''Elyros'' is a Greek ferry, which is the second newest

ship A ship is a large watercraft that travels the world's oceans and other sufficiently deep waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research, and fishing. Ships are generally distinguished ...

, being part of ANEK Lines fleet, following '' Asterion II''. She is a

motor An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gene ...

Ro-Ro Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their own wheels or usin ...

/Passenger

ferryboat A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water tax ...

, built in 1998 at

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is a Japanese multinational engineering, electrical equipment and electronics corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. MHI is one of the core companies of the Mitsubishi Group and its automobile division is the predecessor of Mitsubishi Motors ...

shipyard at

Shimonoseki is a city located in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. With a population of 265,684, it is the largest city in Yamaguchi Prefecture and the fifth-largest city in the Chūgoku region. It is located at the southwestern tip of Honshu facing the Tsus ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, and put into service by ANEK at 2008 (previously operated under different names and owners). It holds a total of 1,874 passengers and 620 vehicles, She has 323 passenger air type seats. She has two Pielstick 12PC4-2 engines, with combined power of 26,180 kW and reaches speeds of up to 24 knots. It also has an internet cafe. The ship has been awarded by ShipPax Awards 2009 as the ship with the best retrofit for 2008. It was named after

Elyros Elyrus or Elyros ( grc, Ἔλυρος) was a town of ancient Crete, which the ''Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax'' places between Cydonia and Lissus. It had a harbour, Syia (Συΐα), situated on the south coast of the island, 60 stadia west of Poe ...

; an ancient city of southwestern Crete.

History

1990s: Construction and first years

The ship was built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and was launched on 5 June 1997. The ship was originally named ''Sunflower Tsukuba'', as many KK Blue Highway Line ships had the title "Sunflower" before their name, along with a red sun with orange rays to their livery. The ship was finished on 18 October 1997. It was delivered on 19 January 1998 to KK Blue Highway Line and deployed on the route between Ōarai and

Tomakomai is a city and port in Iburi Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the largest city in the Iburi Subprefecture, and the fourth largest city in Hokkaido. As of 29 February 2012, it had an estimated population of 174,216, with 83,836 households ...

2000s: Mol Ferry, Higashi Nihon Ferry and arrival at Greece

In April 2002, the ferry was transferred to Mol Ferry, and then in 2006 to Higashi Nihon Nihon Ferry, when it was renamed ''Ferry Tsukuba''. It was acquired by ANEK in 2007 and renamed ''Elyros''. On 27 August 2007, she arrived at Perama for retrofitting in order to comply with the requirements of the Mediterranean routes. The retrofit was completed in August 2008. On 26 September, she was inaugurated at 5:30 in Piraeus and on the 28th of the same month she was launched on the line between

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; el, Πειραιάς ; grc, Πειραιεύς ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens' city centre, along the east coast of the Saroni ...

and

Chania Chania ( el, Χανιά ; vec, La Canea), also spelled Hania, is a city in Greece and the capital of the Chania regional unit. It lies along the north west coast of the island Crete, about west of Rethymno and west of Heraklion. The muni ...

2010-present: charters

During the Libyan conflict in 2014, the Libyan Parliament was housed on the ''Elyros'', which was sailing off the coast of Tombok in eastern Libya for the security of parliamentarians. The vessel was chartered from 2 September 2014 until 25 of the same month. The ship has been chartered three times to Algerie Ferries in the summers of 2016, 2017 and 2018, linking

Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques d ...

Alicante Alicante ( ca-valencia, Alacant) is a city and municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean port. The population of the city was 337,482 , the second-largest in the ...

and

Marseilles Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern France ...

. The first charter (2016) took place from 26 June 2016 until 22 September of the same year. The second (2017) began in June 2017 until September of the same year. The third began in June 2018 and was completed in September of the same year and returned to the Chania-Piraeus line on the 13th of the month.

References

{{reflist, 30em

External links

F/B ELYROS at Anek Lines

Ferries of Greece 1997 ships Ships of ANEK Lines Ships built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ro-ro ships