GIANNIS S (ΓΙΑΝΝΗΣ Σ)
Spanopoulos Speed Lines
ex-HYDRA I (ΥΔΡΑ Ι), also for Hydra Speed Lines (2009-2019)
Built in 1982 (age 41). Registered in Lomé. Current line: None (under refit in Salamina)
Τhe high speed catamaran GIANNIS S was built in 1982 in Norway. She was initially launched as the ROSARIO, but was completed as the VENTURE 83 for the Norwegian company Westamaran Hydrofoils. She was deployed on the Stavanger-Bergen line, but her career in Norway only lasted one year, as she was sold in 1983 to the newly-established Greek and Rethymnon-based Cretan Ferries. She was renamed NEARCHOS and was deployed on the Piraeus-Rethymnon line, becoming the first high speed craft in the history of the Greek coastal service to operate in Crete, while also becoming the first catamaran to ever operate in Greece. Despite holding these honours, her service on the Piraeus-Rethymnon line was not very successful, as she was not a ferry (with most passengers traveling to Crete by car), and experienced a few engine troubles, while also struggling to sail on the Cretan Sea. As a result, in 1988, after Cretan Ferries acquired the ferry ARKADI, the NEARCHOS was deployed on the Heraklion-Santorini-Ios-Naxos-Paros line, where she stayed for every summer until 1999, except in 1995 and 1996 when she operated on the Igoumenitsa-Corfu line on the Ionian Sea. In 1999, she was sold to Panou Shipping, which deployed her on the Piraeus-Aegina-Agistri line on the Saronic Gulf, under the name KERAVNOS II. She stayed there until 2006. In 2007, her company ceased operations and she was laid-up in Perama. She remained there until 2009, when she was sold to Hydra Speed Lines. She was renamed HYDRA I and was deployed on the Piraeus-Poros-Hydra-Spetses line, but her operations there were very brief as she suffered a major engine failure, which made her miss the rest of the summer of 2009. The ship has never re-entered service since, being laid-up in Salamina from 2009 to 2012, and in Floisbos from 2012 to 2018. She was moved back to Salamina in 2018, being renamed GIANNIS S in 2019, after having been sold to the Greek company Spanopoulos Speed Lines. Following four years of refit in Salamina, and 13 years of lay-up, she was reactivated in 2022 on the Rhodes-Fetihye line, under a collaboration with Sky Marine Ferries.
PHOTOS (2017):
The HYDRA I seen laid-up in Floisbos (7/2017).
The HYDRA I seen laid-up in Floisbos (7/2017).
The HYDRA I seen laid-up in Floisbos (7/2017).
The HYDRA I seen in Floisbos during the evening (7/2017).
The HYDRA I seen in Floisbos during the evening (7/2017).
The HYDRA I in Floisbos, the port where she has been docked since 2012 (9/2017).
The HYDRA I seen in the port of Floisbos (9/2017).
The HYDRA I laid-up in the port of Floisbos (9/2017).
The HYDRA I laid-up in the port of Floisbos (9/2017).
The HYDRA I laid-up in the port of Floisbos (9/2017).
Passing by the laid-up HYDRA I in Floisbos (9/2017).
Passing by the laid-up HYDRA I in Floisbos (9/2017).
The HYDRA I, Greece's first-ever catamaran, now laid-up in Floisbos, awaiting her fate (9/2017).