''Mega Express Four'' is a fast

roll-on/roll-off 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 ...

ferry 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 taxi ...

owned by

Corsica Ferries - Sardinia Ferries Corsica Ferries - Sardinia Ferries (Corsica Ferries France SAS – Forship SpA) is a Franco-Italian ferry company that operates traffic to and from the islands of Corsica, Sardinia and Elba. The ferry company was founded in 1967 by the Cor ...

and operated on their routes from

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

and

Toulon Toulon (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is th ...

Ile Rousse Ile may refer to: * iLe, a Puerto Rican singer * Ile District (disambiguation), multiple places * Ilé-Ifẹ̀, an ancient Yoruba city in south-western Nigeria * Interlingue (ISO 639:ile), a planned language * Isoleucine, an amino acid * Another n ...

. She was built in 1995 by

Schichau Seebeckwerft Schichau Seebeckwerft (often abbreviated SSW) was a German shipbuilding company, headquartered in Bremerhaven. The name comes from the 1988 merger of Schichau with Seebeckwerft. History The original company Schichau was founded in 1837 by Fer ...

Bremerhaven Bremerhaven (, , Low German: ''Bremerhoben'') is a city at the seaport of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, a state of the Federal Republic of Germany. It forms a semi-enclave in the state of Lower Saxony and is located at the mouth of the Riv ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

for

Superfast Ferries Superfast Ferries is a Greece-based ferry company founded in 1993 by Pericles Panagopulos and Alexander Panagopulos. Superfast Ferries is a member of Attica Group and operates 3 car-passenger ferries, offering daily connections between Anc ...

as ''Superfast II''. Between 2003 and 2006 she sailed for

TT-Line TT-Line GmbH is a shipping company based in Lübeck, Germany, which has been providing ferry service between Travemünde in Schleswig-Holstein and Trelleborg in southern Sweden since 1962. Since 1992, it has also operated a service from Rostock ...

as ''Spirit of Tasmania III''.

Concept and construction

''Superfast II'' was the second ship built for

for its

Adriatic Sea The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Sea) to t ...

services from

Patras ) , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 = , demographics1_info2 = , timezone1 = EET , utc_offset1 = +2 , ...

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 S ...

. Her construction was identical to that of MS ''Superfast I''.

Service history

1995–2003: ''Superfast II''

''Superfast II'' entered service on 11 June 1995 on Superfast Ferries' Patras to Ancona route. In April 1998, following the delivery of the new , ''Superfast II'' was transferred to the Patras—

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, ...

—

Bari Bari ( , ; nap, label= Barese, Bare ; lat, Barium) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, southern Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy a ...

route. From October 1999 until January 2000 she returned to the Patras—Ancona route as a replacement for that was undergoing repairs after an onboard fire. In July 2003 ''Superfast II'' was sold to

, with a delivery date set in September of the same year. TT-Line had already purchased ''Superfast III'' and ''Superfast IV'' the previous year, renaming them ''

Spirit of Tasmania II MS ''Spirit of Tasmania II'' is a roll-on/roll-off ferry operated by TT-Line between Geelong and Devonport in Australia. Built in 1998 by Kvaerner Masa-Yards at Turku New Shipyard in Finland for Superfast Ferries as MS ''Superfast III'', since ...

'' and ''

Spirit of Tasmania I MS ''Spirit of Tasmania I'' is a roll-on/roll-off ferry operated by TT-Line between Melbourne and Devonport in Australia. Built in 1998 by Kvaerner Masa-Yards at Turku New Shipyard in Finland for Superfast Ferries as MS ''Superfast IV'', sinc ...

'', respectively.

2003–2006: ''Spirit of Tasmania III''

Spirit of Tasmania III on Mersey River, Devonport, Tasmania

TT-Line took over the ship on 30 September 2003 and renamed her ''Spirit of Tasmania III''. She subsequently sailed to

Hobart Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-small ...

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

, where she was refitted for her new service. On 15 January 2004 she entered service on TT-Line's new

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

— Devonport route. Passenger demand for the new service proved smaller than had been expected, and the low passenger numbers combined with rising fuel costs led to the

Government of Tasmania The Tasmanian Government is the democratic administrative authority of the state of Tasmania, Australia. The leader of the party or coalition with the confidence of the House of Assembly, the lower house of the Parliament of Tasmania, is invite ...

's decision to terminate the service in August 2006. As a result, ''Spirit of Tasmania III'' was put up for sale. On 17 July 2006 ''Spirit of Tasmania III'' was sold to

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

operator Corsica Sardinia Ferries for

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...

65 million ( A$111 million). The ship left on her final voyage for TT-Line on 27 August 2006.

2006 onwards: ''Mega Express Four''

Corsica Sardinia Ferries took over ''Spirit of Tasmania III'' on 5 September 2006 and renamed her ''Mega Express Four''. She entered service for her new owners in November of the same year. Between January and April 2007 she was rebuilt at the Megatechnica shipyard in

Perama Perama ( el, Πέραμα) is a suburb of Piraeus. It is part of Athens urban area and belogs to the Piraeus regional unit. It lies on the southwest edge of the Aegaleo mountains, on the Saronic Gulf coast. It is 8 km northwest of Piraeus, ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

with an expanded aft superstructure. She returned to service on 4 May 2007.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mega Express Four Ships built in Bremen (state) Bass Strait ferries 1995 ships Superfast I-class fast ropax ferries