Agios Georgios (1976 ship)

For motor vessels of this name, see MV Agios Georgios.

Agios Georgios in Salamina
History
Name	(1976–1998): Okudogo No 3 (1998–2004): Maria G (2004–2019): Elli T (2019–2023): Olympus (2023–present): Agios Georgios
Owner	(1976–1998): Ehime Hanshin Ferry K.K. (1998–2004): Med Link Lines (2004–2011): Endeavor Lines (2011–2018): Romont Shipping / Cretan Lines (2018–2023): SeaSpeed Lines (2023–present): Naira Maritime Co.
Operator	(1976–1998): Ehime Hanshin Ferry (1998–2004): Med Link Lines (2004–2012): Endeavor Lines (2012–2014): Cretan Lines (2019–2023): SeaSpeed Ferries (2023–present): Creta Cargo Lines
Port of registry	(1976–1998): Matsuyama, Japan (1998–2004): Valletta, Malta (2004–2011): Piraeus, Greece (2011–2023): Limassol, Cyprus (2023–present): Piraeus, Greece
Route	Piraeus – Santorini – Heraklion / Souda Former: Kobe – Imabari – Matsuyama Former: Brindisi – Igoumenitsa – Patras Former: Piraeus – Milos – Santorini – Rethymno
Builder	Kochi Heavy Industries Ltd. Kochi, Japan
Yard number	873
Laid down	10 March 1975
Launched	12 August 1975
Completed	2 October 1976
Acquired	October 1976
Maiden voyage	October 1976
In service	1976
Identification	IMO number: 7432733 Call sign: SVCW4 MMSI number: 241842000
Status	In service
General characteristics
Class & type	Japanese Ro-Pax / Mediterranean Ferry
Tonnage	12,338 GT 3,732 DWT
Length	141.70 m (464 ft 11 in)
Beam	23.51 m (77 ft 2 in)
Draught	5.93 m (19 ft 5 in)
Depth	13.00 m (42 ft 8 in)
Decks	7
Ramps	Bow and stern ramps
Installed power	2 × MAN-Kawasaki 14V49/54A diesel engines (total 11,768 kW / 16,000 hp)
Propulsion	2 × fixed pitch propellers
Speed	20.5 knots (38.0 km/h; 23.6 mph) (max) / 16.0 knots (29.6 km/h; 18.4 mph) (service)
Capacity	1,050 passengers (294 beds in 76 cabins) 420 cars / 650 lane metres for freight
Crew	40

Agios Georgios is a 141.7-metre passenger and Ro-Ro cargo ferry owned by Naira Maritime Co. and operated in Greece by Creta Cargo Lines. Built in 1976 by Kochi Heavy Industries in Japan as Okudogo No 3, the vessel was brought to the Mediterranean in 1998. Over her long career, she sailed as Maria G, Elli T, and Olympus before being renamed Agios Georgios in March 2023. Powered by twin MAN-Kawasaki diesel engines generating 11,768 kW, she operates on Aegean and Cretan sea routes.

Service

The ferry, commissioned at the Kōchi shipyard, was launched on 12 August 1975 as Okudōgo 3 (おくどうご3) and delivered on 29 February 1976 to Ehime-Hanshin Ferry, where she replaced Okudōgo 2 on the Kobe - Imabari service, which was extended to Matsuyama in 1984. Over the years, the ferry continued to operate regularly in the Seto Inland Sea, until 1998, when she was replaced by White Sanpo 2 and sold to the Greek company Med Link Lines, by which she was renamed Maria G. and transferred to the Mediterranean, where she took service on the Brindisi - Igoumenitsa - Patras - Çeşme service, later operating also on the Poros service in 2000. However, on 14 March 2004, after just six years of service for Med Link, the company was definitively incorporated into NEL Lines, from which it had been purchased two years earlier, and the ferry, temporarily out of service, was sold to fellow national Endeavor Lines, from which it was renamed Elli T. and immediately chartered to Maritime Way, which reintroduced it in June on the connections between Greece and Italy, replacing the King Minos. Two years later, in May 2006, the ferry ended its charter and, after a short refit in the Tuzla shipyards, finally entered service for the owner company on 17 June, serving once again the connections between Brindisi, Igoumenitsa, Poros and Patras, where it was joined at the end of the year by the Erotokritos T.

On 29 June 2011, a few days before the start of the summer season, which turned out to be the last for Endeavor Lines, the ferry was sold to the Greek company Romont Shipping, from which it was chartered on 3 March 2012 to the newly formed Cretan Ferries, which put it into service on 21 July between Piraeus and Rethymno, after a short stop in the Perama shipyards. However, after just two months of service on the connections to Crete, the ferry suffered a serious engine failure and the company, unable to cover the costs of the repairs, went bankrupt, leaving the Erotokritos T. abandoned in Drapetsona and in 2013 transferred to the Ampelakia shipyards. In October 2018, after about five years of decommissioning, the ferry was purchased at auction by Sea Speed Lines, from which it was renamed Olympus and repaired in the Attic shipyards, being put into service at the end of the works, on 1 August 2019, on the connections between Piraeus, Milos, Santorini and Rethymno. However, a few miles after the first arrival in the port of Fira, the ferry ran aground near the islet of Aspronisi, reporting a twenty-meter gash below the waterline, which forced the company to take it out of service and transfer it to Syros for repairs, returning to service on 12 December. In 2021 it was used on the connections between Piraeus, Sifnos, Milos, Therasia, Santorini and Anafi. In 2022, the ferry was then supposed to operate, replacing Prevelis, on the connections between Piraeus, Milos, Santorini, Anafi, Heraklion, Sitia, Kasos, Karpathos, Chalki and Rhodes, awarded to the company shortly before.

Again, the ferry, which had long been considered unreliable due to repeated breakdowns, was not ready in time for the season and the company lost its license to operate the route, finding itself forced to lay up the ferry in Attica on 31 August 2021, waiting for buyers.

On 15 February 2023, after about a year and a half of decommissioning, the ferry was finally purchased for 1,755,100 million dollars by the Cretan company Creta Cargo Lines, from which it was renamed Agios Georgios in March and introduced on 24 July in the freight connections between Souda and Santorini, where it operated until 2025, when it was moved to the connections between the Cretan port and Piraeus, paired with the Nearchos K, operating occasionally also in the connections between the Attic port, Chios, Mytilene, Lemnos and Kavala and in those with Mykonos, Kos and Rhodes.