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FERRIES – AEGEAN CARGO > Ro/Ro AEGEAN HEAVEN (2008)
Ro/Ro AEGEAN HEAVEN
Photo © Michele Lulurgas, Perama, 05/08/10 #9881
Ship |
Aegean Heaven
(2008) |
Building Spec. |
Mitsubishi
Heavy Industries Ltd, Shimonoseki,
Japan, 1999 – N°1093 |
Call Sign |
9HKC9 |
IMO Number |
9203605 |
GRT |
23.503 |
DWT |
5.618 |
Dimensions |
199,5
x 24,5 x 6,91 |
Engines |
2 NKK – SEMT Pielstick
18PC4-2B, 47660 kW |
Speed |
30
knots |
Passengers |
12 |
Beds |
12
in 6 cabins |
Cars |
46 in lower hold |
Lane Metres |
2.700 |
Sister ships |
Hokkaido Maru († 2014) |
Registry Port |
Valletta |
Flag |
Malta |
Former Names/Own. |
Sun
Flower Tomakomai – Blue
Highway Line 1999-00 Sun
Flower Tomakomai – Advanced
Transport / Blue Line 2000-01 Sunflower Tomakomai – MOL
Ferry – Shosen Mitsui 2001-08 Chartered to Japanese
Government 06/2002 |
||
New Names/Owners |
Chartered to Acciona Trasmediterranea 07/2008-03/2010 Ayshe – EKOL 08/2014-08/2019 (charter) |
||
Line |
|
The shipping world at the end of 1990’s
was surely in the “speed age” it should not surprise that these years Japanese
operators were considering order a pure ro/ro capable of a 30 knots cruise-speed. This ferry was
launched in 1999 by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in their Shimonoseki shipyard,
some months before her sister, and named “Sun Flower Tomakomai” for the owner Blue Highway Line. The ferry was
designed to operate a speed of 30 knots at 75% MCR, but during trials was
capable of 32 knots, a never seen speed on a pure freighter. This performance
allowed her to cut the travel time between Tokyo and Tomakomai
(Hokkaido) by 10 hours, completing the 548 nautical miles between the two ports
in 20 hours rather than the 30 required by the former sisters engaged on the
service, the older “Tokyo Maru” and “Tomakomai Maru”.
These two sisters finally left Japan for Greece, being bought by Express Sea
Trailers of Kostas Agapitos, while the “Sun Flower Tomakomai”
was awarded “Ship of the Year 2000” by Japanese Naval architects and “Nihon
Keizai Shimbun Award”, the award assigned to the fastest ro/ro cargo ferry in the world. When her fuel consumption of
182 tons every 24 hours started to become a problem, the ferry was often laid
up; on June 2002 was also chartered to the Japanese Government, which intended
to use her as a floating prison for the “hooligans” during 2002 Football World
Cup, by anchoring the “Sunflower Tomakomai” (which
received the artist name of “Fuurigan Maru – Good
Ship Hooligan” for the event) off Hokkaido ready to offer a pleasant “cruise”
to Tokyo and from there to Ushiku prison for up to
630 hooligans. Anyway the English supporters, which
were the designed “guests” of the “cruise” didn’t had a particular negative
behaviour, so the Japanese taxpayers were able to save a lot of money in fuel. Finally the ship was laid up in Yokohama from March 2007
awaiting a new buyer: this was found on December of the same year for 27
millions Euro: it was Kostas Agapitos of Aegean Cargo, the same shipowner which
buyed the former Tokyo – Tomakomai
ferries in 1999 displaced by this one. The ferry started the trip to Greece as
the “Aegean Heaven” and when arrived in Piraeus the afternoon of February 29th,
had still the MOL Ferry – Shosen Mitsui livery
displayed on her hull. After few days in the Main Port, the “Aegean Heaven”
left for the Neo Molo DEH of Keratsini, where the
conversion work on her started; in the meantime, many speculations were made
over her future employment: Adriatic Sea, Domestic services or, instead, Greece
– Cyprus – Israel line. The final result of her conversion is a very smart ro/ro: the stern starboard ramp
was moved to stern and takes to the upper garage, while the starboard bow ramp
leads to the main garage; this allow, if the ferry is moored properly, to load
independently the two decks at the same time; anyway there is a tilting ramp
between the main garage and the upper one. The ship retains also the lower deck
for 46 cars, but the most interesting modify carried in Greece was the
conversion of the weather deck in order to carry cargo by strengthening all the
superstructure and building a fixed ramp between the upper garage and the
weather deck, completed by a tilting door to be closed at sea. At the final
stages of conversion the colours of Aegean Cargo appeared on her funnel, but
only for a while: they were replaced by the red/white of Acciona
Trasmediterranea, which chartered her for Barcelona –
Cadiz – Tanger – Canarias line for a year, with an
option for extending the charter to a second year. On this service, the “Aegean
Heaven” made a record, as being the first ship to connect Canarias and Spain in
less than 24 hours. At the end of the charter, in March 2010, was laid up,
first at Perama, later in Eleusis bay, failing to
find a charter also because of her high fuel consumption. I’s a big pity, this
because she could have been converted as a ro/pax, and also because she could have been very competitive
on routes such as Adriatic services or Piraeus – Limassol line, which could
have been covered in about 22 hours with an average speed of 24 knots and about
18 hours at 30 knots average speed, being able to offer three sailings a-week
from each port. During Summer 2014 she left her lay-up to be chartered to the
Turkish operator EKOL, to be employed between Istanbul and Sete,
calling often en-route to other ports as Patras or Lavrion; after five years, the charter ended and the “Ayshe” was again laid up at Perama.
Photo
Gallery
SUN FLOWER LINE / MOL FERRY – Sunflower Tomakomai (1999-2008)
AEGEAN CARGO – Aegean Heaven (2008)
AEGEAN CARGO – Aegean Heaven (2008)
Keratsini, 18/07/2008 |
Keratsini, 18/07/2008 |
Arrecife, 08/09/2008 |
Barcelona, 10/10/2008 |
Tenerife, 21/10/2008 |
Apostolos Kaknis |
Apostolos Kaknis |
Apostolos Kaknis |
Apostolos Kaknis |
Apostolos Kaknis |
ACCIONA TRASMEDITERRANEA – Aegean Heaven (2008-2010)
Perama, 08/08/2010 |
Perama, 28/06/2014 |
Perama, 28/06/2014 |
Perama, 28/06/2014 |
Perama, 30/06/2014 |
Michele Lulurgas |
Michele Lulurgas |
Michele Lulurgas |
Michele Lulurgas |
Michele Lulurgas |
AEGEAN CARGO – Aegean Heaven (2010-2014)
EKOL
–Ayshe (2014-2019)