IONAS (ΙΩΝΑΣ)

-Kerkyra Seaways (2017-2023)

current I ADA 74 for Cyprus Turkish Shipping Ltd

Built in 1989 (age 35). Was registered in Piraeus. Current line: None in Greece (sold to a Cyprus Turkish Shipping Ltd for service between Cyprus and Turkey)

​

The double-ended ferry IONAS was built in 1989 in the United Kingdom, as the SUPERFLEX HOTEL for the Danish company VR Shipping. She was deployed on the Copenhagen-Helsingborg line on the Øresund. She stayed there until 1991, when she was deployed on the Copenhagen-Landskrona line. She was laid-up in Copenhagen in 1993, and remained there until 1995, when she was sold to the Spanish company Flebasa Lines, being deployed on the Algeciras-Ceuta line as the MIGUEL HERNÁNDEZ. In 1996 she was deployed on the Tarifa-Tangier Med line. She was laid-up in Algeciras in 1998. After a five-year-long lay-up, she was purchased by the Italian company Enermar Transporti Isole Sarde. She was renamed BUDELLI and began service in 2004 on the Palau-La Maddalena line. She was sold in 2006 to the Italian company Bluvia, and she was deployed on the Villa San Giovanni-Messina line. She was renamed MONGIBELLO in 2009. In 2012 she and her sister ship REGGIO were sold to the Greek company 2way Ferries, being renamed IONAS and DORIEUS, respectively. They were both converted in Perama. While the DORIEUS ended her conversion in 2012 and entered service for 2way Ferries, the conversion of the IONAS did not finish until 2014, whereupon she was deployed on the Igoumenitsa-Corfu line on the Ionian Sea. After only a month of service, she was chartered to Kerch Ferry State Shipping Company for service between Russia and Ukraine, being deployed on the Kavkaz-Port Krym line on the Kerch Strait. In 2015 she was chartered again, this time to the Estonian company Saaremaa Laevakompanii, and was deployed on the Virtsu-Kuivastu line. She stayed there until 2017, when she returned to Greece. Her ownership was transferred from 2way Ferries to S&L Ferries, and she returned to the Ionian Sea, being deployed on the Igoumenitsa-Corfu-Paxoi line. Her company was joined the Corfu Ferries joint venture in 2018, and was then rebranded as Kerkyra Seaways in 2019. In 2023 she was sold the Turkish company Cyprus Turkish Shipping Ltd, being renamed ADA 74 and beginning service on the Ammochostos-Mersin line, hence connecting the occupied part of Cyprus with mainland Turkey.

​

PHOTOS (2018):