MV Caesarea Trader
Ex Commodore Goodwill
© Ken Larwood
Steel twin screw motor vessel built in 1996 by the Royal Schelde Group BV, Vlissingen, The Netherlands (Yard No 378) as Ro – Ro Cargo Ship for Commodore Shipping, St Helier, Jersey.
Technical Data
- Length: 126.4m (overall) 116.5m (between perpendiculars)
- Breadth of Hull: 21.4m (extreme)
- Depth: 7.5m
- Draught: 6.014m
- Tonnage: 11,166 gross/3,350 net/5215t deadweight
- Engines: Two 6 – cylinder MaK diesels.
- Power: 8,600kW
- Speed: 17.30 knots
- Capacity: 12 passengers, 1250 lane metres
- Call Sign: C6NU8, MSHN7
- IMO Number: 9117985
- DNV GL ID: 18841
- MMSI Number: 232061862
- Registry: Nassau/Bahamas 🇧🇸. UK 🇬🇧
- Sister Ships: Island Commodore (376)
Current AIS Location
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History
December 16th 1994: Build contract signed.
March 14th 1995: Keel laid.
November 6th 1995: Launched.
March 1st 1996: Commodore Goodwill delivered to NYDA Shipping Ltd., Nassau, Bahamas (Managers: Goliat Shipping A/S, Oslo, Norway).
March 2nd 1996: Arrived Guernsey.
March 4th 1996: Commenced services for Commodore Ferries Ltd between Guernsey – Jersey – Portsmouth.
© Robert J Smith (Portsmouth, 04/07/2003)
2004: Commenced services for Condor Ferries.
© Andreas Wörteler (Portsmouth 21/05/2004)
December 10th 2007: Bad weather caused the vessel to strike the entrance to La Collette yacht basin in St Helier harbour. One of the vessel’s propellers was damaged.
December 13th December 2007: The Brittany Ferries freight vessel COUTANCES was chartered as cover.
December 2007: Repaired in Falmouth.
© Robert Stanley
February 2008: Returned to service.
© Andreas Wörteler (Portsmouth, 21/08/2009)
2012: Registered Owner: Condor Ltd. Ship Manager: Condor Marine Services Ltd.
© Ray Goodfellow (St Helier, Jersey 13/10/2014)
© Nicolas Lévy
2015: Still in service Guernsey – Jersey – Portsmouth.
© Andreas Wörteler (St Malo, 08/10/2011)
© Ray Goodfellow (Portsmouth 14th & 15th July 2015)
January 30th 2015: Condor announced a new livery “Three new colours are at the core of the new company identity – dark blue, pink and gold, representing more of a leisure and holiday outlook. The ribbons – which were a distinctive feature in the ship’s livery before – have evolved and will be used on the ships hulls as well as on new branding throughout the rest of the company, including the new logo.”
© Nicolas Lévy (St Malo 07/11/2015)
© Ray Goodfellow (Departing Portsmouth 25/06/17)
June – July 2018: ” Whilst Goodwill was in Falmouth in June and July for her annual check, a previous modification was removed from her funnel, so it is now back to its smaller, original size. We also took the opportunity to paint the funnel and other maintenance work on the ship included rewiring, repairs to her port drive shaft and propeller, calibrating and testing controls along with cleaning the hull.” After her refit she appeared with a yellow funnel.
© Nicolas Lévy (St Helier 08/06/2019)
August 7th 2022: Came off service at Portsmouth owing to technical problems (oil leak) and sailed to Damen, Dunkerque for repairs. Relieved by the ARROW.
August 8th 2022: Arrived Dunkerque.
© Julien Carpentier (Dunkerque East, 08/08/2022)
© Julien Carpentier (Dunkerque East, 13/08/2022)
August 16th 2022: Left Dunkerque.
August 17th 2022: Arrived Jersey and re-commenced Jersey/Guernsey – Portsmouth services.
September 21st 2022: Arrived Santander and entered dry-dock for biennial refit, during which the propeller and driveshaft was damaged.
© Prieto (Santander, 21/09/2022)
November 2nd 2022: Left Drydock No.1 at Astander and moved to North Margin in Santander Port.
November 2nd 2022: Sailed to Portsmouth and resumed Portsmouth – Guernsey – Jersey.
December 8th 2022: Off the west coast of Jersey collided with fishing vessel L’ECUME II, which sank. A full search and rescue operation was mounted but, the 3 crew of the fishing vessel remain missing. The ferry suffered minimal bow damage and remained in the area, searching for survivors.
December 8th 2022: Returned to St Helier Harbour.
December 10th 2022: Sailed to Saint Peter Port, Guernsey to resume service.
© Nicolas Lévy (St Helier, 17/12/2022))
December 12th 2022: Resumed service.
© Gary and Patsy Davies @ Maritime Photographic (Portsmouth, 14/09/2023)
February 18th 2024: Came off service at Portsmouth and sailed to Poole.
February 18th 2024: Arrived Poole for refit.
February 26th 2024: Left Poole for Portsmouth.
February 26th 2024: Arrived Portsmouth.
February 27th 2024: Resumed service Portsmouth – Guernsey – Jersey.
October 6th 2024: Came off service at Portsmouth and sailed to Southampton.
October 6th 2024: Arrived Southampton for maintenance.
© Geoffrey Watson (Marchwood (port of Southampton) 11/10/2024)
October 21st 2024: Resumed service Portsmouth – Guernsey – Jersey.
November 9th 2024: Left Jersey and sailed to St Malo then service St Malo – Jersey – Portsmouth.
© Nicolas Lévy (St Malo, 11/01/2025)
February 28th 2025: Listed as “For Sale” , for €14,000,000, by Condor Ferries, whose contract serving Jersey comes to an end in March. DFDS will take over as Jersey’s operator on 28 March, while Condor – majority-owned by and rebranded as Brittany Ferries – will continue to serve Guernsey.
March 27th 2025: Came off service at Portsmouth.
March 28th 2025: Sailed to Le Havre for lay up, pending sale.
© Maritime Photographic (Portsmouth, 28/03/2025)
© Nicolas Lévy (Le Havre, 03/04/2025)
June 19th 2025: Reportedly sold to DFDS and renamed CAESAREA TRADER. Anticipated that she will enter service on the St Malo , Jersey and Portsmouth route and will eventually replace ARROW.
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: Julien Carpentier, Gary and Patsy Davies @ Maritime Photographic, Ken Larwood, Nicolas Lévy, Robert J Smith, Robert Stanley, Geoffrey Watson and Andreas Wörteler for their assistance in producing this feature.
Article © Nigel Thornton and Ray Goodfellow (Dover Ferry Photos Group)
Commodore Goodwill has now been sold to DFDS and will be renamed “Caesarea Trader” and will replace the MV Arrow as Jersey’s freight ferry