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F/B AGIOS NEKTARIOS

Photo © George Giannakis, Piraeus, 28/04/1995 #6237

Ship	Agios Nektarios (1993) ΑΓΙΟΣ ΝΕΚΤΑΡΙΟΣ	Building Spec.	Solvesbörg Varv AB, Solvesbörg, Sweden, 1964 – N° 66
Call Sign	SV4825	IMO Number	6403163
GRT	1.354	DWT	500
Dimensions	71,9 x 12,7 x 3,61	Engines	2 Klöckner-Humboldt – Deutz 8c, 3.133 kW
Speed	17,5 knots	Passengers	1.080
Beds	-	Cars	70
Lane Metres		Sister Ships
Registry Port	Piraeus	Flag	Greek
Former Names/Own.	Apollo – Rederi AB Slite (Viking Line) 05/1964-09/1967 Manic – La Traverse Nord-Sud 09/1967-1970 Manic – Canadian National / Government of Canada 1970-02/1978 Ainos – Strintzis Lines 02/1978-05/1989 Neraida II – Sigma Ferries 05/1989-03/1990 Ydra – Ventouris Ferries 03/1990-02/1993
New Names/Owners	Sank in shallow waters at Keratsini, Greece, 24/12/2003 Scrapped at Keratsini (Greece) in June 2006
Line

Being the first roll on/roll off car ferry of Viking Line, she was built in 1964 for Rederi AB Slite, one of the three companies which have founded the consortium, named APOLLO after the mythological God of Ancient Greece, after few months under Rederi AB Slite’s livery, she took the Viking Line livery, which she carried for almost three years. Soon became too small for her service, which was very successful, the APOLLO was sold to Canadian interests in September of 1967, renamed MANIC and crossed the Atlantic for the first time, operating local services in Quebec waters under Canadian flag. She came to Greece in 1978, bought by the rapidly-expanding Strintzis Lines, which intended to open a new service from Kyllini, Western Peloponnese, to Poros, Cephalonia Island, but she operated also spells between Patras and Argostoli, the main town of Cephalonia, and between Rafina and Cyclades in Aegean Sea. After the introduction of bigger tonnage, the AINOS was sold to Sigma Ferries, which renamed her as the NERAIDA II and put the ferry on a service from Piraeus to Argosaronic islands. After less than a year, Sigma Ferries decided to retire from shipping, so the NERAIDA II was sold to Ventouris Ferries, which maintained the ferry on the same services from Piraeus to Aegina, Methana, Poros, Hydra, Spetses and Porto Heli under the new name of YDRA.

At the beginning of 1993, Ventouris Ferries decided to pull out from Saronikos market, and the YDRA was sold to another member of Ventouris family, which established his own ferry company, named Ventouris Lines, intending to serve the Saronikos islands with this ship. The name given to his ferry was AGIOS NEKTARIOS, after the patron saint of Aegina island, and even if the ship was 29 years old at the moment of her purchase, during a period where it wasn’t allowed to use on Greek domestic routes ships older than 35 years, Ventouris Lines carried a significant refit of the ferry, which was pretty the same of her APOLLO times until 1993.

The stern ramp was enlarged, and the passenger entrances on both sides were enclosed into the superstructure; the deck above the garage was enclosed to the stern beyond the funnels, and the sun deck was covered by creating a new sun deck above the former one; a lifeboat each side was replaced by life rafts and, more notably, the dummy funnel was removed, entering in a new interesting history which would even survive the original ferry where it was placed on. Even the interiors were renovated with plushier furnishing: during the era of Greek cruise-ferries, the cruise-ferries started sailing also on short routes like those of Argosaronikos islands. A funny fact to notice is that even after a so important refit, the small list which characterized this ferry wasn’t solved.

The AGIOS NEKTARIOS had a very short career in her last guise: this wasn’t due to her age, but to the financial collapse of Ventouris Lines, happened in 1996. Being initially laid up in Piraeus, the original APOLLO didn’t find any buyer, while this happened to her fleet mates, so was later moved to Ikonio docks, in the vast ship repairing area which includes also Drapetsona and Perama. In 2000, there were consistent rumours about an interest of a new operator to deploy the vessel between Corfu and Igoumenitsa as a pure ro/ro, a duty which didn’t required the vessel to be younger than 35 years of age, but these rumours didn’t materialize and the AGIOS NEKTARIOS remained tied at Ikonio, surrounded by other vessels which had the same fate like the original NISSOS CHIOS of Chios Naftiki Etareia and the THESEUS of Miras Ferries.

On Christmas Eve of 2003, the Ikonio area was hit hard by bad weather and the AGIOS NEKTARIOS, which after a lay-up period of seven years was in a derelict state, sank in shallow waters. This led the Piraeus Port Authority to call a tender to refloat the hull, which was salvaged, and in 2006 finally the Port Authority sold her and her two misfortune companions for scrap; while the NISSOS CHIOS and the THESEUS were towed to Aliaga, Turkey, the AGIOS NEKTARIOS, which was probably the most damaged one, and couldn’t be towed across the Aegean Sea to the Ionia shores, was broken in situ at Ikonio.

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