Superfast Ferries

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Superfast Ferries S.A.

Company type	Wholly owned subsidiary
Industry	Transport
Headquarters	Athens, Greece
Products	Passenger transportation, Freight transportation, Holidays, Business travel
Parent	Attica Holdings
Website	www.superfast.com

Superfast Ferries is a Greece-based ferry company founded in 1993 by Pericles Panagopulos and Alexander Panagopulos.^[1] Superfast Ferries is a member of Attica Group and operates 5 car-passenger ferries, offering daily connections between Ancona and Bari in Italy, and Patras and Igoumenitsa in Greece. Together with Blue Star Ferries, ANEK Lines and Hellenic Seaways, it is a subsidiary company of Attica Group, which is listed on the Athens Stock Exchange.

In the past, Superfast Ferries has operated lines in several parts of Europe, in the Adriatic Sea, Aegean Sea, North Sea, and the Baltic Sea. Currently, they are mainly active in the Adriatic Sea, operating between Greece and Italy. Their routes are between the Italian ports of Ancona and Bari and the Greek ports of Igoumenitsa and Patras, as well as between Bari and Corfu.

Superfast operated the Rosyth – Zeebrugge ferry service between 2002 and 2008. On 29 May 2008, it was announced that Superfast Ferries would withdraw across the North Sea. The service was subsequently withdrawn on 13 September 2008. The North Sea service was mainland Scotland's only year-round, direct, scheduled ferry service to and from Continental Europe. The vessel used was Blue Star 1, which replaced the larger Superfast X on the route. Blue Star 1 has been reallocated to Attica's Mediterranean services. Norfolkline restarted the route in May 2009.^[2]

Superfast also operated between Piraeus and Heraklion until 2013. On 8 March 2013 it was announced that Superfast VI has been sold to Genting Group and Superfast XII, which was operating that route, was transferred to its position in Adriatic Sea.^{[citation needed]}

Superfast had proposed and was the favourite to run a new ferry service between Great Yarmouth, United Kingdom and IJmuiden, Netherlands in 2004 at the new Great Yarmouth Outer Harbour development after a bidding process held in 2002. Superfast never went ahead with the route.

In late 2005, Superfast ferries removed one of the two ships operating the link between Zeebrugge and Rosyth, thus turning the daily link from Belgium to Scotland into one operated only every other day. Superfast IX joined the two ship operation between Hanko and Rostock to serve the growing demand in the Finland – Germany service.

In addition, Superfast introduced a new "roll-on/roll-off" (RO/RO) service between Uusikaupunki and Rostock in January 2005. Attica has since moved one of the RO/RO ships, RORO MARIN, to their Adriatic Sea routes.

In April 2006, Superfast and Attica once more took the market by surprise by agreeing to sell the Superfast VII, Superfast VIII, and Superfast IX ice-class ferries to Estonian operator Tallink for €310 million.

In August 2006, Attica entered into an agreement to sell to Veolia Transport its ice-class vessel Superfast X trading between Scotland and Belgium for €112 million. The delivery of Superfast X took place in January 2007.

In September 2007, Pericles Panagopulos, the former key shareholder of Attica and then Chairman, sold his family's participation for €5.50 per share to Marfin Investment Group. The move was seen as a "family transition" decision and was interpreted to be an exit for the then 72-year-old investor. Alexander Panagopulos, CEO of Attica, resigned prior to this sale and founded his shipping company by the name Arista Shipping S.A.

On 8 June 2011, Superfast Ferries and ANEK Lines created a joint venture in the name of ANEK–Superfast to operate Piraeus – Heraklion and Patras – Igoumenitsa – Ancona routes using two passenger RO/RO vessels in the former route (the ANEK-owned "Olympic Champion" and the Superfast-owned "Superfast XII") and three in the latter route (the ANEK-owned "Hellenic Spirit" and the Superfast-owned "Superfast VI" and "Superfast XI").^[3]

On January 18, 2023, Lighthouse Reports, in collaboration with SRF, ARD, Al Jazeera, Il Domani and Solomon published a report claiming illegal pushbacks of asylum seekers from Italy to Greece using Superfast ferries. If those asylum seekers arrived to the ports of Venice, Ancona, Bari, and Brindisi, they were denied the opportunity to seek asylum and were pushed back using the Superfast ships. Immigrants were put into shower rooms and metal boxes with caged roofs, sometimes being handcuffed to metal shelves.^[4]

Ship	Flag	Built	Entered Service	Gross tonnage	Length	Width	Passengers	Vehicles	Knots	Photos
Superfast XI		2002	2002	30.902 GT	199,9 m	25 m	1.821	721	29
Superfast I		2008	2008	25.757 GT	199,1 m	26,6 m	928	783	24,2
Superfast II		2009	2009	25.518 GT	199,1 m	26,6 m	928	783	24,2
Ariadne		1996	2023	30.882 GT	195,6 m	27 m	2.045	640	24
Lefka Ori		1987	2024	27.320 GT	187,1 m	27 m	1.488	780	23
Superfast III		2000	2024	32.694 GT	204 m	25,8 m	1.833	670	30
AF Claudia		2001	2024	24.418 GT	186,5 m	25,6 m	950	455	24

Ship	Flag	Built	To Enter Service	Gross tonnage	Length	Width	Passengers	Vehicles	Knots	Notes	Photos
Superfast IV		2001	2025	32.694 GT	204 m	25,8 m	1.850	670	30	Ex-Hellenic Spirit for ANEK Lines
TBA		2027	April 2027	TBD	239,7 m	27,8 m	1.500	600	24	On charter from Stena Line
TBA		2027	August 2027	TBD	239,7 m	27,8 m	1.500	600	24	On charter from Stena Line

• Greece - Italy:
  • Superfast I & Superfast II: Patras-Igoumenitsa-Bari
  • Superfast III, Superfast XI & Lefka Ori: Patras-Igoumenitsa-Ancona
  • AF Claudia: Patras-Igoumenitsa-Venice

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Superfast Ferries.

• Superfast Ferries, online ferry ticket sales and reservations
• Attica Group, parent company of Superfast Ferries