Moby Lines

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Moby Lines Moby Aki in Livorno, 2007.
Moby Lines Moby Aki in Livorno, 2007.

Moby Lines (Moby Lines S.p.A.) is an Italian shipping company that operates ferries and cruiseferries between the Italian mainland and the islands of Elba, Sardinia and Corsica. The company was founded in 1959 under the name Navigazione Arcipelago Maddalenino (NAVARMA for short).

In 2006 Moby Lines purchased Lloyd Sardegna. The company is known for using Warner Bros. Looney Tunes characters as the external livery of its ships.

Contents

[edit] History

NAVARMA was founded in 1959 by Achille Onorato, and started traffic from Sardinia to the islands on coast of Sardinia with the small ferry M/S Maria Maddalena purchased from Denmark. In February 1966 NAVARMA purchased a second ferry, M/S Bonaficio, and started service between Sardinia and Corsica. The company slowly expanded, purchasing another ferry in 1967 and taking delivery of two newbuilds in 1974 and 1981. With the larger fleet, new routes to the Italian mainland were also introduced.

In 1982 the company acquired M/S Free Enterprise II from Townsend Thoresen, renamed her M/S Moby Blu and painted her in the "blue whale" livery that later came to characterise Moby Lines (the company name still remained NAVARMA at this point). The Moby Blu was over twice the size of NAVARMA's previously largest ship. By 1988 four additional larger ferries (all with Moby-prefixed names) had joined by NAVARMA fleet and additional routes to the Italian mainland were opened.

During the early 1990s NAVARMA acquired further used ferries, which replaced the Moby ferries acquired ni the 1980s. During the same time "Moby Lines" was adopted as the official company name. From 1996 onwards the company fleet has grown radically with addition of new, larger and faster tonnage, including the newbuilt fast cruiseferries Moby Wonder, Moby Freedom and Moby Aki. Around 2003 Moby Lines entered an agreement with Warner Bros. to paint their vessels in liveries featuring Looney Tunes characters. However, only the larger ships have such liveries, the company's smaller ships either have similar graphics not featuring the Looney Tunes characters, or simply the Moby Lines' whale logo.

[edit] Fleet

[edit] Current fleet

Ship Type Built Entered service Route Tonnage1 Notes
MS Bastia Ferry 1974 1974 Santa Teresa di GalluraBonifacio 498 GRT
MS Giraglia Ferry 1981 1981 Santa Teresa di Gallura—Bonifacio 2,041 GRT
MS Moby Aki Fast cruiseferry 2005 2005 LivornoOlbia
Piombino—Olbia
36,400 GT
MS Moby Ale Ferry 1966 1990 PiombinoPortoferraio 2,430 GRT ex-Mikkel Mols, ex-Teistin
MS Moby Baby Ferry 1969 1996 Piombino—Portoferraio 4,018 GRT ex-Svea Drott, ex-Earl Godwin
MS Moby Drea Fast cruiseferry 1975 2003 Livorno—Olbia 21,545 GRT ex-Tor Britannia, ex-Scandinavian Star, ex-Prince of Scandinavia
MS Moby Fantasy Cruiseferry 1976 1992 Civitavecchia—Olbia 9,120 GRT ex-Manuel Soto
MS Moby Freedom Fast cruiseferry 2001 2001 Civitavecchia—Olbia
Genoa—Olbia
Genova-Bastia
36,100 GT
MS Moby Lally Ferry 1974 2000 Piombino—Portoferraio 4,655 GRT ex-Kalle III, ex-The Viking, ex-Wasa Prince, ex-Peder Olsen
MS Moby Love Ferry 1975 1998 Piombino—Portoferraio 4,649 GRT ex-Saint Eloi, ex-Channel Entente, ex-King Orry, ex-Moby Love 2
MS Moby Otta Fast cruiseferry 1976 2006 LivornoOlbia 21,545 GRT ex-Tor Scandinavia, ex-World Wide Expo, ex-Princess of Scandinavia
MS Moby Tommy Fast cruiseferry 2002 2007 Piombino—Olbia
Livorno—Olbia
28,007 GT ex-Ariadne Palace
MS Moby Vincent Ferry 1974 1990 Livorno—Bastia 12,102 GT ex-Stena Normandica
MS Moby Wonder Fast cruiseferry 2001 2001 Civitavecchia—Olbia
Genoa—Olbia
Genova-Bastia
36,100 GT
1May be specified in gross tonnage (GT) or gross register tons (GRT).

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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