© Ton Grootenboer Steel twin screw motor vessel, built by Chantiers du Nord et de la Mediterranee SA, Dunkirk, (Yard No 325) for Societe Nationale des Chemin de Fer Francais (SNCF), Paris in 1987 as a multi-purpose passenger and roll-on roll-off ferry for lorries and railway vehicles. Launched April 15th, 1987.
 Technical Data
MMSI Number - 227011500 IMO Number - 8512152 Length on deck - 160 metres (overall) 150 metres (between perpendiculars) 150.46 metres classification length Breadth of hull - 23 metres (extreme) Depth to main deck - 8.55 metres Depth to upper deck - 13,8 metres Draught - 5.65 metres Tonnage - 13,727 gross 4,800 deadweight Engines - Two 16-cylinder Sulzer ZAV40 diesels Maximum continuous power - 24,500 HP Speed on trials at 5.65m draft - 22.45 knots Capacity - 80 passengers, 45 lorries and 600 metres of rail freight or 90 lorries Call Sign - FNBN
History July 17th 1985: Ordered. April 15th 1987: Launched without ceremony.
 
Roy Thornton Collection (left) and Ton Grootenboer (right)
December 12th 1987: Entered service Calais - Dover ro-ro. January 1988: Laid up for a short time owing to a strike by French seamen over crewing arrangements.
 
© Fotoflite, Stéphane Poulain Collection
May 9th 1988: Operated Dover- Dunkirk until its closure on 22nd December 1995.
 
© Brian Fisher (left) and Nigel Thornton (right)
1989: Transferred to SNAT (Societe Nouvelle d'Armement Transmanche), Calais, France. September 21st 1989: When she completed her 500th day of service, Railfreight Distribution marked the occasion by presenting the ships Master with a brass plate identifying the ship as a British Rail locomotive. 'In BR's freight computer systems the ferry journeys were represented as trains and the ships as locomotives. The NPC was therefore included in BR's records as locomotive No. 99001' July 12th 1995: Agreement between Stena Sealink Line and French partners S.N.A.T. would terminate from December 31st 1995. From that time onwards S.N.A.T. would trade as SeaFrance.
  
© Fotoflite, Stéphane Poulain Collection (left), Stéphane Poulain Collection (middle) and © Fotoflite, Roy Thornton Collection (right)
December 22nd 1995: Suffered a small fire whilst en route between Dunkerque - Dover Western docks. Minor damage. January 7th 1996: Renamed SEAFRANCE NORD PAS-DE-CALAIS and introduced , for SeaFrance between Calais - Dover. She was used in a Ro-Ro capacity to convey road vehicles and dangerous loads which are banned from the tunnel.
 
© Ray Goodfellow
July 3rd 1996: Laid-up at Dunkerque and remained there until November 29th when she was introduced as an ordinary freight vessel between Calais and Dover. July 27th2003: “a minor technical problem”. She finally sailed to Dunkirk East on the evening of 1st August for an estimated Euros 1 million worth of engine repairs and the replacement of a broken propeller shaft.
© Robert Fournier
April 2005: Refit at ARNO Dunkerque 2006: In service, freight only, Calais - Dover. Wednesday, 27 December 2006 Ferry suffers overheating problem An emergency operation was on standby for a ferry in the middle of the English Channel after the coastguard received reports of a fire on board. But SeaFrance said the incident on Wednesday involving its Nord Pas-de-Calais vessel was only an overheating generator transformer. Coastguard surveyors were said to be ready to board the ferry after it docked at the Port of Dover. The lorry-carrier had 58 freight passengers and crew on board. There were coastguard reports on Wednesday afternoon of the ferry sailing being interrupted by a power failure caused by a small electrical fire. But SeaFrance said: "A transformer connected to one of the generators overheated and this was dealt with by qualified staff immediately. "It was not necessary to stop the sailing and the ship is continuing in service." The Nord Pas-de-Calais was running between the French port and Dover 13th January 2007: Entered the ARNO dry dock facility at Dunkerque for 48 hours of maintenance.
  
© Robert Fournier
15th January 2007: Re-entered service from Calais to Dover.
   
The `NPC' displaying this year's livery variation of Seafrance.com on the upper bow door © M Fournet
 
The NPC seen dressed overall in honour of the Tour de France on 4/07/07 © Stéphane Poulain
April 4th 2007: To ARNO Dunkerque. April 5th 2007:Resumed service. May 7th 2007: To ARNO Dunkerque June 3rd 2007: Resumed service. July 17th 2008 : Made her 50,000 crossing, leaving the Port of Dover at 1440hrs local time ( 1540 hrs
French time). August 2nd 2009: Arrived at A & P, Heburn, Tyne for refit.
 
© Richard Athey (left) and © Neil McBride (right)
August 24th 2009: Left Tyne for Calais. August 25th 2009: Arrived back in Calais.
© Andreas Wörteler
March 6th 2010: Arrived in Rotterdam for bow thrusters repairs. Estimated one week. March 14th 2010: Repairs completed and left Rotterdam March 15th 2010: (01.19 hrs) Arrived at Calais and resumed. August 4th 2010: Laid up in Dunkerque due to a downturn in freight traffic.
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