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MV Stena Empereur (Pride of Provence) – Past and Present

IMO Number: 7907257

MV Pride of Telemark

ex Alkmini A, Pride of Provence, PO Provence, P&OSL Provence, Stena Empereur, Stena Jutlandica

© Ton Grootenboer

© Ton Grootenboer

Steel motor vessel, built in 1983 by Chantiers du Nord et de la Méditerranée (NORMED), Dunkerque, France (Yard No. 310) for Stena Line, as a passenger and roll-on roll-off car and commercial vehicle ferry

Technical Data

  • Length: 154.90m (overall) (1983), 156.20m (overall) (1996)
  • Breadth of Hull: 28.46m (extreme)
  • Draught: 6.32m (maximum)
  • Tonnage: 16,494 (gross) (1983), 15,900, 28,559 (gross) (1996)/ 8,020 (net) (1983), *,073, 8,568 (net) (1996)/ 3,100 (deadweight)(1983)
  • Engines: Four 12-cylinder CCM-Sulzer 12ZV40 Diesels
  • Power: 25,470 kW
  • Speed: 20 knots
  • Capacity: 2,036 passengers, 550 vehicles (max) (1996)
  • Call Sign: MWYB4, SKOP, LNTC, LNTC3
  • IMO Number: 7907257
  • DNV Number: 12489
  • Registry: Gothenburg/Sweden 🇸🇪, London/United Kingdom 🇬🇧, Piraeus/Greece 🇬🇷, Langesund /Norway 🇳🇴
  • Sister Ship: Stena Danica (309)

History

March 1st 1983: Keel laid.

December 12th 1980: Launched but technical problems delayed delivery.

Andreas Wörteler Collection

Andreas Wörteler Collection

© Ton Grootenboer

March 31st 1983: Delivered to Stena Line Ab, Gothenburg.

April 25th 1983: Commenced service between Gothenburg – Frederikshavn.

© Frank Heine  © Frank Heine

© Frank Heine (Gothenburg, July 1983)

December 1986: Sold to Premiraktören 593 Ab, Gothenburg.

1987: Registered to B&B Finans Projekt Ab, Gothenburg.

1988: Registered to PK Finans Ab, Gothenburg.

© Ken Larwood

© Ken Larwood

December 1988: Sold to Wallenius Safe Jasmina Ab, Stockholm. Gothenburg as home port.

January 1990: Changed name to Rederi Ab Jutland.

December 1990: Sold to Stena Rederi Ab Gothenburg.

© Andreas Wörteler  © Andreas Wörteler

© Andreas Wörteler (Gothenburg 07/04/1996)

May 2006: Its announced that the Stena Jutlandica will be rebuilt and placed on the Dover-Calais route.

© Pieter Inpyn

© Pieter Inpyn (Frederikshavn, 01/06/1996)

June 25th 1996: Last day in service between Gothenburg – Frederikshavn.

June 26th 1996: Arrived at Lloyd-Werft Bremerhaven, Germany for rebuild.

© Christian Eckardt  © Christian Eckardt

© Christian Eckardt

© Christian Eckardt (all)

© Christian Eckardt

© Christian Eckardt (1996 in Bremerhaven)

July 1996: Registered to Crown Tours BV, Hoek Van Holland, Holland. Renamed STENA EMPEREUR.

August 1996: Bareboat chartered to Stena Line UK, London, England.

August 5th 1996: Left Lloyd-Werft Bremerhaven yard for Dover.

August 7th 1996: Arrived at Dover.

 

© Bernd Crause

August 15th 1996: Commenced service between Dover – Calais.

© Andreas Wörteler  © Andreas Wörteler

© Andreas Wörteler (Calais 25/08/1996) (Left) (Calais 05/02/1997) (Right)

© Ken Larwood  © Ken Smith

© Ken Larwood (Left) and © Ken Smith (Right)

© Pieter Inpyn  © Pieter Inpyn

© Pieter Inpyn (Calais, 01/05/1997)

March 3rd 1998: P&O European Ferries and Stena Line merge their operations on the short sea. The new company was called P&O Stena Line. Registered as a British private sector company, 60% owned by the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O) and 40% owned by Stena Line AB of Sweden. The new company took over the Dover and Newhaven services of P&O European Ferries and Stena Line.

© Christian Eckardt  © Stéphane Poulain

© Christian Eckardt (Left) and © Stéphane Poulain (Right)

© Ray Goodfellow  © Ray Goodfellow

© Ray Goodfellow

March 3rd 1998: All vessels operated under the P&OSL banner.

© Andreas Wörteler

© Andreas Wörteler (Calais 22/05/1998)

© Ken Larwood  © Ken Larwood

© Ken Larwood (both)

November 1998: Renamed P&OSL PROVENCE.

© Stéphane Poulain  © Andreas Wörteler

© Stéphane Poulain (Left) and © Andreas Wörteler (Calais, June 1999) (Right)

© Carsten Dettmer  © Ken Larwood

© Carsten Dettmer (11/10/1999) (Left) and © Ken Larwood (Right)

1999: Registered to P&O Stena Invicta Ltd, London.

© Stephen Brown  © Douglas Cromby

© Stephen Brown (Left) and © Douglas Cromby (Right)

April 2000: Collided with her berth in Calais and retired to ARNO, Dunkerque for repairs.

April 2002: P&O announced its intention to buy out the 40% stake in P&O Stena Line owned by Stena.

Nigel Thornton Collection

 © Fotoflite

August 2002: P&O Stena alliance ended with P&O purchasing Stena Line’s 40% share in the business. The Dover-Calais fleet adopted the appropriate P&O “Pride of ….” names, losing there P&OSL prefixes. All vessels had their Stena house flag removed from their funnels, along with the deletion of the name Stena from their hulls. In future the company would trade as P&O Ferries.

© Andreas Wörteler  

© Andreas Wörteler (Calais 03/10/2002)

October 15th 2002: Registered to P&O Ferries, London. To be renamed PO PROVENCE and continuing between Dover – Calais.

February 2003: Renamed PRIDE OF PROVENCE.

© Dieter Pots  © Nigel Thornton

© Dieter Pots (Left) and © Nigel Thornton (Right)

© Stéphane Poulain  © Ray Goodfellow

© Stéphane Poulain (Left) and © Ray Goodfellow (Right)

Onboard the Pride of Provence

© Stéphane Poulain  © Stéphane Poulain

© Stéphane Poulain  © Stéphane Poulain

© Stéphane Poulain  © Stéphane Poulain

© Stéphane Poulain

April 18 2003: Whilst arriving at the Port of Dover she made heavy contact with the Southern Breakwater sustaining damage to her port side. Visibility was reported to be ‘good’ and sea conditions were fine at the time of the incident.

Dover Ferry Photos Library

Dover Ferry Photos Library

Her Master was suspended from duty as an investigation continued. Twenty-eight people suffered minor injuries in the accident, as the 28,559 gt ferry arrived from Calais carrying 489 passengers and 159 crew. The ship sailed to the ARNO shipyard in Dunkirk on April 19 for a formal investigation involving a Marine Accident Investigation Branch inspector.

An initial inspection by P&O Ferries’ surveyors found an indentation extending from deck 5 to the vessel’s double hull bottom. A cement box was fitted over the damaged area by engineers to enable the ferry to sail to Dunkirk under its own power. A crew member was detained overnight in hospital but was later released.

Dover Ferry Photos Library  Dover Ferry Photos Library

Dover Ferry Photos Library

February 22nd 2004 (12.12 hrs): Suffered starboard outer bow door failure as it was being closed prior to departure from the port of Calais number 7 ro-ro berth. The vessel was rendered unseaworthy and the passengers and vehicles were disembarked. At 21.42 hrs, after eventually disembarking her lower vehicle deck from her stern, she retired to lay-by for interim repairs. On February 24th she sailed to Dunkerque for complete repair. (Marine Accident Investigation Branch Report 16/2004 December 2004)

Nigel Thornton Collection  Nigel Thornton Collection

Nigel Thornton Collection

October 29th 2004: Sold to GA Ferries, Piraeus, Greece.

November 15th 2004: “To be taken over by new owners and to be renamed ALKMINI A.

December 17th 2004: “Due to come out of service at 3:30am 20th December and will lay up for approx 24 hours to de-store. Then catering staff will be taking her to Dunkerque for lay up over Christmas. The Greek’s will arrive 05/01/05 to collect her. Most of her crew are being transferred to the PRIDE OF BURGUNDY, and the remaining crew will take over the EUROPEAN SEAWAY along with all the ex PROVENCE officers”.

December 20th 2004: Last day in service for P&O Ferries. Arrived at Dover 03.15hrs. Having discharged her passengers/traffic she moved to the Eastern Cargo Terminal (ECT) to commence de-storing pending lay up.

© Ed Connell (Ships in the Port of Dover)

 © Ed Connell 

December 21st 2004: Moved to berth 8 (Eastern Docks). Departed Dover for Dunkerque 12.45 hrs.

December 21st 2004: Laid up in Dunkerque.

© Craig Nelson  © Craig Nelson

© Craig Nelson

January 19th 2005: Arrived in Piraeus, Greece.

2005: To be introduced between Piraeus – Rhodes – Kos.

February 28th 2005: During a refit in , fire broke out on the eighth deck and spread into the self-service restaurant area. The outbreak was brought under control by shore-based crews assisted by tugs with fire-fighting equipment.

May 23rd 2005: Rumoured to have been sold to Norwegian Kystlink and to be renamed PRIDE OF TELEMARK.

May 2005: Chartered to Kystlink A/S, Norway.

June 2nd 2005: Left Perama.

June 10th 2005: Arrived in Hirtshals for berthing trials before departing for Langesund.

© Dirk Janowsky  © Dirk Janowsky

© Dirk Janowsky

June 10th 2005: Fitted out at North Sea Terminal, Brevik

June 18th 2005: Commenced services between Langesund – Hirtshals.

October 7th 2005: Trial trip between Langesund – Strömstad.

October 27th 2005: Registered to Kystlink, Langesund (Lavi Shipping, Nicosia, Cyprus), Norway. Renamed PRIDE OF TELEMARK

© Marco Stampehl  

© Marco Stampehl

© Matt Murtland (HHVFerry)  © Matt Murtland (HHVFerry)

© Matt Murtland (HHVFerry)  © Matt Murtland (HHVFerry)

© Matt Murtland (HHV Ferry)

May 2006: To start scheduled sailings from Langesund to Strömstad.

July 13th 2006: Problems discovered with the starboard bow door. Vessel withdrawn from service for repairs. Re-entered service on July 15th.

November 1st 2006: Enters service between Langesund – Hirtshals, and Langesund – Stromstad.

March 5th 2007 – March 12th 2007: Refit at Cityvarvet, Gothenburg, Sweden.

May 18th 2007: Sold to Boa RoRo A/S (Taubåtkompaniet A/S), Trondheim, Norway (home port Langesund) and continued in service with Kystlink between Langesund – Hirtshals, and Langesund – Strømstad.

September 11th 2007: Arriving at the Port of Hirtshals the ship collided with the breakwater resulting in a power blackout and a hole below the waterline. The vessel started to take on water but the crew managed to get her docked. The vessel went down by the head and the bow eventually settled on the bottom of the harbour. Thankfully nobody aboard was hurt during this incident.

© Claus Carlsen  © Claus Carlsen

© Claus Carlsen  © Claus Carlsen

© Claus Carlsen (Hirtshals, 11/09/2007) (All)

September 25th 2007: Towed from Hirtshals to Cityvarvet in Gothenburg for temporary repairs.

© Claus Carlsen  © Claus Carlsen

© Claus Carlsen (Gothenburg)

November 22nd 2007: Towed from Gothenburg to Frederikshavn for inspection into the feasibility of repairs.

January 10th 2008: Commenced repairs.

July 25th 2008: Repairs completed and departs for sea trials. Returned to Frederikshavn to be laid up following the collapse of Kystlink.

© Capt. Hilmar Snorrason

© Capt. Hilmar Snorrason

August 14th 2009: Departs Frederikshavn for Stromstad and further lay up.

April 9th 2010: Arrived at Cityvarvet, Gothenburg for dry docking.

April 19th 2010: Departed Gothenburg for Langesund.

June 2010: Laid up in Sandefjord.

October 29th 2010: Departed Sandefjord for Farsund.

October 30th 2010: Arrived in Farsund for further lay up.

August 28th 2011: Departs Farsund, rumoured to have been sold for breaking.

© Claus Carlsen

© Claus Carlsen (31/08/2011)

August 29th 2011: Anchors off Skagen for bunkers. AIS now indicating a destination of Alang, rumours confirmed.

September 13th 2011: Arrives in Gibraltar for bunkers.

© Daniel Ferro   © Daniel Ferro

© Daniel Ferro

© Daniel Ferro (all)

September 19th 2011: Departs Gibraltar for Port Said (Suez Canal).

October 19th 2011: Arrived in Alang, India.

October 27th 2011: Beached at Alang ready for breaking.

 


All information is believed to be correct and no responsibility is accepted for any errors or omissions found. All items included in this article are subject to © copyright. We would like to take this opportunity of thanking: Micke Asklander (Faktaomfartyg), Stephen Brown, Claus Carlsen, Ed Connell , Bernd Crause, Douglas Cromby, Christian Eckardt, Daniel Ferro, Fotoflite, Craig Nelson,  Ton Grootenboer, ean – Guy Hagelstein, Frank Heine, Pieter Inpyn, Dirk Jankowsky, Ken Larwood,  Matt Murtland (HHV Ferry), Dieter Pots, Stéphane Poulain, Ken Smith, Capt. Hilmar Snorrason, Marco Stampehl and Andreas Wörteler for their assistance in compiling this feature.

Article © Nigel Thornton and Ray Goodfellow (Dover Ferry Photos Group)

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