PENELOPE A

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https://www.shippinginbox.com/the-final-voyage-of-a-greek-ferry-icon-agoudimos-lines-penelope-a-auctioned-for-ship-recycling/

Ferry to be removed by wreck removal contract

The impending departure of the 'Penelope A' will come as a relief for the Elefsis Port Authority, which has been stuck with it since 2013. The authority, alerted by the ship’s deteriorating condition, had to take the drastic step of declaring the ferry a dangerous and hazardous vessel to expedite a swift removal from its moorings alongside a sunken floating dry dock in Elefsis Bay. To do this, an auction tender was structured along the lines of a wreck removal contract with the contractor obliged to remove the ship from the bay and deliver it to a European Union-approved ship recycling yard. The contract to remove the 'Penelope A' has been awarded to Marshall Islands-registered Valona Shiptrade, which agreed to buy the ship for €361,000 and has lodged a letter of guarantee of €36,100 as security for the successful removal. The company has been contractually bound to remove the vessel within three months. The long laid-up ship is in a decrepit condition. Work will have to be done to secure it for a two-day tow across the Aegean Sea to a recycling facility in Aliaga. Workers are already be on board, making the ferry seaworthy enough for the voyage. At the same time, the Agoudimos Lines branding has been painted over. The 'Penelope A' was the last of the Agoudimos Lines’s ships in service when it attempted to operate a summer season of domestic voyages in 2013 which ended in August. While docked in Rafina, the crew staged a sit-in demanding they get paid their back wages. The ship was towed to an anchorage in 2014 in Elefsina and left to rot. Attempts were made periodically to auction the ship, but the process got caught up in a Greek bankruptcy case.

Lad up ferry listing in Elefsina

In the night of Feb 28, 2019, the "Penelope A" developed a portside list of 9-10 degrees, and rested on a floating dock in the Gulf of Elefsina, an industrial area near Piraeus. The ship was in a lay-up since 2014, being owned by a Greek Bank. In 2013 she had been chartered to the NEL Lines but had to stay in the port of Rafina on July 1 as the crew went on strike due to unpaid wages. She did not return to service but was laid up in June 2014. She was moored alongside another laid up ferry, the "Mytilene" (IMO: 7332672). Divers were called to check the hull and assess general condition and stability, with tugs and a heavy lift crane placed on standby. The ferry recently was subject of an autction starting at 800.000 Euro. Photo: http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=2974556