MS King of Scandinavia

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MS King of Scandinavia is a cruiseferry operated and owned by the Danish shipping company DFDS Seaways on a route connecting Newcastle, United Kingdom to IJmuiden in the Netherlands. She was built in 1987 as MS Nils Holgersson by Schichau Seebeckswerft AG, Bremerhaven, Germany for TT-Line. Between 1993 and 2006 the ship was named MS Val de Loire, owned by Brittany Ferries and used on traffic across the English Channel.

1 History
2 Statistics
3 External links

[edit] History

[edit] MS Nils Holgersson 1987-1993

MS Nils Holgersson (fourth ship to bear the name in TT-Line's fleet) was built as the younger sister of MS Peter Pan (3). The sisters were notably larger than any ships to have sailed for TT-Line before. Originally the Nils Holgersson was ordered by Ab Swecarrier (owners of TT-Line), but during construction she was sold to Wallenius Rederiet. When she was delivered in Fabruary 1987 the ship was bereboat-cartered back to Swecarrier, and begun service between Trelleborg (Sweden) and Travemünde (Germany) in June of the same year. In February 1992 the ship was sold to SweFerry, but kept in the same traffic (whether or not Swecarrier and SweFerry are the same company is unknown to the writer).

[edit] MS Val de Loire 1993-2006

For more information see the article on MV Val de Loire.

In January 1993 the Nils Holgersson was sold to Brittany Ferries and renamed MV Val de Loire. Before entering service for her new owners, the ship was rebuilt at INMA, La Spezia, Italy with a new streamliner forward superstructure and refurbished interiors. After the rebuild was completed in June 1993 the ship was set in Brittany Ferries' traffic on the route Plymouth - Santander as well as Plymouth - Roscoff and Cork - Roscoff.

In 2004 the new MV Pont-Aven replaced the Val de Loire on her old routes, and she was transferred to serve on the routes Portsmouth - St Malo and Portsmouth - Cherbourg. In November 2005 the Val de Loire was sold to DFDS Seaways for delivery in 2006.

[edit] MS King of Scandinavia 2006-

In February 2006 the Val de Loire ended her service with Brittany Ferries and was renamed MS King of Scandinavia (she is the third ship of the same name to sail with DFDS Seaways). Between 2nd and 11th March she was refitted for her new service in IJmuiden, the Netherlands, and on 11 March she began serving on DFDS Seaways' Newcastle - IJmuiden route, running parallel to MS Queen of Scandinavia.