The MS ''SuperStar II'' is a

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 ...

owned by the Greek/Cypriot

Seajets Seajets is a Greek/ Cypriot ferry company founded in 1989 by Marios Iliopoulos and his father Panagiotis. Seajets operates a fleet of passenger, freight ferry and cruiseferry services in the Aegean Sea. Seajets is one of Greece's leading ferry co ...

. It operated on

Color Lines ''Color Lines'' () is a puzzle video game created in 1992 by Oleg Demin, Gennady Denisov and Igor Ivkin and published by Gamos Ltd. Gameplay It is a turn-based board game. The playing field is a grid of 9 by 9 cells. The game starts with t ...

service between

Sandefjord Sandefjord () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Vestfold. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Sandefjord ...

and

Strömstad Strömstad is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Strömstad Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden with 6,288 inhabitants in 2010. For historical reasons, Strömstad is called a Stad (Sweden), ''city'' despite its small popu ...

from 16 June 2000 until 20 November 2022. She was built in 1985 as MS ''Peder Paars'' by Nakskov Skibsværft,

Nakskov Nakskov is a market town on the island of Lolland in south Denmark. The town has a population of 12,200 (1 January 2025) and is the largest town on the island of Lolland. It is located in Lolland municipality in Region Sjælland. Nakskov is situ ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

for DSB Færger (the ferry division of the Danish State Railways). Between 1991 and 2000 she sailed as MS ''Stena Invicta'' for Sealink Stena Line and

Stena Line Stena Line is a Swedish Shipping line, shipping line company and one of the world's largest ferry operators. It services Denmark, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Latvia, the Netherlands, Poland, Finland and Sweden. Stena Line is a ...

. In 1998 she was chartered to

Silja Line Silja Line is a Finnish shipping company and cruiseferry brand owned and operated by the Estonian shipping company AS Tallink Grupp, for car, cargo and passenger traffic between Finland and Sweden. The former company Silja Oy—today Tallink S ...

under the marketing name MS ''Wasa Jubilee''. In May 2000 the ''Stena Invicta'' started operating for Color Line and received the name MS ''Color Viking''. ''SuperStar II'' is certified for 2000 passengers and 370 cars.

Concept and construction

In September 1983 DSB Færger ordered two relatively large ferries for service on the intra-

Århus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus municipality, Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and app ...

—

Kalundborg Kalundborg () is a Danish city with a population of 16,659 (1 January 2025),Nakskov Skibsværft in

, Denmark. Although ordered by the ferry division of the

Danish State Railways DSB, an abbreviation of ''Danske Statsbaner'' (, ''Danish State Railways''), is the largest Danish train operating company. It's also the largest train operating company in Scandinavia. While DSB is responsible for passenger train operation on ...

, the ships did not have the facilities for transporting trains, but were constructed to transport road freight and passengers. Both ships were named after characters from the works of

Ludvig Holberg Ludvig Holberg, Baron of Holberg (3 December 1684 – 28 January 1754) was a writer, essayist, philosopher, historian and playwright born in Bergen, Norway, during the time of the Denmark–Norway, Dano–Norwegian dual monarchy. He was infl ...

, a Norwegian-born writer considered to be the father of modern Danish literature. First of the ships, delivered in 1985, was named MS ''Peder Paars'' after the poem ''Peder Paars''. The second, delivered a years later, was named after the protagonist in

Niels Klim's Underground Travels ''Niels Klim's Underground Travels'', originally published in Latin as ''Nicolai Klimii Iter Subterraneum'' (1741), is a satirical science-fiction/fantasy novel written by the Norwegian- Danish author Ludvig Holberg. His only novel, it describ ...

Service history

The ''Peder Paars'' was delivered to DSB Færger on 1985-10-18, but it was not until a month later that she entered service on the Århus—Kalundborg route. Århus was also her port of registry at the time. She and her sister remained in service for five years, until in October 1990 both ships were sold to

, to be delivered in May 1991. On 1991-05-19 both the ''Peder Paars'' and ''Niels Klim'' were withdrawn from service, replaced by the notably smaller second-hand ferries and . The following day the ''Peder Paars'' was renamed ''Stena Invicta'' and sailed to the Schichau-Seebeckswerft shipyard in

Bremerhaven Bremerhaven (; ) is a city on the east bank of the Weser estuary in northern Germany. It forms an exclave of the Bremen (state), city-state of Bremen. The Geeste (river), River Geeste flows through the city before emptying into the Weser. Brem ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

for rebuilding for service in the

English Channel The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...

for Stena Line's subsidiary Sealink Stena Line. For this purpose the ship was re-registered in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, with

Dover Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. ...

as her homeport. On 1991-08-08 the ''Stena Invicta'' entered service on the

—

Calais Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a French port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Calais is the largest city in Pas-de-Calais. The population of the city proper is 67,544; that of the urban area is 144,6 ...

route. Following the formation of P&O Stena Line, the ''Stena Invicta'' was laid up on 1998-02-18. In April of the same year she was chartered to

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

for the duration of the 1998

northern hemisphere The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined by humans as being in the same celestial sphere, celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the Solar ...

summer season. Her registered name remained ''Stena Invicta'', but in Silja Line marketing the ship was referred to with the name ''Wasa Jubilee'' in honour of the 50th anniversary of ferry operations from

Vaasa Vaasa (; , ), formerly (1855-1917) known as Nikolaistad (; ),Umeå Umeå ( , , , locally ; ; ; ; ) is a city in northeast Sweden. It is the seat of Umeå Municipality and the capital of Västerbotten County. Situated on the Ume River, Umeå is the largest Urban areas in Sweden, locality in Norrland and the t ...

service for Silja Line from 1998-04-20 until 1998-09-15. The following month the ''Stena Invicta'' arrived in

Zeebrugge Zeebrugge (; from , meaning "Bruges-on-Sea"; , ) is a village on the coast of Belgium and a subdivision of Bruges, for which it is the modern port. Zeebrugge serves as both the international port of Bruges-Zeebrugge and a seafront resort with ...

, where she was laid up. In November 1999 her registered owners were changed from

to P&O Stena Line. In December she was chartered to Stena Line U.K., entering service on the

Holyhead Holyhead (; , "Cybi's fort") is a historic port town, and is the list of Anglesey towns by population, largest town and a Community (Wales), community in the county of Isle of Anglesey, Wales. Holyhead is on Holy Island, Anglesey, Holy Island ...

—

Dún Laoghaire Dún Laoghaire ( , ) is a suburban coastal town in County Dublin in Ireland. It is the administrative centre of the county of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown. The town was built up alongside a small existing settlement following 1816 legislation th ...

route on 1999-12-12. At the end of February 2000 her route was changed to

Fishguard Fishguard (, meaning "Mouth of the River Gwaun") is a coastal town in Pembrokeshire, Wales, with a population of 3,400 (rounded to the nearest 100) as of the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census. Modern Fishguard consists of two parts, Lowe ...

— Rosslare, but she was withdrawn from service already on 2000-03-20. In April 2000 the ''Stena Invicta'' was chartered to the

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

-based Color Line, with a purchase option included in the charter agreement. The ship was re-registered at

Nassau, Bahamas Nassau ( ) is the capital and largest city of The Bahamas. It is on the island of New Providence, which had a population of 246,329 in 2010, or just over 70% of the entire population of The Bahamas. As of April 2023, the preliminary results of ...

, rebuilt at

Drammen Drammen () is a city and municipality in Buskerud county, Norway. The port and river city of Drammen is centrally located in the south-eastern and most populated part of Norway. Drammen municipality also includes smaller towns and villages such ...

, Norway and renamed ''Color Viking''. On 2000-06-14 the ship entered service on Color Line's

—

service. In May of the following year Color Line utilized their purchase option on the ship. She was subsequently re-registered in Norway, with Sandefjord as her homeport. In November 2022 Color Line announced that the ship would be pulled from service along with the freight ship Color Carrier on the

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

Kiel Kiel ( ; ) is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. With a population of around 250,000, it is Germany's largest city on the Baltic Sea. It is located on the Kieler Förde inlet of the Ba ...

route due to rising fuel and energy costs.

References

External links

Color Line official website for ''Color Viking''
{{DEFAULTSORT:SuperStar II Ferries of Norway Passenger ships of Norway Sandefjord Ships built in Denmark Water transport in Vestfold 1984 ships Color Line (ferry operator) Merchant ships of Norway