El. Venizelos (ship)

El. Venizelos is a Greek ferry, which is the oldest ship in the ANEK Lines fleet. She is a motor Ro-Ro/Passenger ferryboat, built in 1984 at Stocznia im. Komuny Paryskiej at Gdynia, Poland as Stena Polonica and completed in 1992 in Perama, Piraeus, Greece as El Venizelos. She is related to Stena Line's Stena Vision and Stena Spirit, as well as the unfinished Lelakis' Regent Sky.[2] She holds a total of 2300 passenger and 850 cars and has 1606 beds. for passengers. She has four Zgoda-Sulzer 16ZV 40/48 diesel engines,[3] with combined power of 34,130 kW and reaches speeds of up to 22 knots. It also has WiFi Internet, two restaurants. two bars (one cafe bar and one piano bar), an amusement arcade, a casino, a church, a duty-free shop, a playground, a hospital, escalators, elevators, air-conditioning and a swimming pool and her cabins can be either lux, 2-bed, 4-bed or for disabled.[4] She was named after Eleftherios Venizelos, a Greek politician with Cretan origins. On March 30 El Venizelos laid-up since three days in Piraeus Anchorage had cases with the COVID-19. On 2 April at nine pm El Venizelos moored at the Piraeus Port.

El. Venizelos in Souda's Port at 2018
History
 Greece
Name: El. Venizelos
Namesake: Eleftherios Venizelos
Owner: Anonymous Naftiliaki Eteria Critis (ANEK Lines), Chania, Greece
Port of registry: Chania,  Greece
Route: Piraeus - Souda
Ordered: 1979
Builder: Stocznia im. Komuny Paryskiej, Gdynia, Poland (hull)
Yard number: B494 / 3
Launched: October 28, 1984
Completed: 1992 at Perama, Piraeus, Greece.
Maiden voyage: June 1992
Identification:

Callsign: 5BYX4 IMO: 8922163

MMSI: 209262000[1]
Fate: Laid-Up with cases with the COVID-19
Status: Laid-Up with cases with the COVID-19
Notes: Laid-Up in Piraeus Port with 119 cases with the COVID-19 on board. There are 383 workers on board 36 Greeks, 150 Turkish, 82 Ukrainian, 83 Indonesian, and other peoples from Bulgaria and Kazakhstan.
General characteristics
Type: Ro-pax ferry
Tonnage:

38,261 gt

Summer DWT: 5351 t[1]
Length: 175.5 m (576 ft)
Beam: 28.5 m (94 ft)
Height: 6.7 m (22 ft)
Draught: 6.4 m (21 ft)
Ramps:

two for vehicles

one for passengers
Speed: 22 knots

History

1979-1989: Construction

The vessel was ordered by Stena Line AB in 1979. This ship was the third of four gigantic vessels for Stena Line made in Poland and was going to be named Stena Polonica. The construction was delayed but by October 28, 1984 she was launched. However, in 1986, Stena Line cancelled its delivery because none of the equipment for the interior was produced, as well as because of several long delays.[5] One of one of her sister ships was also cancelled, so only the other two were completed and still operate for Stena Line. She was then laid up in Gdynia until 1988, when Fred Olsen, a Norwegian cruising company, bought the hull, which was unofficially named Bonanza. Olsen planned to move the hull to Bremen Vegesack Germany for completion, but it never happened and the hull remained in Gdynia. It was laid up for one more year, before Anonymous Naftiliaki Eteria Kritis (ANEK) bought her for $6.5 million. She was towed by Maersk Blazer to Eleusis Bay on February 16, and by November, she was moved to Perama to start completion.

1990s, First years

Her early name was Kydon II after the company's first ship, but she was eventually renamed to her current name of Eleftherios Venizelos. She was delivered in June 1992 and deployed between Piraeus and Crete, but the ship had trouble getting into the port of Crete on windy days so she was put on another route. On August 7, she was deployed on the route Patras-Igoumenitsa-Corfu-Trieste during summer and between Piraeus and Heraklion during winter. She was the biggest and largest ferry in the Greek coastal service for 18 years, until the delivery of Cruise Olympia and Cruise Europa for Minoan Lines, and she remains the biggest and largest ferry flying the Greek flag.

2000s

For summer 2003, ANEK agreed an advertising deal with Cosmote, a telecommunications firm. The ship was repainted with a new livery featuring Comsote advertisements.[5] She wore that livery until 2005.[6] In the summer of 2004, the ship was chartered to the company Tunisia Ferries (also known as Compagnie Tunisienne de Navigation, or COTUNAV). In October, following her charter, she was deployed between Piraeus and Chania. On October 5, 2007, following her charter, she was deployed between Piraeus and Heraklion, and then on the Piraeus-Chania route from 2008 until 2011.

2010-Today

In 2010, she served on the Oreus-Rhodes-Kos-Tinos-Mykonos route before her annual charter. She was then returned to the Piraeus-Chania route in October. On February 22, 2011, she departed from Perama to Benghazi via Souda to help evacuate people from Libya.

Libya Evacuation 2011
Date Event
2011 02 26 Arrived at Heaklion with 2923 passengers on board, departed the same day to Misurata.
2011 03 02 Arrived at Heraklion.
2011 03 03 Departed from Heraklion towards Souda.
2011 03 06 - 2011 03 08 Departed from Souda towards Misurata.
2011 03 09 - 2011 03 11 Departed from Misurata towards Alexandria with 2088 passengers on board.
2011 03 11 Departed from Alexandria towards Sirte.
2011 03 16 Laid on the rescue to Sirte for two days, then returned to Souda where the ship was laid up.

She arrived on Piraeus on May 8, Between May 16 to May 22 she was deployed between Piraeus-Chania before chartering to Tunisia. Afterwards, she was laid up in Perama, until June 4, 2012. At this time, she returned to the Piraeus-Chania line for replacing Lato until April 21, 2013, when she was chartered. Between January 27, 2014 to January 28, she was used as a floating hotel in Argostoli, after an earthquake that had occurred. By March 1, she was laid up in Perama, before chartering in GoSardinia in July. During 2 September to 15 September, she returned to Chania - Piraeus and then laid up in Salamina. Since 2017, she operates the Piraeus-Souda line again.

Cruises

Because of her size, ANEK Lines often preserved the ship for cruises

Leasings

The ship was often leased to other companies, mainly outside of Greece.

  • July 2001: To Italian authorities. Used as a hotel ship during the G8 meeting in Genoa, Italy for a week.
  • June 2004: To Cotunav, Tunisia. Left Piraeus on June 17 and deployed on Tunis - Genoa / Marseille. She was chartered to this company each summer until 2011.
  • May 2013: To SNCM. Left Piraeus on May 19 and deployed between Marseille - Alger - Tunis - Corsica. Her charter ended abruptly during the same year, after a poor performance throughout the season on the line and the ship returned to Greece by September
  • July 2014: To GoInSardinia. Left Piraeus on July 11 and deployed between Livorno - Olbia / Arbatax. This charter did not go well either.
  • August 14, 2015: To Greek authorities and used as a floating hotel in Kos for refugees from Syria. By August 19, she was deployed between Mytilene - Piraeus for transporting refugees.
  • June 2016: To Africa Morocco Link between Tanger Med - Algeciras. The charter failed, as the ship was too large to operate on a line where travel time lasts only two hours.

2020 charting to Spain

In March 2020, she was chartered to a Turkish Company as a floating hotel for workers in Cadiz, Spain for 1.5 month. The charter was eventually cancelled due to the COVID-19 in Spain. Greece. On 30 March 2020, it was announced that El. Venizelos has three cases with coronavirus on board. On the ship there are 383 workers 36 Greeks, 150 Turkish, 82 Ukrainian, 83 Indonesian from Bulgaria, and from Kazakhstan. The ship first returned to Turkey to leave the Turkish workers but the Turkish authorities didn't allow to enter the Turkish port because the Turkish frontiers are closed. The ship returned to Piraeus, Greece but the Greek authorities didn't allow to enter the port. The ship now is Laid-Up in Piraeus Anchorage with 120 cases of coronavirus.

  • 30 March: Ministry of Health of Greece announced 3 cases with COVID-19
  • 31 March: Ministry of Health of Greece announced 20 cases with COVID-19
  • 1 April: Ministry of Health of Greece announced 20 cases with COVID-19
  • 2 April: Ministry of Health of Greece announced 119 cases with COVID-19
  • 2 April: At 9 pm El. Venizelos moored at the Piraeus Port. The crew which don't have COVID-19 are going to be out and the foreigners will go to their countries but first they are going to put in a quarantine at a hotel. Now the 119 cases with the COVID-19 will remain to the ship at least 14 days more.

2018 fire incident

On August 29, 2018, after her departure from Piraeus, her garage was caught on fire. The ship was sailing 8 nm from Agios Georgios island, off Ydra. Over 1,000 people were on board, in addition to 80 trucks and 152 cars. The fire most likely began from a truck in the garage. The ship returned to Piraeus at 4.00 am as it. Passengers disembarked safely. In September the ship went to Perama for repairs and subsequently returned to service.[7]

Older liveries

During 2007–2013, the ship wore a blue-yellow diagonal stripe. it was also on her Tunisia Ferries charters. She also briefly wore an EU flag. During her usage for transporting refugees, she had a blue stripe.

  • El Venizelos in Piraeus in 2007
  • El Venizelos in Genova in 2011
  • El Venizelos in Piraeus in 2013
  • El. Venizelos in Piraeus in 2015

Route

El. Venizelos serves the ferry line Piraeus-Chania

References
  1. "El. Venizelos in Marine Traffic". MarineTraffic.com.
  2. "Το "αδερφάκι" του Ελ. Βενιζέλος, η αγορά από Κρητικό και το "άδοξο" τέλος". Newsbeast.gr (in Greek). 2017-07-04. Retrieved 2019-05-21.
  3. "M/S EL. VENIZELOS (1992)". www.faktaomfartyg.se. Retrieved 2019-05-19.
  4. "ANEK Lines Ferries. ANEK Lines fleet". www.ferries.gr. Retrieved 2019-05-19.
  5. "HHV Ferry: El Venizelos". www.hhvferry.com. Retrieved 2019-05-21.
  6. "The ferry site". www.ferry-site.dk. Retrieved 2019-05-21.
  7. Casualties | 29/08/18 (2018-08-29). "Greek passenger ship suffers fire while underway". SAFETY4SEA. Retrieved 2019-05-19.
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