Ton Grootenboer

Steel motor vessel, built in 1983 by Ch du Nord et de la Mediterranee, Dunkerque, France (Yard No. 310) for Stena Line, as a passenger and roll-on roll-off car and commercial vehicle ferry. Engined by Sulzer Bros. Ltd., Winterthur. Launched 31 March 1983.

Technical Data

Registry - Goteborg/Sweden

London/United Kingdom,

Piraeus/Greece

Langsunde /Norway

MMSI Number - 232002659

IMO Number - 7907257

Length on deck - 154.90m (overall)(1983), 156.20m (overall)(1996)

Breadth of hull - 28.46m (extreme)

Draught - 6.32m (maximum)

Tonnage - 16,494 (gross) (1983), 28,559 (gross)(1996)

8,020 (net) (1983), 8,568 (net)(1996)

3,100 (deadweight)(1983)

Engines - 4 12-cylinder CCM-Sulzer 12ZV40 Diesels

Power - 25,470 kW

Speed - 20 knots

Capacity - 2,036 passengers, 550 vehicles (max)(1996)

Call Sign - MWYB4, LNTC (as at 2006)

History

December 12^th 1980: Launched , but technical problems delayed delivery.

March 31^st 1983: Delivered to Stena Line Ab, Göteborg.

April 25^th 1983: Commenced service between Göteborg - Frederikshavn.

© Andreas Wörteler

December 1986: Sold to Premiraktören 593 Ab, Göteborg.

1987: Registered to B&B Finans Projekt Ab, Göteborg.

1988: Registered to PK Finans Ab, Göteborg.

December 1988: Sold to Wallenius Safe Jasmina Ab, Stockholm. Göteborg as home port.

January 1990: Changed name to Rederi Ab Jutland.

December 1990: Sold to Stena Rederi Ab Göteborg.

May 2006: Its announced that the Stena Jutlandica will be rebuilt and placed on the Dover-Calais route.

June 25^th 1996: Last day in service between Göteborg - Frederikshavn.

June 26^th 1996: Arrived at Lloyd-Werft Bremerhaven, Germany for rebuild.

© Christian Eckardt

July 1996: Registered to Crown Tours BV, Hoek Van Holland, Holland. Renamed STENA EMPEREUR

August 1996: Bare-boat chartered to Stena Line UK, London, England.

August 5^th 1996: Left builders yard for Dover.

 © Andreas Wörteler (right)

August 7^th 1996: Arrived at Dover.

August 15^th 1996: Commenced service between Dover - Calais.

P & O Stena Line was a British private sector company, 60% owned by the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company and 40% owned by Stena Line AB of Sweden. The new company took over the Dover and Newhaven services of P & O European Ferries and Stena Line in March 1998.

© Christian Eckardt (left) and Stéphane Poulain (right)

© Ray Goodfellow

March 3^rd 1998: All vessels operated under the P & OSL banner.

© Andreas Wörteler

November 1998: Renamed P&O SL PROVENCE.

© Stéphane Poulain (left) and Andreas Wörteler (right)

1999: Registered to P&O Stena Invicta Ltd, London.

© Steven Brown (left) and Douglas Cromby (right)

2002: The P & O Stena combine ended. The Dover-Calais fleet adopted the appropriate P & O “Pride of ….” names, the P & OSL labels being dropped….All vessels had their Stena house flag removed from their funnel, along with the deletion of the name Stena from their hulls

© Andreas Wörteler

October 15^th 2002: Registered to P&O Ferries, London. Renamed PO PROVENCE. Continuing between Dover - Calais.

February 2003: Renamed PRIDE OF PROVENCE.

© Dieter Pots (left) and Nigel Thornton (right)

© Stéphane Poulain (left) and Ray Goodfellow (right)

On Board the Pride of Provence

© Stéphane Poulain

April 18 2003: Hit the Southern Breakwater at Dover, while visibility was good and sea conditions were fine.

Her Master was suspended from duty as an investigation continued. Twenty-eight people suffered minor injuries in the accident, as the 28,559 gt ferry arrived from Calais carrying 489 passengers and 159 crew. The ship sailed to the ARNO shipyard in Dunkirk on April 19 for a formal investigation involving a Marine Accident Investigation Branch inspector.

An initial inspection by P&O Ferries' surveyors found an indentation extending from deck 5 to the vessel's double hull bottom. A cement box was fitted over the damaged area by engineers to enable the ferry to sail to Dunkirk under its own power. A crew member was detained overnight in hospital but was later released.

The Marine Accident Investigation Branch's (MAIB) report can be downloaded here (Adobe Acrobat reader required)

February 22^nd 2004 (12.12 hrs): Suffered starboard outer bow door failure as it was being closed prior to departure from the port of Calais number 7 ro-ro berth.. The vessel was rendered un-seaworthy and the passengers and vehicles were disembarked. At 21.42 hrs, after eventually disembarking her lower vehicle deck from her stern, she retired to lay-by for interim repairs. On February 24^th she sailed to Dunkerque for complete repair. (Marine Accident Investigation Branch Report 16/2004 December 2004)

© Ed Connell (Ships in the Port of Dover)

October 29^th 2004: Sold to GA Ferries, Piraeus, Greece.

November 15th 2004: “To be taken over by new owners and to be renamed ALKMINI A.”

December 17^th 2004: “Due to come out of service at 3:30am 20th December and will lay up for approx 24 hours to de-store. Then catering staff will be taking her to Dunkerque for lay up over Christmas. The Greek's will arrive 05/01/05 to collect her. Most of her crew are being transferred to the PRIDE OF BURGUNDY, and the remaining crew will take over the EUROPEAN SEAWAY along with all the ex PROVENCE officers”.

December 20^th 2004: Last day in service for P & O

December 21^st 2004: Left Dover for Dunkerque

December 21^st 2004: Laid up in Dunkerque

© Craig Nelson

January 19^th 2005: Arrived on Piraeus.

2005: To be introduced between Piraeus - Rhodos - Kos.

February 28^th 2005: During refit in Perama, fire broke out on the eighth deck and spread into the self-service restaurant area. The outbreak was brought under control by shore-based crews assisted by tugs with fire-fighting equipment

May 23^rd 2005: Rumoured to have been sold to Norwegian Kystlink and to be renamed PRIDE OF TELEMARK.

May 2005: Chartered to Kystlink A/S, Norway.

June 2^nd 2005: Left Perama.

June 10^th 2005: Arrived Hirtshals for berthing trials then left for Langesund.

June 10^th 2005: Fitted out at North Sea Terminal, Brevik

June 18^th 2005: Commenced services between Langesund - Hirtshals.

October 7^th 2005: Trial trip between Langesund - Strömstad.

October 27^th 2005: Registered to Kystlink, Langesund (Lavi Shipping, Nicosia, Cyprus), Norway. Renamed PRIDE OF TELEMARK

May 2006: To start scheduled sailings from Langesund to Strömstad.

2007: Still in service with Kystlink.

Onboard the Pride of Telemark

A special thank you goes to © Matt Murtland of HHVFerry for providing the above images.

All information is believed to be correct and no responsibility is accepted for errors and omissions. All items included in this article are subject to ©. We would like to thank: Micke Asklander (Faktaomfartyg), Stéphane Poulain, Craig Nelson, Steven Brown, Ed Connell (Ships in the Port of Dover), Douglas Cromby, Christian Eckardt, Ton Grootenboer, Dirk Jankowsky, Dieter Pots, Matt Murtland (HHVFerry), Marco Stampehl and Andreas Wörteler for there assistance in producing this feature.