Strintzis Accepts Delivery Of New “Blue Star Ithaki”

Strintzis Lines, on March 31, accepted its newest super-fast ultra-modern ferry the Blue Star Ithaki from the Korean shipyard Daewoo Heavy Industries. The new vessel will be the first of its type to ply Greek coastal waters.

In May and July, Strintzis will accept delivery of the new high-speed ferries Blue Star 1 and Blue Star 2 from Holland’s shipyard Van Der Giessen de Noord.

The first new vessel will ply the Patras-Brindisi route in nine hours and the second the Patras-Ancona route in 21 hours.

In the meantime, Hellenic Shipyards speeds ahead with construction of the line’s new Blue Star Chios and Blue Star Myconos. Construction should be completed on the first by next February and the second by May of next year. Both vessels are being built especially for Greek coastal waters and promise to bring new, high-class service and unheard of speed to domestic sailings. Separately, Strintzis Lines says it increased profits posted for 1999 by 27% when compared with the year before. Net profit reached more than three billion drachmas and revenue reached 26.8 billion drachmas, which was some 10.5% higher than that of 1998.

The Greek ferry line holds third spot in market share of Adriatic routes with total number of passengers carried reaching well over 409,000. On its domestic routes, the line carried almost 1.5 million passengers, or 17% more than the year before.