ALTAIR (ex BARI / WINNNER 9 / ISLA DE BOTAFOC / STENA CAMBRIA / ST ANSELM) imo: 7813937
ALTAIR was the name given to the former Ventouris Ferries vessel BARI prior to being scrapped. Â The ship was originally built as ST ANSELM. Â She was one of four ordered by Sealink from Harland & Wolff in Belfast and delivered in the early 1980’s.
When Sealink was taken over by Sea Containers, she remained with that company on its Dover – Calais route. Â Following the arrival of the purpose re-built FANTASIA (later STENA FANTASIA) and the takeover of Sealink by Stena Line, ST ANSELM was transferred to the Holyhead – Dun Laoghaire route and renamed STENA CAMBRIA.
She remained on the Dun Laoghaire route until November 1995 when she was redeployed within the Stena Line fleet. Â During 1999, STENA CAMBRIA was sold to UMAFISA who renamed her ISLA DE BOTAFOC for service in Spanish waters.
UMAFISA’s succesor company Balearia listed ISLA DE BOTFOC for sale in 2010. Â Renamed WINNER 9, she was reportedly en-route to Aliaga for demolition when Ventouris purchased her for its Italy – Albania service.
Ventouris renamed the ship BARI after the Italian port she served. Â She remained with the company until 2021 when she was sold for scrap having not been used all year after a downturn in traffic due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
In Waters New, Easter 2017 Roundup.
A quick news roundup featuring some vessels which previously plied their trade in NI waters. LE RIF: Could the former STENA GALLOWAY/GALLOWAY PRINCESS soon be back in service? The last purpose-built vessel for the Larne to Stranraer service could soon be back plying her trade in the Mediterranean. Last month LE RIF (ex Stena Galloway, Galloway Princess) was moved from La Spezia to Napoli. The vessel had previously been purchased at auction by the mysterious new Moroccan company DWLM who had intended to refit her at Malaga, however the vessel was moved to La Spezia amid reports of a dispute with the Malaga yard owners over costs. Reports from Italy suggest that the vessel may now be under the control of the group of companies that own Mediterranean operator Moby Lines. Moby themselves have been acquiring a number of elderly vessels in the past couple of years, including the now MOBY KISS (ex ... Read more
Former Stena Antrim towed to Albania, unknown destination for the former Galloway Princess.
Could further service beckon for Ibn Batouta? The Ibn Batouta (ex St Christopher, Stena Antrim) left the port of Algeciras under the tow of the tug Brucoli on Tuesday, having been helped from the position she was occupying in the port by local tugs VB Twenty and VB Algeciras. Her apparent destination is Durres in Albania. Ibn Batouta had been sold at auction earlier this year for just €1,027,000, having been laid up since Janurary 2012 following the collapse of the COMARIT group (of which her operator COMANAV was a part).  It is believed that Ibn Batouta may be the only one of the group of 4 COMARIT group ferries which have left Algeciras in the past few weeks not purchased for breaking, with the purchaser rumoured to have been the owner of the Italy-Albania ferry Red Star 1 (1965).  Bari (ex St Anslem, Stena Cambria, Isla de Botafoc), a sister ship of the ... Read more