2005
NorTH Adriatic SEA
After fourteen
years of service, the passenger operations between Trieste
and Greece
came to an end. Anek Lines, being unsatisfied by the
services provided from Trieste Port Authority, decided to change its Northern
Italy port of call to Venice.
The ferries serving the line are both “Lefka Ori”
and “Sophocles
V.”, being supported on spring and autumn by the “Kriti II”;
on summer instead the ferry comes back to Heraklion,
in order to cover the sailings missed by the “El. Venizelos”,
chartered to Tunisia Ferries. Minoan Lines instead proposed a similar
timetable to those operated in 2004, with the well known “Ariadne Palace”, “Pasiphae Palace” and “Ikarus Palace”. Finally, the Porto Marghera – Corinth
service changes its appearance: the Minoan Flying Dolphins group changes its
commercial name and brands to Hellenic Seaways, and the well known ro/ros, which changed their name to “Cielo Trailer”
and “Nave
Trailer”, operated under the brand Hellenic Seaways Cargo.
ANCONA
With the new year,
the only relevant new fact in Ancona is that the four
Superfast Ferries’s vessels
“Superfast V”, “Superfast VI”,
“Superfast XI” and “Superfast XII”
are again full-time operating here; the second new fact about Superfast is that the evening departure on peak season is
not anymore direct between Patras and Ancona but via Igoumenitsa, adding
delays to the travellers reaching the final destination after the
disembarkation at Ancona or at Patras.
The services operated by Anek Lines with “Olympic
Champion” and “Hellenic Spirit” and by Minoan Lines with “Olympia Palace”
and “Europa Palace” are operated without
any noticeable change.
BARI
After a year marked
by a market shrinkage, on 2005 we can see a strong
growth in Bari.
Marketed as Blue
Star Ferries, the Attica Enterprises service from Bari this year gain another dedicated ferry, the “Blue Star 1”, which after the unsatisfactory
results of Crete service was redeployed along the “Blue Horizon”
between Bari,
Igoumenitsa and Patras.
Another interesting new fact is the introduction of the call at Corfu on summer, performed by the “Blue Star 1”. But this is not anymore the
unique ferry service to Patras: from this year the
joint service operated by Agoudimos Lines
and Endeavor Lines started sailing on Bari
– Igoumenitsa – Patras.
After some delays from the announced beginning of the service, at the end of
August the couple of operators introduced on the line the superb twins “Ionian King”
and “Ionian
Queen”, the ferries with the hugest garage of all the Adriatic Sea, 22 knots of speed, many services and
luxurious furnishings. The ferries still remember their Japanese past, but are
very nice also for Europe. From Patras and Igoumenitsa the
departures are on daily basis respectively at 17.00 and at 23.30; from Bari
at 18.30, except for the winter period, while the departures of Saturday and
Sunday are anticipated respectively at 17.30 and at 14.00. The “Polaris”
and the “Siren”
are completing the sailings offer from Bari,
sailing to
Corfu, Igoumenitsa and sometimes also to Cephalonia under the colours of
Ventouris Ferries.
BRINDISI
The main Brindisi operator is Maritime Way,
which serves the well-known Brindisi – Igoumenitsa
– Patras timetable with “Erotokritos”
and “Elli T.”.
The only other operator serving Patras is G.A. Ferries
with “Milena” and “Daliana”
which serves the old HML lines reaching also Cephalonia and Zakinthos
having very long crossing-times. At Igoumenitsa the
service, usually very various, is only performed by two ferries, the “Ionian Sky”
of Agoudimos Lines and the “Ouranos”
of Fragline.
Photos in this page
are courtesy of Egidio Ferrighi,
Pieter Inpijn, Apostolos Kaknis, Dominik Wagner, Emilio Barenghi, Michele Lulurgas, Stefanos Antoniadis; other images are official photographs
and postcards.
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