F/B Alkimini A - Piraeus

F/B ALKMINI A

Photo © Nikos Thrylos, Perama, 26/02/05 #1611

Ship	Alkmini A (2005) ΑΛΚΜΗΝΗ Α	Building Spec.	Chantiers du Nord et de la Mediterraneé, Dunkerque, France, 1983 N° 310
Call Sign	SZVV	IMO Number	7907287
GRT	28.559	DWT	3.100
Dimensions	156,20 x 28,48 x 6,30	Engines	4 CCM Sulzer 12c, 25.470 kW
Speed	20 knots	Passengers	2.204
Beds	96	Cars	600
Lane Metres	1.640	Sister Ships	Stena Danica
Registry Port	Piraeus	Flag	Greek
Former Owners	Stena Line AB 1983-96 Stena Line UK 1996-98 P&O Stena Line 1998-02 P&O Ferries 2002-04	Former Names	Stena Jutlandica 1983-96 Stena Empereur 1996-98 P&O SL Provence 1998-02 PO Provence 2002-03 Pride of Provence 2003-05
New Owners	Kystlink 2005à (charter)	New Names	Pride of Telemark 2005à
Line	Chartered to Kystlink

Built in France for Stena Line at the end of 1980, was not delivered to Stena Line until 1983. The ship had a profile developed also on the four ferries ordered by Stena to Stocznia Gdynia yards of Poland, and another common feature between this ferry and the Polish ferries is the enormous delay on the delivery; the later two ferries of the Polish poker are also well known here in Greece, the “El. Venizelos” and the “Regent Sky”, and a funny tale is that on the advertising photos of the “El Venizelos” of 1992 and 1993 and on on-board deck-plans the photo of the ferry was one of the French duo “Stena Jutlandica” and “Stena Danica”, edited with ANEK colours. This impressive day-ferry (only 96 berths probably under the main car deck) entered on Goteborg – Frederikshavn line after her delivery and was on that route until June 1996; on the 26^th of that month was sent to Lloyd Werft of Bremerhaven, where was rebuilt according to Stena Line UK’s needs. The bow and the stern were heavily altered to fit the drive-through docks of Dover and Calais; at the bow the “denture” which is a common feature on Dover ferries was fitted, while on the forecastle a lane was provided to disembark the vehicles from upper garage deck (on her Scandinavian days the access to the upper deck was provided by two entrances at bow and stern on portside) closed by a “guillotine”; at stern the two ramps were removed and the old entrances welded, another “denture” was built in the middle of the stern, with a “balcony” above her which allowed the entrance to the upper garage deck, closed by another “guillotine”; to fit this machinery a part of the stern superstructure was cut off. After these mutilations the ferry started her service in the Channel as “Stena Empereur”, painted in the new Stena livery. After two years the company decided to meet its forces with P&O; the hull was repainted in blue, a classic feature of the English company, with a red stripe above and marketed as “P&O Stena”, the funnel repainted in blue with P&O and Stena flags painted over; soon after the ferry was renamed “P&O SL Provence”. The union between these companies lasts four years, then Stena Line abandoned the Channel traffic leaving her ferries in English hands; the ferry was temporaily renamed “PO Provence” and then “Pride of Provence”, after the classic policy for names adopted by P&O, being also repainted with the nev livery launched on the new ro/paxes “Pride of Rotterdam” and “Pride of Hull”. In 2004 she hit the quay at Dover, damaging her bow and causing some injuries between the passengers, was then sold in October to G.A. Ferries, which collected her on January 2005 as the “Alkmini A.”, as the mother of the ship-owner Gerasimos Agoudimos. The ferry arrived in Greece, where the company started to rebuild her for her new Piraeus – Rhodes services, however her stern was not rebuilt as her pre-1996 appearance: a ramp was fitted in the sole entrance to the car deck, a little ramp for foot-passengers was added on port side and a fixed ramp on garage deck was built to load vehicles on upper car deck. Just after the repaintment of the tunnel in G.A. Ferries’s colours the charter to Kystlink was announced and the ferry was soon repainted with the livery of the company which links Denmark and Norway, providing also to rename her as “Pride of Telemark”. The only positive feature of the story is that, seeing the Kystlink colours on the funnel, it’s easy to remember these days of 1993 before the introduction of the “El. Venizelos”.

STENA LINE F/B Stena Jutlandica – Photo from Wayne Murray’s collection

STENA LINE F/B Stena Jutlandica – Photo © Micke Asklander, August 1986

STENA LINE F/B Stena Jutlandica – Photo by courtesy of EFOPLISTIS magazine

STENA LINE F/B Stena Empereur – Photo from Wayne Murray’s collection

P&O STENA F/B POSL Provence – Photo by courtesy of Micke Asklander

P&O F/B Pride of Provence – Photo © Michael Chiou

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