MV Pride of Burgundy
ex PO Burgundy, POSL Burgundy, Pride of Burgundy, European Causeway
Andreas Wörteler Collection
Steel twin screw motor vessel, built by Schichau – Unterweser AG, Bremerhaven in 1993 (Yard No. 1074) for P&O European Ferries as a passenger and roll-on roll-off car and commercial vehicle ferry.
Technical Data
- Length: 179.70 m (overall)
- Breadth of Hull: 28.30 m (extreme)
- Draught: 6.27 m (maximum)
- Tonnage: 28,138 gross, 8,649 net, 5,875 deadweight
- Engines: Four Sulzer ZA 40 S Diesels
- Power: 21,120kW
- Speed: 21 knots.
- Capacity: 1,420 passengers, 600 cars, 120 x 15m freight vehicles
- Call Sign: MQSQ9, 5BEK5
- IMO Number: 9015254
- Registry: Dover/United Kingdom 🇬🇧, Limassol/Cyprus 🇨🇾
- Sister Vessels: European Seaway , Pride of Kent , Pride of Canterbury
Current AIS Location
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History
Originally to have been named the EUROPEAN CAUSEWAY (the fourth of the Super European Class freighters) but P&O European Ferries decided to give her superferry status and converted her on the stocks to a passenger vessel.
May 16th 1992: Launched at the yard of Schichau -Unterweser AG, Bremerhaven. The change of plan leading to her conversion occurred following the amazing rise in passenger traffic and the Government’s decision not to allow any sort of pooling agreement with Sealink . It was believed that the first choice name was to have been PRIDE OF LILLE.
Nigel Thornton Collection
March 23rd 1993: Delivered to P&O European Ferries (Dover) Limited.
🆕 © Dirk Jankowsky (Bremerhaven, 20/03/1993)
Nigel Thornton Collection
March 31st 1993: Maiden arrival in Dover.
© Ken Larwood (all)
Roy Thornton Collection
April 5th 1993: Entered commercial service between Dover and Calais.
Roy Thornton Collection
© Bernd Crause (Calais, 25/08/1996)
March 3rd 1998: P&O European Ferries and Stena Line merged 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.
March 10th 1998: All vessels operated under the P&OSL banner. PRIDE OF BURGUNDY continuing on the Dover – Calais route from March 10th, 1998.
© Andreas Wörteler (Left) & © Douglas Cromby (Right) (before and after the application of her P&O Stena Line Livery)
© Ken Larwood
November 14th 1998: Suffered gearbox trouble and went to Dunkirk for repairs.
December 1998: Renamed P&OSL BURGUNDY.
© Andreas Wörteler
© Pieter Inpyn
December 1998: Resumed in service Dover – Calais.
December 1998: Took over from the EUROPEAN PATHWAY as a freight only vessel whilst the PATHWAY was away on refit.
April 2002: P&O announced its intention to buy out the 40% stake in P&O Stena Line owned by Stena.
© Pieter Inpyn
June 21st 2002: Chartered for a Charity Event and sailed up the Thames to Convoys Wharf near Deptford where Lord Sterling auctioned a barrel on wine from the “Burgundy Region”. Her port side car deck was transformed into a restaurant for the day.
Kind permission of David Kane
August 2002: P&O Stena alliance ended with P&O purchasing Stena’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.
October 15th 2002: Transferred to P&O Ferries, still running between Dover – Calais, but her name was changed to PO BURGUNDY.
© Andreas Wörteler
February 12th 2003 – February 27th 2003: Overhaul with A&P Tyne, Falmouth, England.
February 2003: Renamed PRIDE OF BURGUNDY.
March 2004: Freight only between Dover and Calais.
© Nigel Thornton (Both)
December 2004: Refit at A&P Southampton.
January 12th 2005: Arrived back at Dover.
January 14th 2005: Retired to Dunkerque with “technical problems”.
January 18th 2005: Reported that the vessel was still at ARNO Dunkerque with what appeared to be a rudder problem.
January 26th 2005: Reappeared back at Dover.
© Nigel Thornton
January 26th 2005: Conducted trials at new berth 8 at Dover
February 8th 2005: “A cable snapped on one of the link-spans at Calais as vehicles were disembarking from the Pride of Burgundy. The berth was out of action, and another berth was undergoing maintenance work. That meant that fewer berths were operational and all the P&O Ferries and SeaFrance ships had to share them. Serious delays and the vessel made two trips to Zeebrugge. Day trip traffic was not being accepted 12/13 February.”
© Ray Goodfellow
February 25th 2008: To A&P Falmouth for refit.
March 12th 2008: Returned to Dover.
© Nigel Thornton
February 7th 2009: To ARNO, Dunkerque for hull inspection.
© Peter Wearing
© Michel Elias (Dunkerque 07/02/2009)
8th February 2009: Resumes service from Dover to Calais.
March 11th 2009: To Cruise Terminal 1 at Dover for completion of survey.
March 15th 2009: Returned to service.
December 29th 2009: Due at ARNO, Dunkerque for overhaul.
January 13th 2010: Returned to Dover.
September 23rd 2010: Chartered by Vattenfall to host the official opening of the Thanet wind farm, just to the North of Ramsgate:
“Arrived Dover ex Calais 22:00 Wed 22nd, lay by on ED1, Depart for Ramsgate at 07:00, Arrive Ramsgate 08:50, load VIPs & News crews / press, Depart Ramsgate for 1st trip around 10:30 (VIP’s, opening ceremony, news crews etc), Arrive Ramsgate 13:30, Depart Ramsgate 2nd trip 16:15 (Builders, Company employees & their families / guests), Arrive Ramsgate 21:00, Depart Ramsgate 22:30 – Sail to Calais & lay up for clean up / prep for 06:45 Calais-Dover crossing and resume normal sailing schedule.”
September 23rd 2010 08:30: Arrived in the Port of Ramsgate to commence her one day charter to Vattenfall.
© Ray Goodfellow (Arriving in Ramsgate 23/09/2010)
September 24th 2010: Resumed service between Dover and Calais.
© Ray Goodfellow (Arriving in Dover 11/12/2010)
February 10th 2011: Stood down from service for refit at ARNO Dunkerque.
© Craig Nelson (ARNO Dunkerque)
February 17th 2011: Departed Dunkerque for Dover.
February 18th 2011: Re-entered service from Dover to Calais with the 02:05 sailing.
March 17th 2012: Arrived at ARNO Dunkerque for her annual survey and dry docking. The vessel received a complete repaint and replacement of steel work in her funnel.
© Craig Nelson
March 31st 2012: Departed Dunkerque for Dover and re-entered service.
© Ray Goodfellow
27th October 2012: Whilst departing berth 9 in Calais during some very strong winds the ‘Burgundy’ made contact with the My Ferry Link vessel ‘Berlioz‘ on berth 8. Damage was sustained to the starboard bridge wing and forward superstructure. Following temporary repairs the vessel re-entered service the same day.
© Ray Goodfellow
March 9th 2013: To ARNO Dunkerque for refit.
© Jean – Guy Hagelstein
28th September 2013: Off service at Dover due to technical problems. Departed the port in the evening for an emergency dry docking in Flushing.
29th September 2013: Arrived at the Damen yard in Flushing and entered dry dock.
© Co de Vos (Damen Ship Repair, Vlissingen (Flushing), 29/09/2013)
October 1st 2013: Departed Flushing.
© Co de Vos (Departing Damen Ship Repair, Vlissingen (Flushing), 01/10/2013)
October 2nd 2013: Resumed service Dover-Calais.
October 19th 2013: Reportedly suffered rudder failure and collided with a pier at the port of Calais.
© Ray Goodfellow (Laid up in Calais following her collision with the pier)
© Ray Goodfellow (The damage sustained to Calais pier)
October 21st 2013: To ARNO, Dunkerque for emergency repairs. Forecast departure 25/10/2013.
October 25th 2013: Departed ARNO Dunkerque and sailed direct to Dover. Resumed service Dover – Calais.
© Carsten Dettmer
© Andreas Wörteler
February 25th 2014: Came off service and sailed to Falmouth.
February 26th 2014: Arrived at Falmouth for refit.
© Barrie Clark (all)
March 13th 2014: Refit completed and departed Falmouth.
March 14th 2014: Arrived in Dover and resumed service Dover – Calais.
June 30th 2015: Owing to Industrial Action, which closed the port of Calais, sailed to Boulogne to discharge passengers. No embarkation owing to lack of border control facilities. Returned to Dover “in ballast”. With further disruption probable, expected further sailings to Boulogne.
© Jean-Guy Hagelstein (Arriving in Boulogne)
© Manuel Dhondt (Hub Port Boulogne 30/06/2015)
July 2nd 2015: Resumed service between Dover and Calais.
November 9th 2015 (AM): Off service at Cruise Terminal 2 for an MES (Marine Evacuation System) deployment. Resumed Dover- Calais service in the evening.
November 23rd 2015 (AM): Off service at Cruise Terminal 2 for an MES (Marine Evacuation System) deployment. Resumed Dover- Calais service in the evening.
© Nigel Scutt (Dover Strait Shipping) (Alongside Cruise Terminal 2 taking bunkers from the ‘Coralwater’ 23/11/2015)
December 17th 2015 (AM): Off service at Cruise Terminal 2 for an MES (Marine Evacuation System) deployment. Resumed Dover- Calais service in the evening.
MES Deployment 17/12/15 © Nigel Scutt (Dover Strait Shipping)
January 16th 2016: Came off service and sailed to Damen, Dunkerque for refit
© Ed Connell
© Robert Fournier
January 28th 2016: Left Damen yard and sailed to Dover to resume service.
Courtesy of Nigel Scutt (Dover Strait Shipping)
© Carsten Dettmer (25/02/2017)
March 3rd 2017: Sailed for an extensive ‘life extension’ refit in Gdansk, Poland.
© Wojciech Zieliński
March 23rd 2017: Refit complete, left Gdansk for Dover.
© Wojciech Zieliński
March 25th 2017: Arrived in Dover.
© Nigel Scutt (Dover Strait Shipping)
March 26th 2017: Resumed service Dover – Calais.
March 10th 2019: Came off service and sailed to Gdansk for refit.
March 25th 2019: Now showing as having been re-registered to Cyprus, home port Limassol.
March 30th 2019: Refit completed. Sailed for Dover.
April 1st 2019: Arrived at Dover to re-commence service Dover – Calais
© Julien Carpentier (Calais, 23/02/2020)
April 30th 2020: Left Dover for Leith.
May 2nd 2020: Arrived at Leith for lay up.
© @Drewski (Twitter)
September 30th 2020: Announcement made that the vessel would not return to service and her future is unknown.
© Patrick Hill (Leith, 25-26/09/2020)
October 24th 2020: Sailed from Leith (AIS indicates eta @ Dover 22.00 hrs 25/10/2020).
October 25th 2020: Entered the Port of Dover at 20:00 (GMT) and proceeded to Berth 2 (ED2).
© Craig Nelson
© Mike Jackson (Dover, 26/10/2020)
October 30th 2020: Left Dover for Calais.
November 3rd 2020: Restricted return to service Dover – Calais.
© Julien Carpentier (Calais, 01/12/2020)
December 5th 2020: Left Calais bound for Falmouth.
December 6th 2020: Arrived in Falmouth.
© Geoff Hoather (Falmouth, 06/12/2020)
December 7th 2020: Towed from Falmouth Port to River Fal and lay up.
© King Harry Ferry
© Mark Willis
© C Perrott
April 28th 2021:
“Ferry giant P & O has confirmed a fifth ferry will return to its Dover to Calais route by the summer – bringing the firm’s fleet on the crossing back to pre-pandemic levels.
The Pride of Burgundy, will sail only with freight and return in June as the firm vows to “take back market leadership” on the route.”……………………………………………………………………………………..
May 3rd 2021: According to Falmouth Ship Movements, due in Dry Dock no.2 04/05/2121.
May 5th 2021: Entered dry dock No 2.
© Geoff Hoather (Falmouth, 10/05/2021)
© Dave Appleby (Falmouth, 13/05/2021)
June 5th 2021: Left dry dock and moored at Queens Wharf.
© Gary Davies (Maritime Photographic)
© (Maritime Photographic) (Falmouth, 10/06/2021)
June 24th 2021: Left Falmouth.
June 25th 2021: Arrived in Dover.
© Nigel Scutt (Dover Strait Shipping)
June 28th 2021: Entered service (Freight Only) Dover Calais.
© Julien Carpentier (Calais, 28/06/2021)
August 14th 2021: Came off service and sailed to Tilbury for a “technical stop”.
🆕 © Mike Shelvey (Gravesend, 16/08/2021)
October 14th 2021: Sailed from Tilbury.
October 15th 2021: Arrived in Calais to act as relief vessel covering PRIDE OF KENT
October 25th 2021: Came off service and sailed to Margate Road (Kent, UK) anchorage.
October 26th 2021: Sailed to Tilbury for lay up.
November 28th 2021: Left Tilbury (showing destination as Calais). To be used as refit relief (PRIDE OF CANTERBURY Damen Dunkerque eta 01/12/2021).
November 28th 2021: Arrived in Calais.
November 29th 2021: Took up service Calais – Dover.
© Julien Carpentier (Calais, 10/12/2021)
December 20th 2021: Came off service at Dover and sailed to Dunkerque East.
© George Holland ( Leaving Dover, 20/12/2021)
December 21st 2021: Arrived Dunkerque East.
© Julien Carpentier (Dunkerque East, 21/12/2021)
March 17th 2022: P & O announced that all crews within their fleet had been made redundant. Vessels were ordered to return to their service ports. It is not currently known how this affects this vessel.
© Julien Carpentier (Dunkerque East, 19/03/2022)
July 11th 2022: Remains in Dunkerque East.
© Julien Carpentier (Dunkerque East, 11/07/2022)
© Julien Carpentier (Dunkerque East, 02/11/2022)
March 7th 2023: News circulating:
P&O Ferries offloads veteran ropax onto Turkish ship recyclers
The deal is one of the first from Aliaga since Turkey’s devastating January earthquake.
A veteran P&O ropax is set to make its final voyage to the recycling beach at Aliaga after spending three decades shuttling between Dover and Calais.
The sale of the 28,100-gt ferry Pride Of Burgundy (built 1993) marks a return to buying action by Turkish ship recyclers who have been quiet since a devastating earthquake hit Turkey a month ago.
Brokers report that the Schichau Seebeckwerft-built Pride of Burgundy has been sold to an EU-approved recycling facility for $320 per ldt, which nets the UK-based subsidiary of Dubai’s DP World $3.7m………………………………………………….
© Julien Carpentier (Dunkerque East, 19/03/2023) “Ready to Go?”
Preparation for Departure
© Kevin Wills
© Michael Van Bosch (Dunkerque, 04/04/2023)
April 4th 2023 (10.41 hrs): Left Dunkerque for Aliaga, thirty years after her arrival on Dover.
© Dover Strait Shipping/Fotoflite (Dover Strait, 04/04/2023)
April 16th 2023: Arrived Aliaga.
April 19th 2023: Beached.
Ship Breaking
Ship Breaking
Ship 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: Dave Appleby, Micke Asklander (Faktaomfartyg), Michael Van Bosch, Julien Carpentier, Barrie Clark, Ed Connell, Bernd Crause, Douglas Cromby, Gary Davies (Maritime Photographic), Carsten Dettmer, Manuel Dhondt, Drewski, Michel Elias, Fotoflite, Robert Fournier, Jean-Guy Hagelstein, Patrick Hill, Geoff Hoather, George Holland, Pieter Inpyn, Dirk Jankowsky, King Harry Ferry, Ken Larwood, Craig Nelson, Co de Vos, C Perrott, Nigel Scutt (Dover Strait Shipping), Mike Shelvey, Peter Wearing, Andreas Wörteler and Remontowa Shiprepair Yard S.A for their assistance in compiling this feature.
Special thanks go to Mike Jackson, David Kane, Mark Willis and Wojciech Zieliński
Article © Nigel Thornton and Ray Goodfellow (Dover Ferry Photos Group)
What exactly is a “technical stop”?
Hi Bob
I found this on the internet and I think it sums the term up correctly!
“Generally, a technical stop is when the ship needs to stop somewhere for fuel, provisions, other services, sometimes to fulfill government requirements or repairs.”
“My friend says that “minor technical difficulties” is code for “we are going to lie to you now”.
Rgds
Nigel T
cant beleive that P&O can still warrant operating the Burgundy ?
Richard,
Not a question of “freight numbers”, covering Pride of Canterbury which is at refit
Rgds
Nigel T
Gents, a small question if I may:
In the last set of photos from the departure preparation, it cannot be clearly seen under which flag she sailed for her last voyage. AIS and other data indicates Cyprus, at the same time this doesn’t make sense bearing in mind the political situation between the 2 countries. I cannot recall a case of a Cyprus-flagged ship calling in a Turkish port. Could it be that she changed her flag prior her last departure but this has not trickled down the registries and AIS data?
Thanks and regards, Nikos
Nikos,
Sorry, no further information available at this time.
Rgds
So sad to see that she has gone, was an absolute honour to be part of the original “A Watch” for her maiden commercial sailing back on the 5th April 1993.
Shortly after this we came to the aid of two Belgian fishermen whose vessel had capsized and sank mid channel. All crew onboard that night were given a wallet by means of a thank you – I will always keep mine as a memento.
Strange there was no mention of her nearly coming to grief when refitting on the Tyne 2000(?), just prior to going live aboard. Taken out of dry dock, no winches or engines, moored across the dock with only a handful of personnel aboard the wind got up and she lost her stern lines. She swung almost 180 degrees in the river nearly coming alongside the RFA Bedivere which had been moored ahead of her.
Scary for those onboard which included myself.