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H/S/C SPEEDRUNNER II

 

AEGEAN SPEED LINES HSC Speedrunner II 63_Apostolos Kaknis 18Lu10

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

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

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 – SifnosSikinosIos – 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.

 

Photo Gallery

 

HSC Pegasus One 01_Fincantieri

From Fincantieri Website

 

OCEAN BRIDGE DEVELOPMENTS – Pegasus One (1996-2002)

 

 

Genoa, 01/06/1996

Carlo Martinelli

 

STENA LINE – Pegasus One (1996)

 

 

Newhaven, 19/10/1996

Newhaven, 19/10/1996

Tony Garner

Tony Garner

 

STENA LINE – Stena Pegasus (1996)

 

 

TALLINK HSC Tallink Autoexpress 4 01_Aleksi Lindstrom 27Ag05

Helsinki, 27/08/2005

Helsinki, 06/08/2006

Aleksi Lindström

Wil Weijsters

 

TALLINK – Tallink Autoexpress 4 (2004-2007)

 

 

AEGEAN SPEED LINES HSC Speedrunner II 15_Apostolos Kaknis 05Lu07

AEGEAN SPEED LINES HSC Speedrunner II 01_George Giannakis 03Ag07

AEGEAN SPEED LINES HSC Speedrunner II 17_George Giannakis 29Ag07

AEGEAN SPEED LINES HSC Speedrunner II 16_Apostolos Kaknis 31Ag07

AEGEAN SPEED LINES HSC Speedrunner II 05_Personale 31Ag07

AEGEAN SPEED LINES HSC Speedrunner II 09_Personale 31Ag07

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

AEGEAN SPEED LINES HSC Speedrunner II 11_Personale 31Ag07

AEGEAN SPEED LINES HSC Speedrunner II 13_Personale 31Ag07

AEGEAN SPEED LINES HSC Speedrunner II 20_Personale 28No07

AEGEAN SPEED LINES HSC Speedrunner II 28_Personale 27Gi08

AEGEAN SPEED LINES HSC Speedrunner II 30_Personale 27Gi08

AEGEAN SPEED LINES HSC Speedrunner II 33_Personale 01Lu08

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

 

 

AEGEAN SPEED LINES HSC Speedrunner II 34_Personale 01Lu08

AEGEAN SPEED LINES HSC Speedrunner II 37_Personale 02Lu08

 

 

 

 

Piraeus, 01/07/2008

Piraeus, 02/07/2008

 

 

 

 

Michele Lulurgas

Michele Lulurgas

 

 

 

AEGEAN SPEED LINES – Speedrunner II (2007-2009)

 

 

AEGEAN SPEED LINES HSC Speedrunner II 39_Personale 31Ma10

AEGEAN SPEED LINES HSC Speedrunner II 40_Personale 01Ap10

AEGEAN SPEED LINES HSC Speedrunner II 42_Personale 06Ag10

AEGEAN SPEED LINES HSC Speedrunner II 46_Personale 06Ag10

AEGEAN SPEED LINES HSC Speedrunner II 48_Personale 06Ag10

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

AEGEAN SPEED LINES HSC Speedrunner II 50_Personale 06Ag10

AEGEAN SPEED LINES HSC Speedrunner II 51_Personale 07Ag10

AEGEAN SPEED LINES HSC Speedrunner II 52_Personale 08Ag10

AEGEAN SPEED LINES HSC Speedrunner II 55_Personale 08Ag10

 

Piraeus, 06/08/2010

Piraeus, 07/08/2010

Piraeus, 08/08/2010

Piraeus, 08/08/2010

Drapetsona, 15/03/2014

 

Michele Lulurgas

Michele Lulurgas

Michele Lulurgas

Michele Lulurgas

Dennis Mortimer

 

 

AEGEAN SPEED LINES – Speedrunner II (2009-2015)

 

 

Punta Delgada, 21/06/2016

Lisbona, 31/05/2016

Frans Truyens

Pedro Amaral

 

HELLENIC SHIPPING / ATLANTICOLINE – Paraguana I (2016)

 

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