MS ''A Nepita'' is a fast

ropax 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 for Corsica Linea. The ferry was refurbished in Gdańsk,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

for her new service and was returned to her original design before her SeaFrance career and looks identical to her sisters Stena Superfast VII & VIII. Before November 2014 she operated between Dover and Calais for

DFDS Seaways France DFDS Seaways France, trading as DFDS Seaways, and formerly known as New Channel Company A/S, is the trading name of the ferry services across the Dover Strait and English Channel operated by DFDS Seaways and formerly operated by LD Lines. Hi ...

and between 2008 and 2012 for SeaFrance.

Concept and construction

''A Nepita'' was the last ship in a series of four identical

ice class Ice class refers to a notation assigned by a classification society or a national authority to denote the additional level of strengthening as well as other arrangements that enable a ship to navigate through sea ice. Some ice classes also have ...

ed fast ferries built by HDW for Superfast Ferries' new

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services. She was launched on 18 November 2000, on the same date as her sisters ''Superfast VII'' and ''Superfast IX'' ''Stena Superfast X'' was delivered to her owners on 26 February 2002 and christened on the same date by Patricia Lederer, wife of the HDW project director for the Superfast ships.

Service history

''Superfast X'' entered service for Superfast Ferries on 27 February 2002 on the

Hanko Hanko may refer to People *August Hanko (military personnel), August Hanko, German First World War flying ace Places *Hanko, Finland, town and municipality *Hanko Peninsula, Finland *Hankø, an island in the Oslo Fjord in Norway *The asteroid ...

–

Rostock Rostock (), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (german: link=no, Hanse- und Universitätsstadt Rostock), is the largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the state, ...

route. She remained on that route until 19 April 2002, when she was laid up in Kiel at HDW. On 17 May 2002, she re-entered service, on the Rosyth–Zeebrugge route. In January and February 2004, ''Superfast X'' was rebuilt at Fosen Mekaniske Verksted,

Fosen Fosen is a traditional district in Trøndelag, consisting of the municipalities Osen, Roan Åfjord, Ørland, Indre Fosen, Orkland, Heim, Hitra and Frøya. The district is dominated by forested valleys, lakes, coastal cliffs but also shallow ar ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

with additional passenger berths. On 7 August 2006, Superfast Ferries announced it had sold ''Superfast X'' to Veolia Transport for

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112 million. The ship was delivered to her new owners on 12 February 2007 and renamed ''Jean Nicoli''. In March 2007, ''Jean Nicoli'' made crossings from

Le Havre Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very ...

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, carrying cars on board. During April the same year, she was chartered to COTUNAV for traffic from

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and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

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. At the end of April she was laid up, initially at La Seyne, later at Marseille. From 8 September until 2 October 2007 she was chartered to

ANEK Lines ANEK Lines (Ανώνυμη Ναυτιλιακή Εταιρεία Κρήτης, ''Anonymi Naftiliaki Eteria Kritis'', Anonymous Shipping Company of Crete) is one of the largest passenger shipping companies in Greece. It was founded in 1967 by nu ...

for service on its Patras– Corfu–

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–

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route. On 27 December 2007, the ship was sold to SeaFrance. In the beginning of April 2008, ''Jean Nicoli'' was delivered to SeaFrance and renamed ''SeaFrance Molière''. On 3 April 2008, she left Marseille for Arno Dunkerque for rebuilding into a short distance ferry. After transfer to the leasing company Sarl Poquelin Bail, she entered service with SeaFrance in freight only operation on 19 August 2008 and began passenger service on 1 September 2008. Due to the commercial court ordering that Seafrance be liquidated, from 16 November 2011 the ship was laid up, initially at Dunkerque and then, following its sale to Scapino Shipping Ltd, at

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in England. In October 2012, DFDS chartered the ship to be used on its Dover–Dunkerque crossing. During a short refit by Arno at Dunkerque she was renamed ''Dieppe Seaways'' and returned to the French registry. She re-entered service on 7 November though, following a change of plan, on the Dover-Calais route. On 1 May 2014, ''Dieppe Seaways'' suffered a fire from an overheated boiler in the engine room as she approached Dover from Calais. All 316 passengers disembarked safely on arrival. However, in responding to the fire, seven crew members and three firefighters were injured with flash burns. Stena Superfast X (2017)

At the end of her charter to DFDS Seaways in November 2014, Stena Line took possession of the vessel returning her to her original name, albeit with a Stena prefix, and sending her for an extensive refit to return the cargo arrangements to their original configuration and refurbish the interiors similar to sisterships ''Stena Superfast VII'' and ''Stena Superfast VIII'' operating on the Cairnryan (

Loch Ryan Loch Ryan ( gd, Loch Rìoghaine, ) is a Scottish sea loch that acts as an important natural harbour for shipping, providing calm waters for ferries operating between Scotland and Northern Ireland. The town of Stranraer is the largest settlemen ...

) to

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

route. After refit the ship replaced ''MS Stena Nordica'' (which itself is being chartered to DFDS Seaways to take up the timetable ''Stena Superfast X'' previous operated) on the Holyhead–Dublin Port route on 9 March 2015. ''Stena Superfast X'' substantially increased the freight and passenger capacity on the route and coincided with the withdrawal of the Stena HSS service to

Dún Laoghaire Dún Laoghaire ( , ) is a suburban coastal town in Dublin in Ireland. It is the administrative centre of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown. The town was built following the 1816 legislation that allowed the building of a major port to serve Dubli ...

. In January 2020 Stena line announced that Stena Superfast X chartered to Corsica Linea and will be renamed A Nepita to her new owners which will be delivered in March 2020. It will be serviced for new ownership in Piraeus, Greece, and will have maintenance for new service in Greece (+100 cabins and maybe scrubbers).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:A. Nepita Ships built in Kiel Ferries of France 2001 ships 10 Ships of the Stena Line