Superfast Ferries

Superfast Ferries S.A.

Type	Wholly owned subsidiary
Industry	Transport
Headquarters	Athens, Greece
Key people	Andreas Vgenopoulos
Products	Passenger transportation, Freight transportation, Holidays, Business travel
Website	www.superfast.com

MS Superfast XI bound to Ancona passing Kefalonia island.

MS Blue Star 1 of the joint Superfast Ferries/Blue Star Ferries service from Rosyth to Zeebrugge in the Firth of Forth.

Superfast Ferries is a Greece-based ferry company founded in 1993 by Pericles Panagopulos and Alexander Panagopulos. Superfast Ferries is a member of Attica Group and operates 5 ultra-modern car-passenger ferries, offering daily connections between Ancona and Bari (Italy) and Patras and Igoumenitsa (Greece).Together with Blue Star Ferries, it is a subsidiary company of Attica Group, which is listed on the Athens Stock Exchange.

As of March 2009 Superfast Ferries has introduced a new line between Piraeus and Heraklion, Crete with a daily operation all year round.

Routes

In the past Superfast Ferries has operated lines in several parts of Europe, on the Adriatic Sea, North Sea, and the Baltic sea. Currently, they are mainly active in the Adriatic sea. As of March 2009, operated routes are:

Adriatic Sea

• Ancona, Italy — Igoumenitsa and Patras, Greece
• Bari, Italy — Corfu, Igoumenitsa and Patras, Greece

Aegean Sea

• Piraeus, Greece — Heraklion, Greece

Superfast operated the Rosyth - Zeebrugge ferry service between 2002 and 2008. On 29 May 2008 it was announced that Superfast Ferries would withdraw across the North Sea. The service was subsequently withdrawn on 13 September 2008. The North Sea service was mainland Scotland's only year round, direct, scheduled ferry service to and from Continental Europe. The vessel used was MS Blue Star 1, which replaced the larger MS Superfast X on the route. Blue Star I has been reallocated to Attica's Mediterranean services. Norfolkline restarted the route in May 2009. [1]

Vessel allocations

In late 2005, Superfast ferries removed one of the two ships operating the link between Zeebrugge and Rosyth, thus turning the daily link from Belgium to Scotland into one operated only every other day. Superfast IX joined the two ship operation between Hanko and Rostock to serve the growing demand in the Finland - Germany service. In April 2006, Superfast and Attica once more took the market by surprise by agreeing to sell the Superfast VII, Superfast VIII and Superfast IX ice-class ferries to Estonian operator Tallink for €310 million.

In addition, Superfast introduced a new "roll-on roll-off" (RoRo) service between Uusikaupunki and Rostock in January 2005. Attica has since moved one of the RO/RO ships RORO MARIN to their Adriatic Sea routes.

In August 2006 Attica entered into an agreement to sell to Veolia Transport its ice-class vessel Superfast X trading between Scotland and Belgium for € 112mln. The delivery of Superfast X took place in January 2007.

In September 2007, Pericles Panagopulos, the former key shareholder of Attica, decided to sell his participation for € 5.50 per share to Marfin Investment Group. The move was seen as a "family transition" decision and was interpreted to be an exit for the 72 year-old investor. Alexander Panagopulos, CEO of Attica, resigned prior to this sale and founded his shipping company by the name Arista Shipping S.A..

ANEK-Superfast

On June 8, 2011 Superfast Ferries and ANEK Lines create a joint venture in Piraeus-Heraklion and Patra-Igoumenitsa-Ancona routes with two RO-PAX ships in the first one (the ANEK-owned "Olympic Champion" and the Superfast-owned "Superfast XII") and three in the second one (the ANEK-owned "Hellenic Spirit" and the Superfast-owned "Superfast VI" and "Superfast XI").

Fleet

Current fleet

Ship	Built	Entered service for Superfast	Traffic area	Gross tonnage	Notes
MS Superfast I	2008	2008	Adriatic Sea	24,950 GT
MS Superfast II	2009	2009	Adriatic Sea	24,950 GT
MS Superfast VI	2001	2001	Adriatic Sea	32,728 GT
MS Superfast XI	2002	2002	Adriatic Sea	30,902 GT
MS Superfast XII	2002	2002	Aegean Sea	30,902 GT

Former ships

Ship	Years in service	Gross tonnage	Current status
MS Superfast I	1995—2004	23,663 GT	Since 2008 MS Skania for Unity Line
MS Superfast II	1995—2003	23,663 GT	Since 2006 MS Mega Express Four for Corsica Ferries
MS Superfast III	1998—2002	29,067 GT	Since 2002 MS Spirit of Tasmania II for TT-Line (Australia)
MS Superfast IV	1998—2002	29,067 GT	Since 2002 MS Spirit of Tasmania I for TT-Line (Australia)
MS Superfast V	2001—2010	32,728 GT	Since 2010 MS Cap Finistère for Brittany Ferries
MS Superfast VII	2001—2006	30,285 GT	Since 2011 sailing for Stena Line
MS Superfast VIII	2001—2006	30,285 GT	Since 2011 sailing for Stena Line
MS Superfast IX	2002—2006	30,285 GT	Since 2008 sailing as MS Atlantic Vision for Marine Atlantic
MS Superfast X	2002—2007	29,800 GT	Since 2008 MS SeaFrance Molière for SeaFrance

External links

• Superfast Ferries - Time tables and booking for international routes.
• Superfast Ferries - Online Ferry Ticket Sales and Reservations.
• Attica Group - Parent Company of Superfast Ferries.
• Superfast ferries - Online Ferry tickets reservations & Superfast ferries Related info.