Anek Lines News

Greek passenger shipping company Anek Lines has partnered with Telenor Maritime, which builds 4G coverage offshore to support the oil & gas industry,  to upgrade the mobile ecosystem onboard all its ships.The connectivity platform with Mobile, Premium Wi-Fi, Ka-VSAT and mobile broadband backhaul improves the complete digital value chain with services enhancing operational efficiency and the passenger’s onboard experience.Lars Erik Lunøe, CEO of Telenor Maritime said: "This is an important step for Telenor Maritime’s service-expansion into the Mediterranean, and we are delighted to partner up with Anek Lines, the largest passenger shipping company in Greece."Anek Lines is the first company to install the connectivity platform in Greece…

Migrants desperate to get off the Greek island of Kos fought each other on Saturday while nearby a passenger ship chartered to house and process refugees lay empty 24 hours after it had arrived. Outside the island's main police station, about 50 migrants from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran threw stones and exchanged blows as tempers boiled over in the intense mid-summer heat. Riot police stood by without intervening. The migrants have little chance of getting aboard the ship, the Eleftherios Venizelos, as priority is being given to Syrians, who are treated as refugees as they are fleeing their country's civil war and have greater rights under international law than economic migrants.

11 confirmed dead, confusion remains over number of missing; investigators fear they will find bodies on board. Tug boats hauled the burnt-out hulk of the ferry that caught fire on Sunday off the coast of Greece to a southern Italian port on Friday, opening the way for an investigation into the cause of the blaze that killed at least 11 people. Listing visibly to starboard, the Norman Atlantic multi-deck car-and-truck ferry was held outside the port of Brindisi as officials decided where it should be moored. The fire broke out on one of the lower garage levels and left the vessel drifting without power in stormy seas. It took Greek and Italian rescue teams 36 hours to evacuate 477 passengers and crew from the ship amid strong winds.

Two Albanian seamen were killed on Tuesday during the salvage of a multi-deck car ferry that caught fire off Greece's Adriatic Coast two days ago, killing at least 11 people, with dozens more missing. The men were killed when a cable connecting their tugboat to the smouldering hulk of the Norman Atlantic snapped and hit them, an Albanian port authority official and Italy's navy said. As salvage operations continued, there was confusion over the numbers on the ship, with dozens…

Two Albanian seamen were killed during an operation to salvage a multideck car ferry that caught fire off Greece's Adriatic Coast when a cable connecting their boat to the ferry snapped and hit them, an Albanian port authority official said on Tuesday. The deaths add to a toll of 10 confirmed victims of the disaster, but there was continuing uncertainty over how many might still be unaccounted for on the smouldering hulk of the Norman Atlantic. More than 400 people airlifted from the vessel in a 36-hour rescue operation by Italian and Greek helicopters. The aftermath of the rescue has been marked by confusion over the number of victims, with dozens of names on the ship's manifest unaccounted for and no clarity over whether they had drowned or were not on board in the first place.

Rescue teams on Monday completed the evacuation of 427 people from a car ferry that caught fire off Greece's Adriatic coast, working through the night and defying high seas and freezing weather in a 36-hour drama. Eight people were killed in the incident and many others could be missing, prompting Italian authorities to continue an air search of the sea around the vessel while they sought to verify the number of passengers who had been on board. The fire broke out on a vehicle deck of the Norman Atlantic ferry…

Fire started in early hours of Sunday; rescue efforts hampered by bad weather. Five people were confirmed to have died in car ferry that caught fire off the coast of Greece and rescue teams were working to save another 22 still stranded on board more than 24 hours after the blaze started. As some of the rescued passengers arrived in Italy, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi told reporters that four more bodies had been recovered. One man was reported dead on Sunday. Renzi, speaking at a year-end media conference in Rome, said that rescue efforts should be completed within a "few hours" and praised the work of rescuers, who had helped avoid a "massacre". The Norman Atlantic was carrying 478 passengers and crew and more than 200 vehicles.

Greek Merchant Marine Minister Christos Papoutsis has signed 32 new operating licenses to passenger shipping firms in a bid to improve competition in the industry. "Until deregulation of sea travel in 2002, new applications submitted for licences will be examined immediately," the ministry said. "The criteria the applications will be examined upon will the public's interest, unimpeeded access to the islands and healthy competition." Greece has said it will liberalize island shipping by 2002, two years ahead of schedule, as a result of a recent ferry sinking that killed about 80 people. Company No. Licenses Strintzis Lines 4 Anek Lines 3 Lesvos Maritime 3 Attica Enterprises 2 Minoan Lines 2 Minoan Flying Dolphins 1 Other companies 17

Greek ferry operator ANEK Lines was scheduled to take delivery of the newly built Hellenic Spirit from Norwegian shipyard Fosen Mekaniske Verksteder A.S. The vessel is the second newbuilding from the Norwegian shipyard after Olympic Champion. The two ships cost ANEK Lines $221 million, financed by a syndicated loan led by JP Morgan Chase. The new ships can cover the sea route from the Greek port of Patras to Ancona in Italy in 18 hours.

Ulstein Nordvestconsult (UNVC), part of Vickers Ulstein Marine Systems, was awarded a contract comprised of the design of two 5,950-dwt RoPax ferries for a Greek shipowner. Anek Lines is set to operate the vessels, which will carry trailers, cars and passengers, between Chania and Piraeus. Scheduled for construction at Fosen Mekaniske Verksteder AS, Norway, the RoPax ships are slated for delivery in October 2000 and will measure 656-ft. (200 m) with a beam of 85-ft. (25.8 m). Each vessel will travel at a service speed of 27.5 knots and hold a certificate for 1,500 passengers.

Lloyd's Register announced that various vessels on order will be elected to Lloyd's Register class, namely two RoPax vessels for Anek Lines in Crete. The 669 ft. (204 m) RoRo cargo/passenger ferries, sailing under the Greek flag at 31,000-gt will carry up to 1,500 passengers between Greece and Italy at a service speed of 27.5 knots. Built at Bruce Mekaniske Verstad in Sweden, the hulls will then be subsequently towed to Fosen Mekaniske Verksteder, Norway for outfitting. With the first expected to be delivered in October 2000, four main engines will power each ferry, each with a rating of 12,600 kW, geared two controllable pitch propellers on two shafts.

Passenger shipping firm ANEK Lines reportedly has agreed to merge with Rethymniaki.