SEALINK-HOLYHEAD
Justin Merrigan
Anderida
The Anderida laid up at Dover. © Ken Larwood
The Anderida laid up at Dover. © Ken Larwood
The fourth of a fleet of ships ordered by Stena Line, this vessel was sold to British Rail while still under construction at the Trosvik Verksted yard in Brevik, Norway. Completed as the Anderida for the Dover - Dunkerque train ferry service she entered service on that route on 28th August 1972.
Interestingly, as a British Rail train ferry, the Anderida was one of 14 Class 99 vessels. When British Rail implemented the TOPS (Total Operations Processing System) for managing their operating stock, these ships were incorporated into the system in order to circumvent some of the restrictions of the application software. This allowed them to be counted as locomotives while carrying railway vehicles in the same way as a normal locomotive would haul a train. As such, the Anderida was number 99 008.
Despite being a Dover ship, the Anderida was an Irish Sea regular, serving at Stranraer, Heysham and also at Holyhead, for the first time at the latter from 1st May 1976. In May 1977 she was transferred to Fishguard and remained there until the arrival of the chartered Stena Normandica in 1979.
On 17 February 1979, which on passage from Rosslare to Fishguard, the suffered a serious engine room fire. Damage was such that she was out of service for a month.
Having returned to Dover, the Anderida became surplus to requirements in December 1980 and was laid up in the Wellington Dock pending sale. There she joined her Stranraer-based sister Ulidia, herself redundant following the introduction of the new Galloway Princess. The Anderida was eventually sold in October 1981 to Greek owners as the Truck Trader.
There then followed a varied career, taking her as far as New Zealand, where she operated as the Sealink between Wellington and Picton. She didn't last very long on the Picton run as in those days the Tranz Rail ferries were all powerful, running off any competition on the Cook Strait. It was not long before she found herself sold again, to Canadian operator CTMA in 1987 for service between Montreal and Cap-aux-Meules.
The Sealink laid up at Wellington, New Zealand. © Emmanuel Makarios
The Sealink laid up at Wellington, New Zealand. © Emmanuel Makarios
Remarkably, the ship returned to Europe in 2020, having been sold to Ainaftis Shipping Company for service in Greece as Armenistis. Added to the Register of Chios on April 28, 2020 the ship entered service on the Piraeus-Chios-Mytilene-Lemnos-Thessaloniki line in August.