''Blue Star 1'' is a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

ferry, which is owned by

Blue Star Ferries Blue Star Ferries is a brand name of Blue Star Maritime S.A. The company operates ferry services from the Greek mainland to the Aegean Islands. Blue Star Ferries is the biggest ferry company in Greece, serving more than 20 destinations. Their f ...

. She is a

motor An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power g ...

Ro-Ro Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their own wheels or using ...

/Passenger

ferryboat A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water tax ...

, built in 2000 by

Van der Giessen de Noord Van der Giessen de Noord () was a shipyard, shipbuilding company that mainly built ferry, ferries, located in Krimpen aan den IJssel, a town in the western Netherlands. The yard was especially suited to the construction of large Ship, vessels ...

shipward in Krimpen aan den IJssel,

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. She is a sistership to '' Blue Star 2''. She holds a total of 1600 passengers and 640 vehicles and has 430 beds in 161 cabins for passengers. She has four

MAN A man is an adult male human. Prior to adulthood, a male human is referred to as a boy (a male child or adolescent). Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromo ...

B&W 8L58 / 64 diesel engines, with combined power of 44,480 kW and reaches speeds of up to 27 knots.

History

Blue Star Ferries

1998–2009: First years

The ship was ordered in 1998 by Strintzis Lines. The keel was laid on August 24, 1999 and was launched at December 18 of the same year. She was intended to be named Superferry Atlantic and serve Brindisi – Patras line. However, after Strintzis Lines' acquisition of 48% stake by Attica Enterprise and renaming to Blue Star Ferries, she got her current name. She was delivered on June 6, 2000 and on June 13, she was deployed by between

Ancona Ancona (, also , ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region in central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region. The city is located northeast of Rome, on the Adriatic ...

– Brindisi – Patras, connecting

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

with Greece. By 2001, Brindisi was no longer included on her route, despite her excellent results here. Instead she was now stopping to

Igoumenitsa Igoumenitsa ( el, Ηγουμενίτσα, ) is a coastal city in northwestern Greece. It is the capital of the regional unit of Thesprotia. Igoumenitsa is the chief port of Thesprotia and Epirus, and one of the largest passenger ports of Greece, ...

from April to October. On 2002, due to the Superfast III and IV being sold, she had to replace them and the call in Igoumenitsa became regular. In July however, due to the delivery of , she was deployed between

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; el, Πειραιάς ; grc, Πειραιεύς ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens' city centre, along the east coast of the Saron ...

–

Patmos Patmos ( el, Πάτμος, ) is a Greek island in the Aegean Sea. It is famous as the location where John of Patmos received the visions found in the Book of Revelation of the New Testament, and where the book was written. One of the northern ...

–

Leros Leros ( el, Λέρος) is a Greek island and municipality in the Dodecanese in the southern Aegean Sea. It lies (171 nautical miles) from Athens's port of Piraeus, from which it can be reached by an 9-hour ferry ride or by a 45-minute flig ...

–

Kos Kos or Cos (; el, Κως ) is a Greek island, part of the Dodecanese island chain in the southeastern Aegean Sea. Kos is the third largest island of the Dodecanese by area, after Rhodes and Karpathos; it has a population of 36,986 (2021 census), ...

–

Rhodes Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the S ...

in Dodecanese, occasionally stopping in

Syros Syros ( el, Σύρος ), also known as Siros or Syra, is a Greek island in the Cyclades, in the Aegean Sea. It is south-east of Athens. The area of the island is and it has 21,507 inhabitants (2011 census). The largest towns are Ermoupoli, An ...

Mykonos Mykonos (, ; el, Μύκονος ) is a Greek island, part of the Cyclades, lying between Tinos, Syros, Paros and Naxos. The island has an area of and rises to an elevation of at its highest point. There are 10,134 inhabitants according to th ...

and

Amorgos Amorgos ( el, Αμοργός, ; ) is the easternmost island of the Cyclades island group and the nearest island to the neighboring Dodecanese island group in Greece. Along with 16 neighboring islets, the largest of which (by land area) is Nik ...

. On March 4, 2005, she was replaced by her sistership, and returned to Adriatic, this time between Patras – Igoumenitsa – Bari. The last day of her on that route was on January 3, 2007. Afterwards, she arrived at Neorion Shipyards, Syros island for extension on deck 9: Although the passenger capacity decreased, 15 new cabins were added and some crew cabins became passenger cabins. On January 26, she departed Piraeus towards

Zeebrugge Zeebrugge (, from: ''Brugge aan zee'' meaning "Bruges at Sea", french: Zeebruges) is a village on the coast of Belgium and a subdivision of Bruges, for which it is the modern port. Zeebrugge serves as both the international port of Bruges-Zee ...

, where she arrived 3 days later. Once she arrived, she was deployed between Zeebrugge –

Rosyth Rosyth ( gd, Ros Fhìobh, "headland of Fife") is a town on the Firth of Forth, south of the centre of Dunfermline. According to the census of 2011, the town has a population of 13,440. The new town was founded as a Garden city-style suburb ...

, in order to cover the space left by the Superfast X, which was sold earlier, until September 14, 2008. She was then returned to Greece and arrived in Patras on September 19. 5 days later she returned on the Patras – Igoumenitsa – Bari line.

2010–2021

After 3 years on the Patras Igoumenitsa line, in 2011, she was deployed between Patras-Igoumenitsa-Ancona between February 10 and March 21. The following day she returned on the Patras-Igoumenitsa-Bari line for three more days until deploying between Piraeus – Syros – Santorini – Patmos – Leros – Kos – Rhodes, serving the Aegean Sea from the first time in 6 years. On February 1, 2012, she was deployed between Piraeus –

Heraklion Heraklion or Iraklion ( ; el, Ηράκλειο, , ) is the largest city and the administrative capital of the island of Crete and capital of Heraklion regional unit. It is the fourth largest city in Greece with a population of 211,370 (Urban Ar ...

, under the ANEK-Attica joint venture, for one year, before returning to the Adriatic Sea on November 15, 2013. She was then deployed between Patras – Igoumenitsa – Ancona, for one month before returning to the Aegean Sea on December 9. Since then, she operated the following lines:

2023 onwards: Return to Blue Star Ferries

After her Irish Ferries charter was completed she was returned to Blue Star Ferries and entered service on the

–

Chania Chania ( el, Χανιά ; vec, La Canea), also spelled Hania, is a city in Greece and the capital of the Chania regional unit. It lies along the north west coast of the island Crete, about west of Rethymno and west of Heraklion. The muni ...

route, replacing the ''Blue Galaxy.'' Sail Away (51292495631)

Irish Ferries

In 2021, the ''Blue Star 1'' was chartered by

Irish Ferries Irish Ferries is an Irish ferry and transport company that operates passenger and freight services on routes between Ireland, Britain and Continental Europe, including Dublin Port–Holyhead; Rosslare Europort to Pembroke as well as Dublin ...

for its Pembroke to Rosslare route in order to replace the '' Isle of Inishmore'', which was moved to Irish Ferries' new route between Dover and Calais. The charter lasted for two years. She began service on 6 April 2021 and completed the charter on May 30, 2023. She was replaced by the Oscar Wilde, chartered by Irish Ferries from

Tallink Tallink () is an Estonian shipping company operating Baltic Sea cruiseferries and ropax ships from Estonia to Finland, Estonia to Sweden to Sweden and Finland to Sweden. It is the largest passenger and cargo shipping company in the Baltic Sea ...

Liveries

Original livery The original consisted of a blue hull with the Blue Star Ferries logo in it, plus the "STRINTZIS LINES" text, referring to the company's old name. The decks were white with a black horizontical stripe in the middle deck. The funnel was orange with a blue star. Current livery The "STRINTZIS LINES" text was later removed from the livery. "Superfast" livery During her brief service in the North Sea, along with her formal Blue Star livery, she also had a "Joint service with" text along with the Superfast logo in a red background. "ANEK, Superfast" livery While briefly operating in the Piraeus-Heraklion line, along with the formal Blue Star livery, she also had the ANEK, Superfast logo on a white background. "Irish Ferries" livery In 2021 she was repainted in an Irish Ferries livery for her charter to the company, this involved the replacement of the Blue Star Ferries logo on the hull with an Irish Ferries logo as well as the repainting of the funnel to green with the Irish Ferries logo. File:Blue Star 1 Firth of Forth.JPG, "Superfast" livery File:Blue Star 1 in Heraklion 2.JPG, "ANEK, Superfast" livery File:Sail Away (51292495631).jpg,

livery (2021)

Route

References

{{Reflist

External links

Ship's current position in Marinetraffic.comTribute to the ship by Archipelagos.comForum about Blue Star 1 in Shipfriends.grForum about Blue Star 1 in Mesametaforas.gr
Ro-ro ships Ships of Blue Star Ferries 1999 ships Ferries of Greece Ships built in the Netherlands