greek, and the lane meters figure is
estimated from the bus capacity declared by the company. After the economic
downturn which affected Greece, the “Speedrunner II”
remained laid up at Elefsina bay from the end of 2011
to the end of 2014, when the ship was refitted, probably to be sold to
Paraguayan interests. The negotiations went on till the beginning of 2016, when
the ferry was renamed “Paraguana I” and before being
delivered to the new owners went on charter to Hellenic Shipping, which
operates the Azores services for Atlanticoline, for
Summer. This was anyway the last service of the ferry till the sale to Conferry, which happened in December 2018; instead of being
deployed between Puerto Cabello and Aruba, as planned by Naviera Paraguana, the “Paraguana I”
started the La Guaira – Isla Margarita link.
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From Fincantieri Website |
OCEAN BRIDGE DEVELOPMENTS – Pegasus One
(1996-2002)
STENA LINE – Pegasus One (1996)
STENA LINE – Stena Pegasus (1996)
TALLINK – Tallink Autoexpress
4 (2004-2007)
Piraeus, 05/07/2007 |
Piraeus, 03/08/2007 |
Piraeus, 29/08/2007 |
Piraeus, 31/08/2007 |
Piraeus, 31/08/2007 |
Piraeus, 31/08/2007 |
Apostolos Kaknis |
George Giannakis |
George Giannakis |
Apostolos Kaknis |
Michele Lulurgas |
Michele Lulurgas |
Piraeus, 31/08/2007 |
Piraeus, 31/08/2007 |
Piraeus, 28/11/2007 |
Piraeus, 27/06/2008 |
Piraeus, 27/06/2008 |
Piraeus, 01/07/2008 |
Michele Lulurgas |
Michele Lulurgas |
Michele Lulurgas |
Michele Lulurgas |
Michele Lulurgas |
Michele Lulurgas |
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Piraeus, 01/07/2008 |
Piraeus, 02/07/2008 |
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Michele Lulurgas |
Michele Lulurgas |
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AEGEAN SPEED LINES – Speedrunner II
(2007-2009)
Piraeus, 31/03/2010 |
Piraeus, 01/04/2010 |
Piraeus, 17/07/2010 |
Piraeus, 06/08/2010 |
Piraeus, 06/08/2010 |
Piraeus, 06/08/2010 |
Michele Lulurgas |
Michele Lulurgas |
Dennis Mortimer |
Michele Lulurgas |
Michele Lulurgas |
Michele Lulurgas |
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Piraeus, 06/08/2010 |
Piraeus, 07/08/2010 |
Piraeus, 08/08/2010 |
Piraeus, 08/08/2010 |
Drapetsona, 15/03/2014 |
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Michele Lulurgas |
Michele Lulurgas |
Michele Lulurgas |
Michele Lulurgas |
Dennis Mortimer |
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AEGEAN SPEED LINES – Speedrunner II
(2009-2015)
HELLENIC SHIPPING / ATLANTICOLINE – Paraguana
I (2016)