MV Moby Zaza
ex Wind Perfection, Julia, Christian IV, Bayard, Olau Britannia (I)
Courtesy of John Hendy
Twin screw motor vessel built in 1981 by AG Weser Seebeckwerft AG, Bremerhaven, Germany (Yard no 1031) as a passenger and motor vehicle ferry for Olau Line Ltd Co, Hamburg
Technical Data
- Length: 153.40m (overall) 136.02m (between perpendiculars)
- Breadth: 24.24m.
- Depth: 13.60m.
- Draught: 5.82m.
- Tonnage: 15,064 gross (21,699)/ net /2,880 deadweight
- Engines: (4) 4T – 8 – cylinder Pielstick OC2-5L 400 diesels
- Power: 15300 kW/20,800 HP
- Speed: 20.0 knots
- Capacity: 2048 passengers 530 cars
- Berths: 938 berths (as built) 863 berths (after 2005 rebuild)
- Lane Metres: 750 (4.4 m high freight space)
- Call Sign: LCVU, OJNQ, ZCBE1, 2FYA5, IBLY
- IMO Number: 8020642
- MMSI Number: 247369700
- RI Number: 90559
- Port of Registry: Hamburg/Fed Rep of Germany 🇩🇪, Oslo/Norway 🇳🇴, Kristiansand/Norway 🇳🇴, Oslo/Finland 🇫🇮, Hamilton/Bermuda 🇧🇲, London/UK 🇬🇧, Livorno/ Italy 🇮🇹
- Sister-Ship: Olau Hollandia (I)(1028)
Current AIS Location
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History
“The second of a pair of bow and stern loaders built, by AG Weser Seebeckswerft AG, Bremerhaven, for Olau Line”
June 3rd 1981: Keel struck.
December 5th 1981: Launched.
May 5th 1982: Delivered to Olau Line Ltd Co, Hamburg, Germany.
Courtesy of John Hendy
May 7th 1982: Christened by Princess Margaret in Sheerness.
Nigel Thornton Collection
May 8th 1982: Commenced services between Sheerness – Vlissingen.
© Brian Fisher (Left) and © John Jones (Right)
August 25th 1984: Collided with the freighter MONT LOUIS in the English Channel.
“The ferry, the Olau Britannia, was carrying 951 passengers and a crew of 80. It was only slightly damaged and continued its trip from Flushing, the Netherlands, to Sheerness, England.
The crew of the 4,000-ton French ship, the Mont Louis, were taken aboard the ferry. The cause of the collision was not immediately known.
”The visibility ranged from two to four kilometers and I do not know how they were able to run into each other,” a spokesman at the Koksijde military base south west of Ostend said. The base sent a helicopter to survey the collision site.
A. P. van der Lee, a spokesman for the ferry company in Flushing, said the collision occurred at about noon. The ferry’s bow was locked deep into the hull of the Mont Louis for several hours, he said. The Mont Louis, which had been listing, drifted away and sank after Dutch and Belgian tugboats pulled the two ships apart.
This incident was a major concern as the ship was transporting a hazardous substance: uranium hexafluoride. This is an intermediate substance in the process of uranium enrichment. A month after the collision, all 30 drums of uranium hexafluoride had been recovered.
Mr. van der Lee said the Olau Britannia is the biggest passenger ferry sailing between the Continent and Britain.
Three cross-Channel ferries, the two tugboats and the helicopter had been sent to the scene, officials said. The tugboats were to try to tow the Mont Louis back to Dunkirk, France.”
Maquettes & histoire
© Ted Ingham
© Ken Larwood (Left) and © Simonwp (Right)
© Ingvar
October 4th 1989: Sold to Nordström & Thulin Ab, Stockholm for delivery in 1990.
October 11th 1989: Sold to Fred Olsen & Co, Oslo, Norway for delivery in 1990.
May 21st 1990: Final day in service Sheerness – Vlissingen.
May 21st 1990: Left Vlissingen for Hamburg.
May 22nd 1990: Taken over by her new owners Fred Olsen & Co, Oslo, Norway and renamed BAYARD (Registered to Fred Olsen & Co, Hirtshals, Denmark) at Blohm & Voss, Hamburg, Germany.
June 18th 1990: Transferred to Fred Olsen & Co, Oslo, Norway.
June 21st 1990: Commenced service between Kristiansand – Hirtshals (Winter: Oslo – Hirtshals).
© Pieter Inpyn
December 14th 1990: Sold to Color Line A/S, Oslo, Norway.
January 15th 1991: Renamed CHRISTIAN IV with services between Oslo – Hirtshals.
© Pieter Inpyn
April 29th 1994: Services between Kristiansand – Hirtshals.
© Capt Jan Melchers
March 24th 1995 – March 31st 1995: Services between Moss – Kiel.
April 1st 1995: One trip Kristiansand – Hirtshals.
January 1999: Rebuilt at Fredericia Vaerft with additional restaurants and better conference facilities.
© Tim Vogel
January 5th 2005: Arrived at Remontowa, Gdansk refit.
February 19th 2005: Left Remontowa for Hirtshals.
February 20th 2005: Arrived Hirtshals.
February 2005: To Orskov, Frederikshavn to repair cracks in her hull.
February 28th 2005: Returned to service Kristiansand – Hirtshals.
April 18th 2006 – April 21st 2006: Mini refit in Horten, Norway.
March 10th 2008: Final day in service between Kristiansand – Hirtshals.
March 2008: Laid up in Sandefjord.
April 10th 2008 – June 15th 2008: Services between Larvik – Hirtshals.
June 16th 2008: Laid up in Sandefjord.
May 20th 2008: Sold to Stella Naves Russia OY Ltd, Helsinki, Finland for delivery in July.
July 2008: Taken over by her new owners and renamed JULIA.
July 4th 2008: Left Sandefjord for Helsinki.
July 7th 2008: Trials in Helsinki and then sailed to Kotka/Finland.
© Aleksi Lindström
July 26th 2008: On view in Kotka.
August 1st 2008: Commenced services between Helsinki – St Petersburg.
“Passenger numbers on the Julia were low due to the bureaucracy related to applying a visa in order to travel between Finland and Russia. Additionally due to restrictions imposed by the Port of Helsinki she could not carry any freight on the service.”
September 20th 2008: Russian State Duma approved a law change allowing passengers arriving by scheduled ferry services to visit Russia for up to 72 hours without a visa.
“Despite this legislation change the Helsinki—St. Petersburg service was terminated due slower than expected growth of the passenger numbers, failure to acquire additional funding due to the economic crisis of 2008 and larger than expected harbour expenses in St. Petersburg.”.
October 7th 2008: Ceased services and initially laid up in Helsinki followed by Kotka.
October 9th 2008: Stella Lines CEO Kari Juvas stated that the company would make the decisions about the future of the vessel within the next few days. Reportedly several companies expressed an interest in buying the ship, but none have been able to raise the capital needed to buy her.
February 17th 2009: It was reported that one of the potential buyers for the Juliais Irish shipowner Frank Allen, who had acquired a loan from a Finnish bank to purchase the ship for use on a service between Cork and Swansea under the brand of B&I Line, which would be re-established for this service.
February 26th 2009: “At a public auction no bids were submitted.”.
March 12th 2009: “A second auction was held and B&I Line made the highest bid of €6 million, but confusion surrounded the initial undertaking of €1.5 million to secure the ship and she remained unsold. No further auction was held, instead the bankrupt’s estate negotiated directly with potential buyers. In addition to B&I Line, Greek Halkidon Shipping Corporation and two unnamed Finnish companies were reported to have shown interest in the ship.”.
September 2009: Sold to Fastnet Line Ltd, Cork, Ireland.
September 17th 2009: Left.
September 22nd 2009: Arrived in Swansea.
September 2009: Arrived in Cork.
January 31st 2010: Left Cork for Swansea and dry-docking ready for new services.
March 10th 2010: Commenced services between Cork – Swansea.
© Gerolf Drebes
© John Hendy (Ringaskiddy (Cork) August 2010)
November 2011: Taken out of service because of financial problems and laid up in Cork
February 2012: Put up “For Sale”.
March 2012: Sold to C-bed BV, Hoofddorp, Holland. Registered to C-Bed III Bv, Hamilton, Bermuda.
March 28th 2012: Taken over by the new company and renamed WIND PERFECTION.
April 28th 2012: Left Cork for Odense for refit at Fayard A/S.
August 2012: Refit at Fayard A/S.
November 24th 2012: Left Odense for Grenå/Denmark.
© Peter Therkildsen
Entered service as an accommodation ship and usually operated off Morecambe Bay/United Kingdom in support of local wind farm developments.
November 2nd 2015: Arrived at Fayard, Lindø, Odense.
© Peter Therkildsen
December 2nd 2015: Sold to Moby S.P.A, Ravenna, Italy.
December 17th 2015: Renamed MOBY ZAZÁ.
December 19th 2015: Left Odense for Naples.
March 2016: Noted as being in Naples for modernization at Palumbo yard. At this time it is believed she will operate Nice – Bastia
Artists Impression
© Nicolas Lévy
August 13th 2016: Whilst alongside in Nice the vessel was damaged by a fire in her engine room.
“The ferry Moby Zaza caught fire at the passenger terminal in Nice, France. The fire erupted into the engine room after short circuit of the diesel generator and vessel’s funnel was clouded of thick smoke. The crew reacted immediately and succeeded in extinguishing the flames without need of the help from local firefighters. During fire fighting one crew member was slightly injured and was treated in hospital. All the passengers were evacuated successfully without injuries. The incident was reported to the port authorities and investigation for the root cause is under way.”
August 16th 2016: Towed from Nice to Naples.
November 2016: Remained in the Port of Naples undergoing repairs.
June 2017: Returned to service.
© Nicolas Lévy
July 2018: Suffered engine problems and was towed to Genoa for repair.
July 2018: Resumed service.
May 2020: Moored In Cagliari, Sicily where immigration officials had the vessel as a quarantine centre for maritime migrants arriving via Lampedusa and Agrigento. A decree allowed the Italian government to quarantine migrants on ships to make sure they are not infected with COVID-19.
September 14th 2021: Sailed from Cagliari to Livorno.
September 15th 2021: Moored in Livorno.
May 13th 2022: Left Livorno.
May 13th 2022: Arrived Genoa.
June 20th 2022: Announcement that the vessel is to be chartered to Balearia for services between Denia – Ibiza (week days) and Valencia – Mostaganem (weekends).
© Giorgio Parodi (Genoa, 21/06/2021)
June 22nd 2022: Sailed to Valencia.
June 24th 2022: Arrived Valencia.
© Manuel Hernández Lafuente (Valencia, 25/06/2022)
June 25th 2022: Left Valencia and sailed to Mostaganem to commence services (Denia – Ibiza (week days) and Valencia – Mostaganem (weekends).
© Manuel Hernández Lafuente (Valencia, 29/07/2022)
September 26th 2022: Came off service at Valencia.
September 28th 2022: Arrived Nador.
(Arrival at Nador)
September 30th 2022: Took up service Almeria – Nador.
November 2022: Sailed to Livorno.
April 5th 2023: Chartered by SNAV and took up services Ancona – Split (scheduled to end the run with a Split – Ancona on the 2nd October 2023).
© Patrick Heard (Split, 12-13/06/2023)
🆕 © Dragec (Split, 01/08/2023)
October 3rd 2023: Completed summer schedule Ancona – Split. Sailed to Livorno.
November 14th 2923: Arrived Crotone (Italy).
December 7th 2023: Arrived Split. Anticipated first sailing for Jadrolinija on their Split – Ancona service is Sunday 10th December.
All information is believed to be correct and no responsibility is accepted for any errors or omissions. All items included in this article are subject to © copyright. We would like to take this opportunity of thanking: Dragec, Gerolf Drebes, Brian Fisher, Fotoflite, Ted Ingham, Ingvar, Pieter Inpyn, John Jones, Ken Larwood, Nicolas Lévy, Manuel Hernández Lafuente, Aleksi Lindström, Capt Jan Melchers, Simonwp, Peter Therkildsen, Tim Vogel and Andreas Wörteler for their assistance in producing this feature.
Special thanks go to John Bryant, Patrick Heard and John Hendy.
Article © Nigel Thornton and Ray Goodfellow (Dover Ferry Photos Group)
