EIRINI K (ΕΙΡΗΝΗ Κ)

-Kipreos Cargo Lines

Built in 1966 (age 58). Registered in Piraeus. Current line: None (laid-up in Kalymnos)

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Among the oldest and most experienced ferries in the Greek coastal service, the landing craft EIRINI K was built in 1966 in Greece. She began her career as the AGIOS NIKOLAOS under the Greek company Hermes Shipping Company and was deployed on the Rafina-Marmari-Nea Styra line, thus connecting mainland Greece with Evoia on the Petalioi Gulf. She remained there until 1980, when she was transferred to the Rion-Antirrion line. She would go on to spend more than two decades there, becoming one of the most acclaimed landing craft in the history of the line. She underwent a conversion in Perama in 1984, during which her accommodation superstructure was significantly modified. Her service there ended in 2001 (due to the age limit rules at the time which did not allow landing craft to operate as passenger ships once they would be 35 years old), and she was sold to Kelessidis-Koukianakis Shipping. She was deployed as Ro-Ro carrier on the Saronic Gulf in 2002, serving the Elefsina-Aegina-Agistri-Poros-Hydra line together with the fellow landing craft AGIOS KONSTANTINOS (known as the IGOR of the Guinean company Manoir Shipping Limited since 2007). In 2004 she operated solely on the Elefsina-Aegina line, and was withdrawn from service in late 2005. She was laid-up in Elefsina, remaining there for the next four years. In 2009 she was sold to the Kalymnos-based company Kipreos Cargo Lines, and she was renamed EIRINI K. After being again converted in Perama (where her upper deck was removed), she began service in 2010, again as a Ro-Ro carrier, on the Elefsina-Kea-Santorini-Ikaria-Fournoi-Samos-Chios-Kalymnos-Kos-Nisyros-Tilos-Rhodes-Heraklion-Rethymnon line. In late 2014, she and her fleetmate, the MARIA K, were deployed on the Elefsina-Lavrion-Agios Georgios line, helping transport the required equipment and infrastructure for the construction of wind generators on the latter island. They continued to operate under that capacity until 2016. The EIRINI K was deployed on the Elefsina-Lavrion-Marmari line in 2017. In 2018, she underwent another conversion in Perama, whereupon her accommodation superstructure was further raised. She subsequently returned to service, being deployed on the Elefsina-Lavrion-Marmari-Karystos-Kea-Mykonos-Naxos-Santorini line. In 2020 she was deployed on the Kos-Kalymnos line, following the sale of the MARIA K. She was laid-up in Kalymnos in 2021.

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PHOTOS (2019, 2022):