The Board of Directors of Attica Enterprises S.A. is pleased to announce the delivery of Superfast VII, the first of a series of four sisterships built at Howaldtswerke Deutsche Werft, in Kiel, Germany. Upon their delivery, all four 30,000 GRT, 30-knot, car-passenger new ferries of the Attica Group are scheduled to operate in the Baltic Searegion,serving routes between Germany-Finland and Germany-Sweden. Superfast VII was delivered to her owners today following the naming ceremony that took place the day before. Ladysponsor for the new Superfast vessel was the famous Finnish opera singer Mrs Camilla Nylund.
At his speech during the naming ceremony, Superfast Ferries’ President and Managing Director Mr Alexander Panagopulos said: “The Finnish ice-class 1A-Super, Superfast VII, and the three sisterships that follow her for the Baltic Sea, mark the continuation of our mission which we set back in 1995 when we took delivery of the first pair of our ships from Schichau Seebeckwerft in Bremerhaven, for building and operating the most modern fleet of the fastest car-passenger ferries in Europe”.
Superfast VII is due to start her commercial voyages between Rostock, Germany and Hanko, Finland on 17th May, 2001 in a 22-hour, year-round service to be joined by Superfast VIII in the same service in about six weeks’ time. Earlier in the year, Attica took delivery of Superfast V and Superfast VI that trade in the Adriatic Sea between Greece and Italy, from the same shipyard in Germany, which also builds Superfast IX and Superfast X due for delivery at the beginning of 2002 for the new 18-hour service between Rostock and Södertälje, in the Stockholm area. The Group has two more Superfast ships on order at Flender Werft in Germany due for delivery the first half of 2002.
Attica’s new Baltic cruise-class ferries have capacity for 626 passengers, 85 private vehicles and 110 large trucks each, and public spaces including Restaurants, Bars, a Disco Lounge, Casino, Video Games Room, Card Room, Sauna, Whirlpool and Massage Areas, Shops, Conference Rooms, Children’s Playroom.
Prior to commencing trading in the Germany-Finland service, Superfast VII will pay short visits to the ports of Rosyth in Scotland, where the company is preparing to launch a new two-ship, direct Scotland-European Continent service in a year’s time, and to the ports of Helsinki, Hanko and Rostock.