Contessa di Levante

Contessa di Levante as Queen Coral 8 in Okinoerabujima
History
Name	(1999–2022): Queen Coral 8 (クイーンコーラル8) (2022–present): Contessa di Levante
Owner	(1999–2022): Marix Line Co., Ltd. (2022–present): Levante Ferries (Terra Incognita Corp.)
Operator	(1999–2021): Marix Line (2022–present): Levante Ferries
Port of registry	(1999–2022): Kagoshima, Japan (2022–present): Belize City, Belize
Route	Kyllini – Zakynthos / Kefalonia (planned) Former: Kagoshima – Amami Ōshima – Okinawa
Builder	Kanda Shipbuilding (Kanda Zoensho) Kawajiri, Japan
Yard number	398
Laid down	4 March 1999
Launched	3 June 1999
Completed	14 September 1999
Acquired	March 2022
Maiden voyage	September 1999
In service	1999
Identification	IMO number: 9209867 Call sign: V3JE MMSI number: 312892000
Status	Conversion phase
General characteristics
Class & type	Conventional Ro-Pax Ferry
Tonnage	10,910 GT (post-conversion) / 4,945 (original Japanese GT) 3,200 DWT
Length	140.81 m (462 ft 0 in)
Beam	20.50 m (67 ft 3 in)
Draft	6.20 m (20 ft 4 in)
Decks	5
Ramps	Stern and side loading ramps
Installed power	2 × NKK-SEMT Pielstick 12PC2-6V diesel engines (total 13,239 kW / 17,750 hp)
Propulsion	2 × controllable pitch propellers
Speed	22.0 knots (40.7 km/h; 25.3 mph) (max)
Capacity	1,300 passengers (post-conversion) 430 cars (or ~1,000 lane metres for freight)

Contessa di Levante is a 140.8-metre Ro-Pax ferry owned by Greek operator Levante Ferries. Built in 1999 by Kanda Shipbuilding in Japan as Queen Coral 8 for Marix Line's Kagoshima–Okinawa route, she was acquired by Levante Ferries in 2022.

Service

The ferry, launched on 3 June 1999 at the Japanese shipyards Kanda Zoensho in Kawajiri with the name of Queen Coral 8 (クイーンコーラル8) and delivered on 14 September of the same year to Marix Line, took service on the routes between Kagoshima, Naze, Tokunoshima, Wadomari, Yoron, Motobu and Naha as a replacement for the Queen Coral 7, which was sold to a Chinese company at the same time, and alongside the second Queen Coral.

On 19 November 2021, with the entry into service of the new Queen Coral Cross, she was decommissioned in Kagoshima and put up for sale. On 30 March 2022, she was purchased by the Greek company Levante Ferries with the intention of renaming her Contessa di Levante and converting her into a state-of-the-art cruise ferry.

On 23 May 2022 the ferry was delivered to the Greek company and, officially renamed Contessa di Levante, was transferred to the shipyard in Kure, where the first conversion works on the ferry were started. Once this first cycle of works was completed, the new unit will be transferred to Perama, where it will undergo further works, in view of entering service between the Greek islands of the Ionian Sea to replace the Kefalonia.