MS ''Pride of Canterbury'' is a cross-channel

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 ...

operated by

P&O Ferries P&O Ferries is a British shipping company that operates ferry, ferries from United Kingdom to Ireland, and to Continental Europe (France, Belgium and the Netherlands). The company was created in 2002 through mergers and acquisitions within P&O ...

between Dover and Calais.

History

MS ''Pride of Canterbury'' was the second of four 'European Class' freight ferries ordered for

P&O European Ferries P&O European Ferries (formerly Townsend Thoresen), a division of P&O Ferries, was a ferry company which operated in the English Channel from 1987 after the ''Herald of Free Enterprise'' disaster, when '' Townsend Thoresen'' was renamed ''P&O E ...

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 ...

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-Zeeb ...

route. Between 1992 and 2002 she sailed between

and

for P&O European Ferries and later

P&O Stena Line P&O Stena Line was formed in 1998 after the merger of P&O European Ferries (Dover) Ltd and the Dover and Newhaven operations of Stena Line. History The idea for a joint service was initially put forward in July 1996 and in October of the same ...

. She was converted in the winter of 2002/spring 2003 and re-entered service as ''Pride of Canterbury'' (replacing the ageing '' P&OSL Canterbury''). She currently sails from Dover to

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 ...

. On 31 January 2008 she struck the wreck of Although it is unclear whether the wreck referred to in the MAIB report is that of the '' SS Mahratta (1892)'' or a later vessel of the same name which also wrecked on the Goodwin Sands. while manoeuvring into The Downs off the Kent coast during heavy weather. The collision caused the loss of one of her propellers and damaged the prop shaft and gear box. Although she was able to sail to Dover unaided, the ferry required assistance berthing. Following emergency repairs in Falmouth she returned to service operating with only 1 propeller. As a result, she was unable to operate in rough weather and was frequently laid up in Dover or sheltering off the Kent coast waiting for the wind to drop. The ferry was due to be drydocked at a European repair yard in November 2008 to be fitted with a new propeller with a view to being back in service for the Christmas 2008 period. The vessel is now back in service again on the Dover to Calais route. On 29 September 2014 a fire broke out in the engine room at around 8am as it arrived into Calais. The fire was quickly extinguished by the ship's fire protection system. Nobody was injured and the ship disembarked all the passengers safely. The stricken ferry was taken to Arno Shipyard in Dunkerque for repairs; to make up for the missing ship, ''Pride of Burgundy's'' services were increased from three to five. In early 2019, the Pride of Canterbury, like all P&O vessels on the Dover-to-Calais route, has been flagged out to Cyprus, a measure explained by the company as motivated by tax advantages in view of Brexit. She is now registered in Limassol. On 21 March 2022 Transport Secretary Grant Shapps MP announced that he will require P&O Ferries to rename Pride of Canterbury and other ships on the fleet which carry British names if the company is found to have breached employment regulations following the summary dismissal without notice via Zoom of 800 British seafarers to be replaced with cheaper overseas agency workers. On 24 March 2022, P&O Ferries CEO Peter Hebblethwaite confirmed that the management of the company illegally fired 800 British seafarers so it is expected that this ship will now have to have its name changed as

Grant Shapps Grant Shapps (born 14 September 1968) is a British politician who is serving as Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy since October 2022. He previously served as Secretary of State for Transport in the Premiership of Bo ...

announced three days previously.

Sister ships

As built, ''European Pathway'' was identical to ''European Seaway'' and ''European Highway''. The fourth 'European Class' freight ferry was converted to a multi-purpose vessel for the Dover-Calais route and named though she still retained a number of similarities. Following conversion to multi-purpose ship, ''Pride of Canterbury'' is nearly identical to ''Pride of Kent''. * * * (formerly ''European Highway'') ''Pride of Canterbury'' and ''Pride of Kent'' are commonly known as the 'Darwin Twins' or 'Darwins' after the project name given by P&O to the conversion of the ships.HHV Ferry - P&O's Darwins
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pride of Canterbury Ferries of the United Kingdom Ferries of France Connections across the English Channel 1991 ships Ships of P&O Ferries Maritime incidents in 2008 Maritime incidents in 2014