Three former Sea Containers craft are being used by Aegean Speed Lines to take on established Cyclades high-speed operators Hellenic Seaways and NEL Lines, with additional services to Ios, Santorini and Sikinos and another route taking in Syros, Tinos and Mykonos due to start on 16 June.
The extra capacity comes from Speedrunner III and Speedrunner IV, the 720-passenger/150-car Fincantieri MDV 1200 monohull craft, which ran as Superseacat Three and Superseacat Four on the Superseacat Helsinki-Tallinn service until its closure last autumn. Aegean Speed Lines’ Greek owner the Eugenides Group latterly had a financial stake in this operation.
The two 38-knot craft received attention from Remontowa at Gdansk, and join sister vessel Speedrunner II, former Superseacat One, acquired from the Finland-Estonia route in 2007. She began ASL’s 2009 operations from Piraeus to Serifos, Sifnos, Milos, Kimolos and Folegandros on 10 April.
Both Superseacat One and Superseacat Three saw service on UK routes on the English Channel and Irish Sea, with Superseacat Four going direct to Finland.