H/S/F Superfast VII

H/S/F SUPERFAST VII

Photo © Superfast Ferries

Ship	Superfast VII (2001)	Building Spec.	2001 at HDW, Kiel, Germany N° 357
Call Sign	SWFC	IMO Number	9198941
GRT	30.285	DWT	5.525
Dimensions	203,9 x 25 x 6,4	Engines	4 Wartsila – Sulzer, 47.999 kW
Speed	27,1 nodi, max 30,4	Passengers	626
Beds	626 in 179 cabine	Cars	900
Lane Metres	1.908	Sister Ships	Superfast VIII Superfast IX Superfast X
Registry Port	Piraeus	Flag	Greek
Former Owners		Former Names
New Owners		New Names
Line	Rostock - Hanko

First ship of Superfast Ferries’s Baltic services. Committed to HDW yards to be used on Greek Domestic trade, was instead placed in the Baltic due to delays in gaining the permission to link Greek Islands. Her first trip was a cruise from Germany to Rosyth, the theatre of the new 2002 Superfast service to Belgium, then, from 17/05/01 she started the Rostock – Hanko service, linking Germany with the little port near to Finnish Capital. According to Superfast’s timetables the sailing from Rostock to Hanko takes about 22 hours; however the first inaugural trip to Helsinki was completed in only 18 hours, so I wonder why the Panagopoulos decided to stop the service in Hanko instead of Helsinki. The possible reasons, for me, were two: the first one is that the Greeks would shame to dock their ferry near to frequent users of this finnish port like “Mariella”, “Silja Symphony” and “Silja Serenade”, “Romantika”, “Finnjet”, “Gabriella”, “Norlandia”, “Meloodia” and so on; 2) it’s possible that, on winter season, when most of Baltic seas are invaded by ice, the “Ferrari” powered by Wartsila and built in Kiel should reduce their speed. Surely the true reason is the second one, but I still think that the first one might be reasonable! I saw some impressions of someone which had travelled aboard this ship and I want to report that here. In primis, there are the Swedish, German, Finnish flag; the idea is good, but why in seven years of service no one has thought to paint on adriatic ships the Italian, Greek and European flag? Probably because the Germans have some influence on Superfast! This impression is confirmed by the fact that the ship is designed to meet German passengers’s tastes rather than other ones; it is a very good idea to bring the Greek menu on Superfast VII’s restaurants, a good move in order to let the client understanding the ferry’s flag; the crew is Greek and Finnish. The ship has not a cafè on board, a negative fact considering that also abortions like the “Blue Bridge” have it; the shops are similar to these ones aboard Adriatic Fleet, without a big range of products. I always thought that ferries in my zone were more furnished than a supermarket, but my opinion underlines the different tastes and habitudes between Adriatic, where ferries are designed to carry freight, and Baltic, where a travel on a ferry is very similar to a cruise. The Superfast VII has aboard also a library. However, the ship doesn’t meet baltic criterias with restaurants, which stop their work at 22.00 (I never saw an Adriatic ship with a restaurant opened so much!); with Lux cabins, more small if compared to Baltic ships’s ones, and with the passengers’s entrance through the garage, so common in Adriatic as unusual for Baltic passengers. The result of this inusual challenge for a Greek ferry, until now was a draw: a success on Hanko Line and a worst figure on Sodertalje line.

Photo by courtesy of magazine EFOPLISTIS

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