Schichau -Unterweser AG Bremerhaven.

Steel triple screw motor vessel, built Schichau -Unterweser Ag, Bremen-Vegesack, Germany in 1987 as a passenger and roll-on roll-off car and commercial vehicle ferry. Engined by Sulzer Bros. Ltd., Winterthur. (Yard No. 93). Launched September 20^th, 1986.

D i m e n s i o n s / T e c h n i c a l  D a t a

Registry - Dover, United Kingdom

MMSI Number - 232001670

Official Number - 709069

IMO Number - 8517736

Length - 169.60 m (overall), 161.00m (between perpendiculars)

Breadth of hull - 28.27 m (extreme), 27.80m (moulded)

Draught - 6.12 m (maximum)

Tonnage - 26,433 gross

11,399 net

4,203 deadweight

Engines - 3 x CCM Sulzer ZA40S Diesels

Power - 23170kW

Speed - 22.0 knots

Capacity - 2,290 passengers, 650 cars/100 x 15m freight units

Call sign - GJCR

Sister Ship: Pride of Calais

H i s t o r y / R e m a r k s 

September 20^th 1986: Launched at a cost of approximately £4mn.

May 12^th 1987: Left Bremerhaven for sea trials.

May 27^th 1987: Delivered to Townsend Car Ferries Ltd. (Stanhope Steamship Co. Ltd.), Dover, England.

May 28^th 1987: Arrival in Dover delayed owing to problems with her fire doors. Berthed at No5 before moving the Eastern Arm

May 28^th 1987: Left Bremerhaven for Dover.

© Christian Eckardt (left) and Andreas Wörteler (right)

June 2^nd 1987: Commenced service between Dover - Calais.

Schichau -Unterweser AG Bremerhaven.

December 31^st 1987: Registered to P&O European Ferries Ltd., Dover, England.

 © Brian Pawley

February 1988: Laid up at Wilton Feijenoord, Scheidam Harbour near Rotterdam, owing to seaman’s strike

© Fotoflite, Ray Goodfellow Collection

March 1998: 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 . March 3^rd 1998: All vessels operate rated under the P & O SL banner.

© Andreas Wörteler

December 1998: Renamed P&OSL DOVER

© Andreas Wörteler

2002 (End of): 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.

 © Ferry Boy' @ The Dover Ferry Photo Forum

October 15^th 2002: Commenced service for P&O Ferries between Dover - Calais. Renamed PO DOVER.

© Andreas Wörteler

2003: During refit at A & P Falmouth in which bridge-wings were enclosed she was renamed PRIDE OF DOVER.

© Ray Goodfellow (left) and Craig Nelson (right)

February 22^nd 2005: To A & P, Tyne for refit.

March 24^th 2005: Arrived back in Dover.

© Andreas Wörteler

2006: Registered owner: P & O Ferries Ltd, Dover

Registered manager: P & O Ferries Ltd, Dover

February 20th 2007: The Pride of Dover made contact with a berth in Calais damaging her `cow catcher'. She remained at the Dover cargo terminal until the 24th February 2007 undergoing emergency repairs.

© Nigel Thornton (left) and John Mavin (right)

2nd May 2007: Pride of Dover undergoes an MES deployment bow in at berth 2.

Later the same day she departed for her annual overhaul at A&P Falmouth.

© John Mavin

25th May 2007: Re-entered service following her overhaul.

19th June 2007: Whilst coming astern to berth 7 in Dover the vessel suffered a power failure and made heavy contact with the quay causing damage to her stern spade. Due to the damage the stern doors were unusable necessitating a visit to the ARNO shipyard in Dunkerque for repairs.

 Seen at ARNO's undergoing repairs © Robert Fournier

 Another view from ARNO's showing the damaged stern of the Dover. © Ed Connell (Ships in the Port of Dover)

25th June 2007: The `Dover' re-enters service between Dover and Calais.

Onboard the Pride of Dover August 2007

© Manuel Dhondt

© Paul Woolhouse

13th June 2008: P&O announce they have placed an order with Aker Yards of Finland for two 49,000 GRT vessels for there Dover to Calais operation. The first of these units will be delivered in December 2010 with the second unit coming on stream in September 2011. These two new vessels will replace the Prides of Dover and Calais.

All information is believed to be correct and no responsibility is accepted for errors and omissions.

We would like to thank: Micke Asklander (Faktaomfartyg), John Mavin, Ed Connell (Ships in the Port of Dover), Ferry Boy' @ The Dover Ferry Photo Forum, Robert Fournier, Brian Pawley, Christian Eckardt, Craig Nelson, Paul Woolhouse, Andreas Wörteler, Manuel Dhondt for there assistance in compiling this feature.

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