The MS ''SuperStar II'' is a

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 the Greek/Cypriot

Seajets Seajets is a Greek/ Cypriot ferry company operating passenger and freight ferry services in the Aegean Sea. History Seajets was established in 1989. Today, it operates a fleet of 14 high speed vessels, and 3 conventional Ro-Ro ferries which serv ...

, and operated on their service between Sandefjord and Strömstad from 16th June 2000 until 20th November 2022. She was built in 1985 as MS ''Peder Paars'' by Nakskov Skibsværft, Nakskov, Denmark for DSB Færger (the ferry division of the Danish State Railways). Between 1991 and 2000 she sailed as MS ''Stena Invicta'' for Sealink Stena Line and

Stena Line Stena Line is a Swedish shipping line company and one of the largest ferry operators in the world. It services Denmark, Germany, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Latvia, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland and Sweden. Stena Line is a major unit of Ste ...

. In 1998 she was chartered to Silja Line under the marketing name MS ''Wasa Jubilee''. In May 2000 the ''Stena Invicta'' started operating for Color Line and received the name MS ''Color Viking''. ''SuperStar II'' is certified for 2000 passengers and 370 cars.

Concept and construction

In September 1983 DSB Færger ordered two relatively large ferries for service on the intra- Denmark Århus—

Kalundborg Kalundborg () is a Danish city with a population of 16,211 (1 January 2022),Nakskov Skibsværft in Nakskov, Denmark. Although ordered by the ferry division of the

Danish State Railways DSB, an abbreviation of ''Danske Statsbaner'' (, ''Danish State Railways''), is the largest Danish train operating company, and the largest in Scandinavia. While DSB is responsible for passenger train operation on most of the Danish railways, goo ...

, the ships did not have the facilities for transporting trains, but were constructed to transport road freight and passengers. Both ships were named after characters from the works of Ludvig Holberg, a Norwegian-born writer considered to be the father of modern Danish literature. First of the ships, delivered in 1985, was named MS ''Peder Paars'' after the poem ''Peder Paars''. The second, delivered a years later, was named after the protagonist in

Niels Klim's Underground Travels ''Niels Klim's Underground Travels'', originally published in Latin as ''Nicolai Klimii Iter Subterraneum'' (1741), is a satirical science-fiction/fantasy novel written by the Norwegian-Danish author Ludvig Holberg. His only novel, it describes ...

Service history

The ''Peder Paars'' was delivered to DSB Færger on 1985-10-18, but it was not until a month later that she entered service on the Århus—Kalundborg route. Århus was also her port of registry at the time. She and her sister remained in service for five years, until in October 1990 both ships were sold to

, to be delivered in May 1991. On 1991-05-19 both the ''Peder Paars'' and ''Niels Klim'' were withdrawn from service, replaced by the notably smaller second-hand ferries and . The following day the ''Peder Paars'' was renamed ''Stena Invicta'' and sailed to the Schichau-Seebeckswerft shipyard in Bremerhaven, Germany for rebuilding for service in the English Channel for Stena Line's subsidiary Sealink Stena Line. For this purpose the ship was re-registered in the United Kingdom, with

Dover Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...

as her homeport. On 1991-08-08 the ''Stena Invicta'' entered service on the

—

Calais Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's prefecture is its third-largest city of Arras. Th ...

route. Following the formation of P&O Stena Line, the ''Stena Invicta'' was laid up on 1998-02-18. In April of the same year she was chartered to Silja Line, Finland for the duration of the 1998

northern hemisphere The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the Equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined as being in the same celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the solar system as Earth's Nort ...

summer season. Her registered name remained ''Stena Invicta'', but in Silja Line marketing the ship was referred to with the name ''Wasa Jubilee'' in honour of the 50th anniversary of ferry operations from Vaasa, Finland. The marketing name ''Wasa Jubilee'' was also painted in large letters on the ship's side, alongside the company name. The ship stayed in Vaasa— Umeå service for Silja Line from 1998-04-20 until 1998-09-15. The following month the ''Stena Invicta'' arrived in Zeebrugge, where she was laid up. In November 1999 her registered owners were changed from

to P&O Stena Line. In December she was chartered to Stena Line U.K., entering service on the

Holyhead Holyhead (,; cy, Caergybi , "Cybi's fort") is the largest town and a community in the county of Isle of Anglesey, Wales, with a population of 13,659 at the 2011 census. Holyhead is on Holy Island, bounded by the Irish Sea to the north, and is ...

— Dún Laoghaire route on 1999-12-12. At the end of February 2000 her route was changed to Fishguard— Rosslare, but she was withdrawn from service already on 2000-03-20. In April 2000 the ''Stena Invicta'' was chartered to the Norway-based Color Line, with a purchase option included in the charter agreement. The ship was re-registered at

Nassau, Bahamas Nassau ( ) is the capital and largest city of the Bahamas. With a population of 274,400 as of 2016, or just over 70% of the entire population of the Bahamas, Nassau is commonly defined as a primate city, dwarfing all other towns in the country. ...

, rebuilt at Drammen, Norway and renamed ''Color Viking''. On 2000-06-14 the ship entered service on Color Line's Sandefjord— Strömstad service. In May of the following year Color Line utilized their purchase option on the ship. She was subsequently re-registered in Norway, with Sandefjord as her homeport. In November 2022 Color Line announced that the ship would be pulled from service along with the freight ship Color Carrier on the Oslo- Kiel route due to rising fuel and energy costs.

References

External links

Color Line official website for ''Color Viking''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Color Viking Ferries of Norway Passenger ships of Norway Sandefjord Ships built in Denmark Water transport in Vestfold og Telemark 1984 ships Color Line (ferry operator) Merchant ships of Norway