The former Norfolk Line/DFDS and Seatruck Ro-Ro ANGLIA SEAWAYS left Rotterdam this afternoon bound for Piraeus. Renamed BLUE CARRIER 1 and still in full DFDS livery, the 142.5m vessel has left for a new chapter in her career where she will be used to increase freight capacity on Attica Group’s routes in the Aegean. Attica Group purchased the vessel from owner DFDS for €12m during May. DFDS sold her as she had become surplus to requirements due to her low capacity compared to the rest of the DFDS fleet.
Originally named MAERSK ANGLIA, she was delivered to Norfolk Line in June 2000 by Guangzhou Wenchong Shipyard in China for their Scheveningen to Felixstowe route. She became a DFDS vessel after the Danish company acquired Norfolk Line from AP Moller Maersk in 2010. ANGLIA SEAWAYS and her part-sisters were designed specifically to fit the constrained dimensions of the Dutch port of Scheveningen, and MAERSK ANGLIA was the final Norfolk Line ship to sail from that port before the route was moved to Vlaardingen instead during 2006.
BLUE CARRIER 1 is one of two part-sister’s to Stena Line’s Belfast to Heysham ships STENA HIBERNIA and STENA SCOTIA which was built at a different shipyard around 4 years later to a modified design with more powerful engines. ANGLIA SEAWAYS has previously sailed between Heysham and Northern Ireland for both Norfolk Line and Seatruck (who used her to both Belfast and Warrenpoint). She opened Seatruck’s Dublin to Liverpool route after DFDS closed their own route between the two ports using her in 2011. That route now having grown to a four vessel service. That all four vessels are of higher capacity than ANGLIA SEAWAYS demonstrates just how much freight demand has grown.
A press release about the delivery of ANGLIA SEAWAYS to Attica Group is reproduced in full below.
DELIVERY OF NEW VESSEL FOR ATTICA GROUP
https://www.attica-group.com/attachments/article/2516/DELIVERY_OF_NEW_VESSEL_FOR_ATTICA_GROUP.pdf
Attica Holdings S.A (Attica Group) announces the delivery of the RoRo Cargo vessel Anglia Seaways from DFDS for a cash consideration of Euro 12,050,000. The vessel, built in 2000, has an overall length of 142.5 meters, service speed of 17.5 knots and a garage capacity of 1,680 lane meters or 120 unaccompanied freight units.
The vessel was renamed Blue Carrier 1 and is scheduled to be deployed in Attica’s domestic route network. With this investment, the Group increases significantly its freight capacity, supplementing its existing route network.
The vessel is the most modern RoRo Cargo vessel ever deployed in Greek domestic routes. The vessel flies the Greek Flag, as all vessels owned by the Group and has already been crewed by Greek seafarers.
Attica Group, the largest Greek ferry group, continues to invest in the prospects of the Greek economy.
The Board of Directors
