The 25,000-ton, 836-passenger vessel is the first brand new cruise vessel to fly the Greek flag since 1990. Its launch is a reflection of the rapidly expanding and ever swifter fleets of passenger liners being introduced by Greece's shipping companies to serve the millions of travellers and tourists journeying to the islands every year.

Merging and growing

During the past year, the big fish have been eating the small in the lucrative waters of Greek passenger shipping. The market is now dominated by three powerful groups of companies, which have either bought out or merged with smaller competitors.

Forging a fast fleet

Greek shipping companies are making determined efforts to expand and solidify their position in the shipping market in view of 2004, when the EU deregulation of that sector will be implemented. Flexing their economic muscle, companies have been investing heavily in state-of-the-art, high-speed vessels.

This summer, Minoan Lines are introducing three brand new Australian-built catamarans to serve their Cycladic routes, alongside the companys already successful Flying Cat catamaran series. The three vessels -Highspeed 2, 3, and 4 with a capacity of 650 passengers and 75 cars each- promise to cut conventional ferrying time in half, making destinations such as Tinos, Mykonos and Paros seem just a hop away.

Minoan's newly-minted, Italian-built H/F/S Knossos Palace, due for delivery in November, will be servicing the Piraeus-Iraklio route, making the journey in a mere six hours, as opposed to the ten to twelve hours needed by conventional ferries. The company is also actively pursuing a market share in the Greece-Italy sea-routes, with Aretoussa, Ikarus and Passiphae-its new Highspeed Ferries.

Also crisscrossing the Adriatic Sea, between Greece and Italy, are Attica Enterprises Superfast Ferries, owned by the companys subsidiary Superfast Ferries Maritime. Since its inception in 1993, the Superfast Ferries fleet has been growing rapidly numbering six vessels by the end of the year, with six more ships scheduled for delivery by 2002. Four of these will be used in the Baltic Sea, on the Germany-Sweden and Germany-Finland routes.

Five new ferries will also be wearing the Blue Star-Strintzis logo by 2001; the first, Blue Star Ithaki, is already ferrying passengers from the port of Rafina to the Cyclades. Finally, NEL has entered the high-speed fray with Aiolos, a ferry moving at 36 knots which makes the journey between Piraeus and the northeastern Aegean island of Chios in four-and-a-half hours (instead of the hitherto usual of nine).