CORFU SPIRIT (ΚΟΡΦΟΥ ΣΠΙΡΙΤ)

-Kerkyra Lines

Built in 1989 (age 35). Registered in Piraeus. Current line: Igoumenitsa-Corfu-Paxoi

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The double-ended ferry CORFU SPIRIT was built in 1989 in the United Kingdom, as the SUPERFLEX GOLF for the Danish company VR Shipping. Upon her delivery to the company, she did not operate until 1992, as she remained laid-up in Copenhagen. During the 1992 season she was chartered to the Danish company Skagen Line and she operated on the Skagen-Marstrand line on the Skagerrak, but she stopped operations later in that same year after the company went bankrupt. In 1993 she was chartered to another Danish company, namely Scarlett Line, and she was deployed on the Copenhagen-Landskrona line on the Øresund. Her charterers also went bankrupt, and therefore she was once again laid-up in Copenhagen. In 1994 she was sold to the Spanish company Isnasa and was renamed ANTONIO MACHADO. Following a conversion in Málaga, she was deployed in 1995 on the Algeciras-Ceuta line on the Gibraltar Strait. In 1996 she was transferred to the subsidiary company Flebasa Lines and was deployed on the Dénia-Ibiza line on the Balearic Sea. In 1997 she returned under the management of Isnasa and she was once again deployed on the Algeciras-Ceuta line. Her company ceased operations in 1998 due to financial issues, and the ship was laid-up in Algeciras together with her fleetmate and sister ship, namely the MIGUEL HERNÁNDEZ. The two ships remained abandoned in Algeciras until 2003, when they were purchased by the Italian company Enermar Transporti Isole Sarde. The MIGUEL HERNÁNDEZ was renamed BUDELLI, while the ANTONIO MACHADO was renamed RAZZOLI. She was chartered in 2004 to the Italian company Navigazione Generale Italiana and was deployed on the Milazzo-Vulcano-Lipari-Salina line, thus linking Sicily with the Aeolian Islands on the Tyrrhenian Sea. That same year, she ran aground in the small island of Vulcanello, but she was immediately salvaged and resumed service. In late 2006 she and the BUDELLI were sold to the Italian company, and they were deployed on the Villa San Giovanni-Messina line on the Messina Strait. In 2008 she was renamed REGGIO, while the BUDELLI was renamed MONGIBELLO later in that same year. In 2012 both ships were bought by the Greek company 2way Ferries and were renamed DORIEUS and IONAS, respectively. The former was converted in Perama and began service during the summer of 2012 on the Igoumenitsa-Corfu line on the Ionian Sea. In 2014 she was sold to the Russian company JSC Proekt and was renamed OLYMPIADA. She was deployed on the Kavkaz-Port Krym line on the Kerch Strait. After five seasons there, she returned to Greece in 2019, having once again been renamed DORIEUS and having been bought by Kerkyra Lines. She underwent a small refit in Perama and made her return to the Igoumenitsa-Corfu line. In 2022 she underwent an extensive refit in Chalkida, during which her engines were upgraded and her indoor areas were refurbished. She was renamed CORFU SPIRIT and she resumed service on the Igoumenitsa-Corfu-Paxoi line.

 

PHOTOS (2022):