Greek travelers felt a jolt when Attica Group, the massive ferry operator behind ANEK Lines, pulled the plug on two of its oldest workhorses. Ro-Pax vessels Kriti I and Kriti II, both built in 1979 back when disco still ruled, finally met their end after spending decades chugging between Crete and the mainland. Their fate? A trip to the scrapyard in Turkey, with Kriti I fetching a cool €3.6 million and no shortage of metallic tears. The sale even bagged Attica Group a tidy €500,000 profit, more than you’d find in their lost-and-found.
Attica Group acquired the pair in the late 1990s from a Japanese ferry company no tourist had heard of. For nearly 30 years, these ships carried countless Greeks and tourists—most of whom complained about the coffee and the Wi-Fi—back and forth across the Aegean. Kriti II limped along a bit longer, borrowing life from salvaged parts from its sibling. The retirement of these metal elders marks a not-so-gentle end for an era of island-hopping journeys and questionable cafeteria food.
- Kriti I: 27,200 gross tons;
- Both ships were built in 1979;
- Served routes between Crete and the mainland for almost 30 years;
- Purchased from Shin Nihonkai Ferry in 1996;
- Retired and scrapped in Turkey; sold for €3.6 million.
Fleet Overhaul and Future Sails
Attica Group, with its fleet of about 50 vessels under brands like ANEK Lines, Superfast Ferries, and Blue Star Ferries, is on a mission to shake things up. The company is waving goodbye to its old ships and putting down big money on shiny, mega-sized boats that sip fuel instead of guzzling it. In 2024, Attica inked a €400 million deal with Sweden’s Stena and China’s CMJL Weihai Shipyards to build two gigantic 240-meter ferries. These monsters will run on four different fuels and pack a list of eco-friendly features long enough to bore your uncle.
- Two new eco-friendly ferries, each 240 meters long;
- Multi-fuel engines and energy-efficient systems;
- Construction partnership with Stena and CMJL Weihai Shipyards;
- Expected delivery: first ship in May 2027, second soon after;
- New vessels to operate between Greece and Italy.
The arrangement is simple: Attica will rent these floating giants from Stena, with an option to buy later, probably after the obligatory debate and five cups of Greek coffee. The first ship sets sail in May 2027, with the second following a few months later. Both are booked for the Greece-Italy Adriatic route, with current ships there soon taking up the old ANEK Lines routes, including those to Crete—the very paths once ruled by Kriti I and Kriti II.
