MS SeaFrance Cézanne

MS ''SeaFrance Cézanne'' was a ferry launched in 1979 as the ''Ariadne''. Starting life in the Mediterranean, she has spent the majority of her career serving the Dover-Calais cross channel ferry route with successive operators, Sealink, SNCF & SeaFrance, was taken out of service in February 2009 and scrapped in 2011-12

Early years

The ''SeaFrance Cézanne'' started life as the ''Ariadne'', ordered by and for Rederi AB Nordö, Malmö for services in the Eastern Mediterranean. She was launched at the Kockums Varv AB shipyard in Malmö, Sweden on 13 October 1979 and delivered to Rederi AB Nordö in January 1980. In February 1980, she was renamed ''Soca'' opening a service between Koper, Yugoslavia and Tartous, Syria with UMEF. On 7 June 1980, the ''Soca''s sister ship, capsized on her maiden voyage roughly 2 km away from Larnaca, Cyprus, this precipitated the end of Rederi's Yugoslavia to Syria service. In late 1981 the two remaining vessels ''Soca'' and her sister ''Scandinavia'' were sold to Bulgarian So Mejdunaroden Automobile Transport (SOMAT) and the ''Soca'' was renamed ''Trapezitza''. Under SOMAT ownership, the ''Trapezitza'' was operated using the MedLink brand running trans-Mediterranean services to the Middle East.

SNCF

In October 1988, under charter to DFDS Seaways, the ''Trapezitza'' and her sister, which had been renamed ''Tzarvetz'' was purchased by Sealink British Ferries and renamed initially to ''Fantasia'' and ''Fiesta'' respectively. After a short refit in Bremerhaven in 1989 the ''Fantasia'' was again renamed ''Channel Seaway'' and began operating a freight service between Dover and Calais. Sealink eventually decided to use the two vessels, in a pooling agreement with SNCF to provide a joint service running between Dover and Calais. As a result of this decision, the ''Channel Seaway'' and her sister, now named ''Fiesta'' were sent to Lloyd Werft, Bremerhaven in October 1989 to be converted from freight carriers to passenger carriers. As part of the pooling agreement, the ''Channel Seaway'' was to be given to SNCF, as a result of this, whilst at Bremerhaven, the two vessels swapped names, the ''Channel Seaway'' becoming the ''Fiesta''. The ''Fiesta'' returned to Calais on 13 May 1990, however due to French industrial action, did not enter service until 9 July 1990. In 1989 ownership of the vessel transferred to Societé Nouvelle d'Armement Transmanche (SNAT) and then in 1990, SNCF transferred the operations to Societé Propietaire des Navaires (SPN). In August 1990, SPN and Sealink British Ferries signed an extension of 5 years to their pooling agreement on board the ''Fiesta'' in Dover harbour. The early 1990s was a difficult time for the ''Fiesta'', her services frequently being interrupted by industrial action, most notably in June/July 1991, April 1992 and February 1995.

SeaFrance

In July 1995, SPN & SNAT announced their intention to terminate the pooling agreement from 31 December. On 1 January 1996 SNCF new SeaFrance service began, with the ''Fiesta'', which was renamed to ''SeaFrance Cézanne'' in her January 1996 refit. The service initially ran as three ships, the ''SeaFrance Cézanne'', the and the SeaFrance Nord Pas-de-Calais, later being joined by the SeaFrance Monet and the . On 22 March 2000, during thick fog, the ''SeaFrance Cézanne'' was holed on the port side, which later required attention at Dunkerque