MV Superstar II
ex Color Viking, Stena Invicta, Peder Paars
Roy Thornton Collection (Trials)(Danish State Railways)
Steel motor vessel, built by Nakskov Skibsværft A/S, Denmark for DSB (Danish State Railways) in 1985 (Yard No 233) as a passenger and roll-on roll-off car and commercial vehicle ferry.
Technical Data
- Length: 134.02 metres (overall)(1985), 137m (Registered)(1991)
- Breadth of Hull: 24.6 metres (1985), 24.62 (1991)
- Draught: 5.65m (maximum)
- Tonnage: 11,602 gross (1985), 19,763 (1991), 6,180 net (1985), 9,130 (1991), 2,813 deadweight (1985), 2,390 (1991)
- Engines: Two B&W 8L45GB diesels
- Power: 12,480 kW
- Speed: 17.1 knots (19.4 knots maximum)
- Capacity: 2,000 passengers, 430 cars, 36 lorries (Freight)(1985), 1,720 passengers, 350 cars (1991)
- Call Sign: MNJJ6, LLTF, 5BEG6
- IMO Number: 8317942
- MMSI Number: 210590000
- Registry: Aarhus/Denmark 🇩🇰, Dover/United Kingdom 🇬🇧, Nassau/Bahamas 🇧🇸, Sandefjord/Norway 🇳🇴, Limassol/Cyprus
- Sister ship: Niels Klim (233)
Current AIS Location
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History
November 21st 1984: Launched
October 1st 1985: Completed.
Roy Thornton Collection (Trials) (Danish State Railways)
October 18th 1985: Delivered to DSB (Danish State Railways Ferry Division) Århus, Denmark.
November 19th 1985: Commenced service between Århus – Kalundborg.
© Pieter Inpyn (Århus, 01/06/1987)
October 1990: Sold to Stena Line Ab, Gothenburg.
© Andreas Wörteler (Århus, March 1990)(Left) and Nigel Thornton Collection (Right)
Nigel Thornton Collection
May 19th 1991: Final day in service Århus – Kalundborg.
Nigel Thornton Collection (all)
May 20th 1991: Renamed STENA INVICTA.
May 1991: Arrived at Schichau-Seebeck Werft, Bremerhaven, Germany for re-building. The work included the fitting of bow and stern fenders for the berths at Dover and Calais. Extensive alterations were made to her passenger accommodation but no conversion to twin level loading.
© Frank Heine (Bremerhaven, 02/06/1991)
1991: Stena full takeover of Sealink U.K. Ltd for a sum believed to be in the region of £259 million.
May 1991: Chartered to Sealink Stena Line, Dover, England, transferred to British ships register.
July 4th 1991: Arrived at Dover for the first time.
© Mike Jackson
© Ken Larwood (Dover, 05/07/1991)
July 8th 1991: Joint Christening ceremony with STENA CHALLENGER.
© Fotoflite (Dover, 08/07/1991)
Roy Thornton Collection
© Gary Davies (Maritime Photographic) (Left) and © Andreas Wörteler (Calais, August 1991)(Right)
© Ken Larwood
© A G Jones (Dover, 15/08/1992)(All)
© Tony Garner (Dover, 15/08/1992)
1992: The fleets livery was changed to Stena Sealink Line.
© Andreas Wörteler (Calais, 20/06/1993)(Left) and © Stéphane Poulain (Right)
Nigel Thornton Collection
Nigel Thornton Collection
🆕 © Simonwp (October 1995)
December 31st, 1995 (midnight): Stena Sealink Line ceased as a company name and all ships in the fleet adopted the trading name of Stena Line. The fleet was painted in the Scandinavian livery.
© Andreas Wörteler
© Stéphane Poulain (Left) and © Ken Larwood (Right)
Nigel Thornton Collection
© Pieter Inpyn (Calais, 01/05/1997)
February 18th 1998: Withdrawn from the Dover-Calais route and sent to Bremerhaven.
© Christian Eckardt (Bremerhaven)
April 1998: Chartered to Silja Line on the Vaasa – Umea service
April 20th 1998 – September 15th 1998: Commenced service between Umeå – Vasa under the trade name of WASA JUBILEE.
© Dirk Jankowsky
September 15th 1998: Left Vasa for Zeebrugge.
October 19th 1998: Moored in Zeebrugge, and laid up.
© Andreas Wörteler (Zeebrugge, May 1999)
November 1999: Registered to P&O Stena Line Ltd, Dover, England but never saw service with P&O Stena Line between Dover and Calais.
December 1999: Commenced service between Holyhead – Dublin.
February 28th 2000 – March 20th 2000: Operated between Fishguard – Rosslare.
April 2000: Chartered to Color Line A/S, Oslo, Norway.
April 2000: Arrived at Drammen, Norway for re-building.
May 2000: Renamed COLOR VIKING. Transferred to the Bahamas ships register with Nassau as home port.
June 14th 2000: Commenced service between Strömstad – Sandefjord. Operated by Color Line Marine A/S.
© Dirk Jankowsky
May 8th 2002: Sold to MV Color Line A/S Oslo, Norway for 145 million Norwegian Kroner.
May 28th 2002: Registered in the Norwegian ships register with home port of Sandefjord.
January 13th 2011: Whilst underway from Strömstad to Sandefjord, a fire broke out in the engine room resulting in a loss of power. The vessel anchored in the fjord so the fire could be extinguished, after a few hours power was restored and one engine was successfully restarted and the vessel got underway for Sandefjord.
January 23rd 2011: Back in service following repairs.
2012: Still in service with Color Line.
© Morten Bø (all)
August 2014: Remains in service between Strömstad – Sandefjord for Color Line A/S.
© Frank Heine (Strömstad, 15/08/2016)
July 2019: Still in service with Color Line operating between Strömstad and Sandefjord.
March 15th 2020: Services suspended owing to Covid-19 pandemic and laid up in Sandefjord.
October 22nd 2021: Trial run between Sandefjord – Strömstad
October 28th 2021: “After 600 days” resumed service Sandefjord – Strömstad
Color Line Facebook Link
October 28th 2021 – December 12th 2021: Services Sandefjord – Strömstad.
December 13th 2021: Laid up in Sandefjord.
February 28th 2022: Services Sandefjord – Strömstad.
November 3rd 2022: Announcement made:
Color Line ceases the Strømstad ferry:
COLOR VIKING will continue to operate on a normal route up to and including 20 November……..
……….The reason why the ferry is being cut so quickly is because it is no longer profitable
Both COLOR VIKING and COLOR CARRIER will be put up for sale in the global market
November 20th 2022: Made her final sailing Strömstad – Sandefjord and remains in Sandefjord.
© Color Line (Facebook)(Final Service)
November 22nd 2022: Left Sandefjord and sailed to Lindoe (Denmark).
November 23rd 2022: Arrived Lindoe.
December 1st 2022: Arrived at Fayard shipyard, Munkebo, Odense.
© Peter Therkildsen
December 1st 2022: News circulating is the she has been sold to Seajets and is going to operate it on the Piraeus-Western Cyclades route.
December 11th 2022: Left Lindoe and sailed to Sandefjord.
December 12th 2022: Arrived Sandefjord for final preparations pre delivery to Seajets.
February 1st 2023: Renamed SUPERSTAR II.
February 15th 2023: Owner: A Powerblue Sea Ltd, Piraeus, Greece. Manager: Sea Jets Maritime Co.
© Eivind Arnesen (Sandefjord, 22/02/2023)
February 23rd 2023: Left Sandefjord showing destination as Piraeus (eta 05/03/2023)
© Daniel Ferro (Gibraltar, 28/02/2023)
March 4th 2023: Arrived in Piraeus, then left for New Drapetsona Pier Repair Zone in order to be prepared for her summer deployment.
info@ellinikiaktoploia.net
© N.Gorgorinis – Ship’s photos (Chalkis Shipyards floating dry dock, December 2024)
April 24th 2025: Conducted sea trials.
All information is believed to be correct and no responsibility is accepted for errors and omissions. All items included in this article are subject to ©. We would like to thank: Eivind Arnesen, Asklander (Faktaomfartyg), Gary Davies (Maritime Photographic), Christian Eckardt, Daniel Ferro, Tony Garner, Frank Heine, Pieter Inpyn, Dirk Jankowsky, A G Jones, Ken Larwood, Mike Jackson, Stéphane Poulain, Morten Bø, Simonwp, Peter Therkildsen and Andreas Wörteler for their assistance in producing this feature.
Special thanks to Nigel Scutt @ Fotoflite
Article © Nigel Thornton and Ray Goodfellow (Dover Ferry Photos Group)
One of my favourite ships lovely ship
The Color Viking to be sold at Seajets in Greece.
Loved the old “Invicta” The only one of the two ex DSB ships that’s still looks “as Built” as her sister ship had the funnel modified it’s funnel is now much shorter