Asterion II
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MS ''Asterion II'' is a
Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
ferry A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus ...
and is currently operated by
ANEK Lines ANEK Lines (Ανώνυμη Ναυτιλιακή Εταιρεία Κρήτης, ''Anonymi Naftiliaki Eteria Kritis'', Anonymous Shipping Company of Crete) is one of the largest passenger shipping companies in Greece. It was founded in 1967 by nu ...
. ''Asterion II'' is a
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, Trailer (vehicle), trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their ...
/passenger ferry, built in 1991 at
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is a Japanese Multinational corporation, 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 prede ...
at
Kobe Kobe ( ; , ), officially , is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. With a population of around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's List of Japanese cities by population, seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Port of Toky ...
, Japan, and put into service by ANEK in 2018 (previously operated under different names and owners). She holds a total of 720 passengers, 840 cars and 117 trucks and has 451 beds for passengers. She has two 14-cyl
MAN A man is an adult male human. Before adulthood, a male child or adolescent is referred to as a boy. Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromosome from the f ...
- B&W-
Mitsubishi The is a group of autonomous Japanese multinational companies in a variety of industries. Founded by Yatarō Iwasaki in 1870, the Mitsubishi Group traces its origins to the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, a unified company that existed from 1870 to 194 ...
14V52/55B engines, with combined power of 18,460 kW and reaches speeds of up to 22 knots. She was named after Asterion of Crete, a mythical king of
Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...
and has the
flag of Cyprus The flag of Cyprus (; ) came into use on 16 August 1960, under the Zürich and London Agreements, whereby a constitution was drafted and Cyprus was proclaimed an independent state. The flag was designed by Turkish Cypriot artist İsmet Güney. T ...
, making it the only ship of the fleet with a non-
Greek flag The national flag of Greece, popularly referred to as the Blue-and-White (, ) or the Cyan-and-White (, ), is officially recognised by Greece as one of its national symbols and has 5 equal horizontal stripes of blue alternating with white. There ...
. It also features 3 Daihatsu 6DL-28 electric engines of 1,800 ps each (5,400ps) and 3 1500KVA FEK55E-10 generators. The ship belongs to the Sing-Lloyd class.


History


1990–2011: construction and first years

The ship was built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Kobe, Japan. She was launched on 8 November 1990. The ship was originally named ''Ishikari'' after a river in Hokkaido and had to replace an older ship named Ishikari, who was sold in Strintzis Lines by 1990. 7. Delivered on 18 March 1998 at
Taiheiyō Ferry The is a privately-owned cruiseferry operator connecting Nagoya, Sendai, and Tomakomai, Hokkaido, Tomakomai in Japan. It is a subsidiary of the Nagoya-based Meitetsu Group, a group of companies that focuses primarily on rail transport in the Ch ...
(Pacific Ferry Co). She was routed on the line
Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region of Japan. It is the list of cities in Japan, fourth-most populous city in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020, and the principal city of the Chūkyō metropolitan area, which is the List of ...
-
Sendai is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Miyagi Prefecture and the largest city in the Tōhoku region. , the city had a population of 1,098,335 in 539,698 households, making it the List of cities in Japan, twelfth most populated city in Japan. ...
-
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 31 July 2023, it had an estimated population of 167,372, with 83,836 households, an ...
, but was also used as a cruiser on the Ogasawara islands.


2010–2018: Weihai Ferry

In March 2011, she was sold to Golden Spring Enterprise,
Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...
and Chinese Wanfang International Shipmanagement and renamed to ''GRAND SPRING'' for an amount of $8 million. After its purchase, modernization and maintenance works took place. At this time, she was routed on Wehai- Pyoengtaek line, connecting
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
with
South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...
, before moving to Great Promise Industrial HK, Panama in February 2012. In 2015, she was laid up in
Weihai Weihai ( zh, t=, p=Wēihǎi), formerly Weihaiwei ( zh, s=, p=Wēihǎiwèi, l=Mighty Sea Fort, first=t), is a prefecture-level city and major seaport city in the easternmost Shandong province of China. It borders Yantai to the west and the Yellow ...
, China and in February 2016 she raised the Sierra Leone flag, with
Freetown Freetown () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, e ...
being its homeport. At this time, South Korean Gwangyang Line planned to route her in the
Gwangyang Gwangyang (; ) is a city in South Jeolla Province, South Korea. Gwangyang is the home of POSCO's Gwangyang Steel Works, the largest facility of its kind in the world. The city is also home to K League Classic football side Jeonnam Dragons. Gwa ...
-Shimonosheki line, connecting South Korea with Japan. However, the project failed and the ship was completely abandoned.


2018–present: Cyprus

In March 2018, she was sold to Alphaglobe Shipping of Limassol, Cyprus, with management by ANEK Lines and renamed ''Asterion II'', before being repaired and refurbished by Naval Works Voudouris at Perama. Once most of the work was completed, the ship was drydocked and painted in the ANEK LINES livery. On 18 June the ship departed for the port of Patras where for a few days, the retrofit continued. On 28 June, after a few postponements, it went into service replacing
Asterion In Greek mythology, Asterion (Ancient Greek, Greek: , gen.: , literally "starry") or Asterius () may refer to the following figures: * Asterion (god), Asterion, one of the River gods (Greek mythology), river gods. * Asterius (giant), Asterius ...
, which was chartered from
Brittany Ferries Brittany Ferries is the trading name of the French shipping company, BAI Bretagne Angleterre Irlande S.A. founded in 1973 by Alexis Gourvennec, that operates a fleet of ferries and cruiseferries between France, England, Ireland, Spain and the ...
, and
Elyros Elyrus or Elyros () was a town of ancient Crete, which the ''Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax'' places between Kydonia, Cydonia and Lissus (Crete), Lissus. It had a harbour, Syia (Συΐα), situated on the south coast of the island, 60 stadion (unit), s ...
.


Route

''Asterion II'' serves the ferry line
Piraeus Piraeus ( ; ; , Ancient: , Katharevousa: ) 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 Saronic Gulf in the Ath ...
-
Heraklion Heraklion or Herakleion ( ; , , ), sometimes Iraklion, is the largest city and the administrative capital city, capital of the island of Crete and capital of Heraklion (regional unit), Heraklion regional unit. It is the fourth largest city in G ...
.


References


External links

{{Commons category, IMO 8922163
F / B ASTERION II at Anek Lines
Ferries of Greece 1990 ships Ships of ANEK Lines Ro-ro ships Ships built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries