Minoan Lines

Minoan Lines

Industry	Shipping
Founded	1972
Founder	Group of Heraklion Prominent Figures/Wide Public Ownership
Headquarters	Heraklion, Greece
Area served	Adriatic Sea Aegean Sea
Key people	Emanuele Grimaldi (Chairman) Konstantinos Mamalakis (Vice-Chairman) Antonis Maniadakis (CEO)
Services	Passenger transportation Freight transportation
Revenue	€1.19 billion (2013)
Net income	€189.4 million (2013)
Owner	Grimaldi Group (45,4%)
Number of employees	1,209 (2013)
Parent	Grimaldi Group
Subsidiaries	Hellenic Seaways
Website	www.minoan.gr

Minoan Lines is one of the largest passenger ferry companies in Europe,and one of the dominant passenger ferry companies in Greece, sailing between Piraeus and Crete and in the Adriatic Sea, between Patras and various Italian ports. The company was founded in May 1972. Since 2008 Grimaldi's Compagnia di Navigazione SpA owns and controls 45% of the stock of Minoan Lines.

Its logo is derived from The Lily Prince fresco of Knossos

History

2003

• The cooperation between Minoan and Grimaldi ended, with only the MS Oceanus deployed on the Italy-Tunisia route.
• The MS Oceanus was renamed Ariadne Palace I and sold to Corsica Ferries.
• MS Prometheus was sold to Caronte shipping, an Italian shipping company.

2004

• Minoan decided to focus solely on the shipping sector and sold its stake in Aegean Airlines.

2005

• Attica Group acquired 10.23% of the share capital of Minoan, reaching an 11.61% stake in the company.
• Minoan sold its 18% stake in Forthnet to Intracom.

2006

• The MS Ariadne Palace was sold to Moby Lines. All three vessels from the Samsung shipyard were sold to other companies.
• Minoan Lines was Passenger Line of the Year according to Lloyd's List.

2007

• In February, Attica Group increased its stake in Minoan Lines.
• In June, Attica Group sold its entire stake in Minoan (22.2%) to Access Maritime SA, which is controlled by Mr. Laskarides.
• In December, Sea Star Capital, owner of ANEK Lines, acquired a 26.05% stake in Minoan Lines from Access Maritime in a privately negotiated transaction.

2008

• In January, Sea Star Capital signed an agreement with Grimaldi's Compagnia di Navigazione SpA to sell its 26.7 percent stake in Minoan.
• In October, Compagnia di Navigazione SpA, mother company of the Grimaldi Group, raised its stake above the limit of one third of shared capital and voting rights, which triggered a mandatory bid for the rest of the shares. The offer was launched at the end of October and lasted until the end of November. During this period, Grimaldi acquired an additional 47.9% stake in Minoan Lines, raising its total stake to about 85%.

2009-10

• In January, MS Pasiphae Palace was sold to SNCM, and became the Jean Nicoli. The replacement on the Venice - Igoumenitsa - Patras route was the MS Eurostar Barcelona, on loan from the mother company Grimaldi,^[1] formerly operated by Minoan under the name of MS Prometheus. Eurostar Barcelona was renamed Zeus Palace.
• Ikarus Palace began operating on charter with Grimaldi Group on the Livorno - Barcelona - Tangier route.
• In October 2009, the new MS Cruise Europa was delivered, followed by the sister-ship MS Cruise Olympia in the early summer 2010.

2011

• In January 2011 Minoan Lines cancelled the sale of its 33.35% stake in Hellenic Seaways to ANEK and tried to find a new buyer for it.^[2]

2012

• The year began with a significant loss for the company - the closure of the Venice route. The fate of the ships that operated on this line remained uncertain until the end of July 2012, when Europa Palace joined Cruise Europa and Cruise Olympia on the Ancona route. Meanwhile Olympia Palace was laid up in Perama. Despite the rumored reopening of the Piraeus - Chania route, both ships were then chartered to CIN, owner of the recently privatized Tirrenia di Navigazione, and used on the Cagliari - Arbatax - Civitavecchia route. Europe Palace was renamed Amsicora, and "Olympia Palace" became Bonaria. Both ships underwent a partial refit at Messina, and changed their ports of registry from Heraklion to Cagliari, and their flags from Greek to Italian.
• At the end of 2012 the daily Ancona - Igoumenitsa - Patras route was extended to call at Trieste thrice weekly. The route was operated by Cruise Europa and Cruise Olympia. A third ship, Europalink, was also added to the route in order to increase load capacity. The ship was previously operated by another Grimaldi Group company, Finnlines, but was changed flags from Swedish to Italian and operated in cooperation with Grimaldi.

2013

• On January 5, Europalink experience a failure and was forced to make an emergency stop in the port of Brindisi.^[3] Passengers and vehicles were disembarked safely and continued the journey with Grimaldi Group's Florencia. The ship was then brought from Brindisi to Messina yards for repair.

2014

• On September 21, Europalink struck rocks off Peristeres, north east of Corfu, Greece. All 70 crew and 692 passengers were evacuated. It was later refloated and taken in to Kerkyra, Greece for repairs. Europalink was on a voyage from Patras, Greece to Ancona.^[4][5]

Fleet

Current fleet ^[6]

Ship name	Flag	Built	IMO	Callsign	Tonnage	Length	Width	Passengers	Vessels	Knots	Photo
Knossos Palace		2000	9204063	SYQO	24.003	214 m	26 m	2.500	700	31,6
Festos Palace		2001	9204568	SYNR	24.003	214 m	26 m	2.500	700	31,6

On charter from Grimaldi Group

Ship name	Flag	Built	IMO	Callsign	Tonnage	Length	Width	Passengers	Vessels	Knots	Photo
Cruise Europa		2009	9351490	IBEV	54.310	225 m	30 m	2.850	963	27,5
Cruise Olympia		2010	9351505	IBEY	54.310	225 m	30 m	2.850	963	27,5

Out of service

Ship name	Flag	Built	IMO	Callsign	Tonnage	Length	Width	Passengers	Vessels	Knots	Photo
Europalink		2007	9319454	ICUO	45.923	218,7 m	30,5 m	730	1.320	25

On charter to other companies

Ship name	Flag	Built	IMO	Callsign	Tonnage	Length	Width	Passengers	Vessels	Knots	Photo
Ikarus Palace		1998	9144811	SWEW	29.968	200 m	25,8 m	1.528	819	27
Olympia Palace		2001	9220330	ICUS	36.825	214 m	26 m	1.922	821	31,5
Europa Palace		2002	9220342	ICUK	36.825	214 m	26 m	1.922	821	31,5

Notes

• Europalink is on charter from Finnlines and is operated in cooperation with Grimaldi Lines.
• Ikarus Palace is on charter with mother company Grimaldi Lines.
• Olympia Palace is on charter as Bonaria with Tirrenia Compagnia Italiana di Navigazione.
• Europa Palace is on charter as Amsicora with Tirrenia Compagnia Italiana di Navigazione.

Former ships

• F/B Minos 1974-1984 (scrapped)
• F/B Ariadne 1976-1999 (scrapped)
• F/B Festos 1984-1998 (scrapped)
• F/B Agia Galini 1986-2002 (scrapped)
• F/B Fedra 1987-2000 (today MS Ouzoud with Comanav)
• F/B Daedalus 1989-2005 (today MS Riviera Adriatica with Adria Ferries)
• FB Knossos 1978-1998 (scraped)
• F/B El Greco 1979-2002 (scrapped)
• F/B N. Kazantzakis 1989-2001 (today sailing for Pacific Cruises)
• F/B King Minos 1987-2002 (today MS Mawaddah with Namma Lines)
• F/B Erotokritos 1991-2002 (became MS Erotokritos T with Endeavor Lines, now scrapped)
• H/S/F Aretousa 1995-2001 (today MS Girolata with CMN)
• H/S/F Prometheus 2001-2004 (today Zeus Palace with Grimaldi lines)
• H/S/F Oceanus 2001-2002 (renamed Ariadne Palace 12002-2003) (Today MS Mega Express Three with Corsica Ferries)
• H/S/F Ariadne Palace 2002-2006 (today MS Moby Tommy with Moby Lines)
• H/S/F Pasiphae Palace 1998-2010 (today MS Jean Nicoli with SNCM)

Routes

• Greece (Festos Palace & Knossos Palace)
  • Piraeus - Heraklio

• Greece- Italy (Cruise Europa & Cruise Olympia)
  • Patras - Igoumenitsa - Ancona - Trieste

Affiliates

Companies that are affiliates of Minoan Lines (larger than 10%) are outlined below.

• Minoan Agencies S.r.l. 95,00%
• Cretan Filoxenia S.A. 99,99%
• Minoan Cruises S.A. 80,28%
• Hellenic Seaways 33,31%

References

External links

• Minoan Lines fleet

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Minoan Lines.

• Official Website of Minoan Lines Ferries
• Official Αφιέρωμα στο Knossos Palace
• Official Αφιερωμα στο Festos Palace