Built as the St Columba in 1977 by the Aalborg yard in Denmark, the current Express Aphrodite was the last ship to be built with the distinctive Sealink UK-style funnel, seen on every major passenger ship since the Antrim Princess of 1967. She was also the last to remain in service with her original operators, and was to witness some radical changes during her 20-year British career.
The ship was specifically built for the Holyhead-Dun Laoghaire route on the Irish Sea. Whilst initially she replaced two other ships with her vast passenger capacity, later years saw operation with another, supplemental ship (including at various times, St David, Horsa, and Stena Cambria). She managed the noteable feat of operating on her original route for her entire career with Sealink (later Stena), apart from brief periods of relief duty elsewhere on the Irish Sea. The ship underwent a couple of major refurbishments in British service; firstly in 1982 she was converted into a one-class ship from her original two-class configuration. This was followed by a further extensive refit in 1986 when a new lounge and restaurant (the Carte Blanche) were fitted. Then, in 1991 new owners Stena set about completely gutting a great amount of her interior not long after they took control of Sealink. She emerged renamed Stena Hibernia in honour of the traditional Holyhead steamer name Hibernia.
More radical change was heading Holyhead's way however, as in 1996 the Dun Laoghaire route received the first of Stena's radical gas turbine HSS fast ferries, Stena Explorer. Initially it was anticipated that the HSS could operate the route without any back-up from a conventional passenger ship; with this in mind, Stena Hibernia became Stena Adventurer with anticipation of a transfer to Dover-Calais service. As it was the move never happened and the 'Adventurer' enjoyed one last season on her original crossing supplementing and backing-up the HSS. Had the ship actually made the move to Dover, her limited freight capacity (only one deck loading and one deck freight) may have undermined her performance on that route, although her passenger capacity could have been well utilised as Stena hunted the day tripper market.
Despite the reprieve at Holyhead however, the end was near. The Stena Challenger on her primarily freight route to Dublin was considered adequate back-up to the HSS, and the Stena Adventurer was sold to Agapitos Express Ferries of Greece, becoming Express Aphrodite, which name she has retained after that company became part of Hellas Flying Dolphins (Hellas Ferries). For 2004, after several years of being the premier Hellas Ferries ship in Piraeus, the Express Aphrodite moved up the coast to be based in Rafina, operating alongside the Express Apollon on routes out to Mykonos. The 2005 season saw her operators rebrand as Hellenic Seaways and the ship returned to Piraeus-based operations, running out to Milos via Sifnos and Serifios, competing (and often racing) with the Agios Georgios of Ventouris Sea Lines.
For much of 2006 it appeared - almost inconceivably - that Hellenic Seaways would not use the Express Aphrodite at all. However their hand was forced due to a serious mechanical breakdown on the Express Santorini and, after a quick refit, the ship was hurriedly deployed on the Pirareus-Santorini chain. |
