JET FERRY 1 (ΤΖΕΤ ΦΕΡΡΥ 1)
-GA Ferries (1999-2016)
Built in 1995, scrapped in 2016 (age 21). Was registered in Piraeus.
The JET FERRY 1 was the only high speed ferry in the history of GA Ferries. She was built in Norway in 1995, for the Danish company Grenaa-Hundested Linien as the KATTEGAT, being deployed on the Grenaa-Hundested line on the Kattegat. She was sold the following year to the Danish company DSB (Danske Statsbaner) and was renamed BERLIN EXPRESS, being deployed on the Rostock-Gedser line on the Baltic Sea under the DSB Rederi division. In 1998 DSB was transferred to Scandlines, with the ship joining the latter company. In 1999 she was chartered to the Spanish joint venture Trasarmas (which was a partnership between the Spanish companies Trasmediterránea and Naviera Armas) for service on the Canary Islands Archipelago), under the name GOMERA JET, being deployed on the Los Cristianos-San Sebastián de La Gomera line. She returned to Scandlines and was again renamed BERLIN EXPRESS in 2000, but was sold to the Greek company GA Ferries immediately afterwards. She was renamed EXPRESS IONION and she became the first high speed craft to to be deployed on the Patras-Kefalonia-Ithaca line on the Ionian Sea, competing against Blue Star Ferries (previously known as Strintzis Lines). She was renamed JET FERRY 1 during the 2000 season. Unable to outperform the already-successful Blue Star Ferries on the Ionian Sea, the JET FERRY 1 was forced to leave the area in 2002, and she was instead deployed on the Sporades, on the Agios Konstantinos-Skiathos-Skopelos-Alonissos line, where she remained until 2008. In 2009, her company experienced serious financial difficulties and ceased all operations. The ship was laid-up in the port of Piraeus for the next 6 years, until 2015 when she was towed to Elefsina Bay. She did not remain there for a long time, as she was towed to Turkey in order to be scrapped in early 2016, therefore becoming the first-ever Greek high speed craft not being a hydrofoil to be scrapped.
PHOTOS (2013, 2014, 2015):
The JET FERRY 1, the last GA Ferries ship to be alive, laid-up in the port of Piraeus, awaiting her fate (7/2013).
The JET FERRY 1 abandoned in Piraeus, still waiting for her eventual fate (7/2014).
The JET FERRY 1 abandoned in Piraeus, still waiting for her eventual fate (7/2014).
The JET FERRY 1 laid-up in Piraeus, a few months before continuing her lay-up in Elefsina (7/2015).
The JET FERRY 1 laid-up in Piraeus during her last summer in Greece (7/2015).
The JET FERRY 1 laid-up in Piraeus (7/2015).
The JET FERRY 1 laid-up in Piraeus (7/2015).
The JET FERRY 1 laid-up in Piraeus (7/2015).
The JET FERRY 1 seen laid-up in Piraeus (7/2015).
The JET FERRY 1 seen laid-up in Piraeus (7/2015).
The JET FERRY 1 in Piraeus-my final-ever picture of her, as she headed to Turkey for demolition in early 2016 (8/2015).