- Passenger
Ship Website
- www.simplonpc.co.uk - Simplon Postcards
Home
- Recent Updates - Search - Copyright Information - Contact Simplon
- This
website has no connection with any shipping company, cruise line,
boat operator or other commercial organisation
-
-
- Lisbon
Ferries 2008
- Transtejo
e a Soflusa
-
-
- This page
shows the combined Lisbon fleet of Transtejo e a Soflusa in 2008.
-
- Lisbon has
a superb location on the River Tagus, and there remains an intensive
network of ferry services across the river, despite the imposing
Ponte 25 de Abril bridge which links the two sides and
carries both rail and road traffic. Even a car ferry service
has survived the arrival of the bridge, unusual in such circumstances,
and the ferries on this route are of an extremely distinctive
design. The car ferry now runs between Belem and Cacilhas with
the two remaining ferries Alentejense and Eborense, replacing the two routes
Belem-Porto Brandao and Cais de Sodré-Cacilhas, for which
Monte
Pragal
and Sesimbrense had been retained. These
have been withdrawn since 2005.
-
- Since 1975,
the Lisbon ferries have been operated by two companies, Transtejo
and Soflusa (originally Portuguese Railways (CP)) These are now
combined as Transtejo
e a Soflusa.
Transtejo (Transportes Tejo) operated from three ferry terminals
on the north bank of the Tagus:- Belem, Cais de Sodré
and Cais da Alfandega; operating routes to seven terminals on
the south banks with a fleet of around 30 ferries. Transtejo
had received a mixed fleet of ferries from various companies
when nationalized in 1975. In 1980 the 300grt Cacilhense was delivered, the name
ship of a new class of eight ferries. These are fully enclosed
vessels and not particularly pleasant to travel on. The ships
in the Cacilhense class were:- Cacilhense, Campolide, Dafundo, Madragoa, Montes
Claros,
Palmelense, Sintrense and Seixalense. They were followed in 1982 by the four
ships of the Monsanto class, similar to Cacilhense but featuring a bar
and an open sided deck space aft, reducing tonnage to 280 grt.
These were far more attractive to travel on compared to the previous
Cacilhense class, but all four
have now been withdrawn, along with the Cacilhense herself, replaced on
most routes by the many fast ferries delivered since the mid-1990s.
The Monsanto class consisted of Madre
de Deus,
Moscavide, Miratejo and Monsanto.
-
- The service
linking the railway station at Estacao do Sul e Sueste (also
known as Terreiro do Paço, and adjacent to the Transtejo
terminal at Cais da Alfandega) to the station at Barreiro had
for many years been run by Caminhos de Ferro Portugueses (CP
- Portuguese Railways). It was the government's intention to
transfer Soflusa services to Transtejo. In 1992, the two large
ferries Martim
Moniz
and S.Jorge were built in Germany
for Transtejo, intended for a Cais de Sodré to Barreiro
service. In the event, the service transfer did not take place
and the two ferries were chartered to CP for their Barreiro service.
In 1994, the railway ferries were transferred to a wholly owned
subsidiary Sociedade Fluvial de Transports S.A. (known as Soflusa).
Barreiro was 30 minutes away by conventional ferry on the south
bank of the Tagus. Trains left Barreiro for the south of the
country, although the addition of a railway across the Tagus
bridge replaced most of these routes. Soflusa had eight conventional
ferries of their own, plus the two on charter from Transtejo.
The conventional ferries have been replaced on this service by
nine large fast ferries, which have cut the passage time considerably.
Despite losing many of its train services, Barreiro still acts
as a large bus terminus, and ferries still leave every 5/10 minutes
at peak periods. More recently, Transtejo and Soflusa have combined
as Transtejo e a Soflusa (although each retaining slightly different
management structures).
-
- The mainstay
of the Barreiro services for many decades were six 1000 passenger
ferries built in pairs between 1961 and 1970:- Algarve (1961), Estremadura (1961), Minho (1968), Trás-os-Montes (1968), Alentejo (1970) and Lagos (1970). These were purposeful
looking vessels of 701 gross tons which had a small area of open
top deck. They were joined in 1978/79 by two larger 1600 passenge
ferries, the Tunes and Pinhal
Novo.
These look like stretched versions of the Cacilhense class and had no external
deck space. All of these conventional ferries were withdrawn
in the mid-2000s when new fast catamarans arrived, Tunes and Pinhal
Novo
surviving longer than the smaller ships for use on peak period
extras.
-
- Damião de Goes was the first of a series
of nine large catamarans built by Damen Shipyards, Singapure
for use by Soflusa on the Barreiro-Terreiro do Paço route.
The complete list is:- Damião de Goes (2003), Augusto
Gil
(2003), Miguel
Torga
(2003), Fernando
Namora
(2003), Gil
Vicente
(2003), Jorge
de Sena
(2003), Almeida
Garrett
(2004), Fernando
Pessoa
(2004) and Antero de Quental (2004). When
I visited Lisbon in October
2003,
I was lucky to see five of the six 1960s ferries still in service,
since the first four new catamarans had already arrived.
-
- In 2008,
six basic Transtejo e a Soflusa routes remain, operated by 22
fast catamarans, 2 car ferries and 14 conventional ferries.
-
- 2008 Routes:-
- Cais do Sodré
> Cacilhas (Transtejo)
- Cais do Sodré
> Seixal (Transtejo)
- Cais do Sodré
> Montijo (Transtejo)
- Belém
> Porto Brandão > Trafaria (Transtejo)
- Belém
> Cacilhas (car ferry)
- Terreiro
do Paço > Barreiro (Soflusa)
-
- Sections on this Page:-
- Transtejo
Car Ferries
- Transtejo
Passenger Ferries
- Transtejo
Fast Ferries
- Soflusa
Fast Ferries
-
- Conventional Ferries
on this Page:-
- Alentejense (1957- ) - car ferry
- Cacilhense (1980-2006) - Cacilhense Class - not in 2008 fleet
- Campolide (1983- ) - Cacilhense Class
- Dafundo (1983- ) - Cacilhense Class
- Eborense (1954- ) - car ferry
- Madragoa (1981- ) - Cacilhense Class
- Martim
Moniz
(1992- ) - Martim
Moniz
Class
- Marvila (1977- ) - ex-HADAG
- Montes
Claros
(1981- ) - Cacilhense Class
- Mouraria (1977- ) - ex-HADAG
- Palmelense (1982- ) - Cacilhense Class
- S.Jorge (1992- ) - Martim Moniz Class
- S.Paulus (1999- ) - ex-HADAG
- Seixalense (1982- ) - Cacilhense Class
- Sintrense (1982- ) - Cacilhense Class
- Trafaria
Praia
(1999- ) - ex-HADAG
-
- Fast Ferries on this
Page:-
- Algés (Transtejo: 1995- )
- Algés Class
- Almeida
Garrett
(Soflusa: 2004) - Damião
de Goes
Class
- Antero
de Quental
(Soflusa: 2004) - Damião
de Goes
Class
- Aroeira (Transtejo: 1998- )
- Aroeira Class
- Augusto
Gil
(Soflusa: 2003) - Damião
de Goes
Class
- Bairro
Alto
(Transtejo: 2001- ) - Bairro Alto Class
- Bica (Transtejo: 1995- )
- Algés Class
- Carnide (Transtejo: 1998- )
- Aroeira Class
- Castelo (Transtejo: 1995- )
- Algés Class
- Cesário
Verde
(Transtejo: 2002- ) - Pedro Nunes Class
- Chiado (Transtejo: 1995- )
- Algés Class
- Damião
de Goes
(Soflusa: 2003) - Damião
de Goes
Class
- Fantasia (Transtejo: 2001- )
- Fantasia Class
- Fernando
Namora
(Soflusa: 2003) - Damião
de Goes
Class
- Fernando
Pessoa
(Soflusa: 2004) - Damião
de Goes
Class
- Gil
Vicente
(Soflusa: 2003) - Damião
de Goes
Class
- Jorge
de Sena
(Soflusa: 2003) - Damião
de Goes
Class
- Miguel
Torga
(Soflusa: 2003) - Damião
de Goes
Class
- Parque
das Nações (Transtejo: 2001- ) - Bairro Alto Class
- Pedro
Nunes
(Transtejo: 2002- ) - Pedro Nunes Class
- São
Julião (Transtejo: 1998- ) - Aroeira Class
- Sé (Transtejo: 1998- )
- Aroeira Class
-
- Other Lisbon Pages:-
- Lisbon Ferries - Lisbon Header page
- Transtejo
e Soflusa
- Lisbon combined ferry fleet in 2008 - this page!
- Transtejo
Car Ferries
- Transtejo Passenger Ferries
- Soflusa
Ferries
- Metro
Transportes do Sul - new Lisbon tramway south of the Tagus
- Aurora
in Lisbon - 2000 - Photographs of P&O's Aurora
- Grand
Princess in Lisbon - 2000 - Photographs of the P&O/Princess
cruise ship
- Oriana in Lisbon - 2003 - Photographs of P&O's
Oriana
- Costa
Europa in Lisbon - 2008 - Photographs of the Costa Crociere
cruise ship
-
- References:-
- Cacilheiros - Luis Miguel Correia
- www.transtejo.pt - Transtejo e a Soflusa official website
- www.luso.u-net.com - Excellent English
language site covering Lisbon's ferries, trains, trams and more
-
- Associated Pages:-
- Portuguese Shipping
- Ferry
Postcards
- Cruise
Ship Postcards
- Ocean
Liner Postcards
- Simplon Postcards Home Page
-
-
-
-
-
- Transtejo Car Ferries
-
- In 2008,
just two car ferries remained, the Alentejense (1957) and Eborense (1954 - shown above).
Following the rebuilding of Cais de Sodré terminal, the
service runs from Cacilhas to Belem.
-
- More images of Transtejo car ferries
-
-
-
- Eborense
- (1954-
)
-
- Reg.
No: L-2794-TL - 393 tons gross - 47.04m x 11.22m
x 2.3m
-
- Eborense was built in 1954 by
Estaleiros Navais de Viana, rebuilt in 1991 and re-engined in
2004. She is 50.25 m long, 460 gross tons and can carry 346 passengers
and 30 cars (or 2 trucks). She has a speed of 11 knots.
- More images of Eborense
-
-
- Eborense at Cacilhas
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 15th March 2008
- Click to open
larger image in new window
-
-
- Eborense at Cacilhas
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 15th March 2008
- Click to open
larger image in new window
-
-
- Eborense at Cacilhas
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 15th March 2008
- Click to open
larger image in new window
-
-
- Eborense at Cacilhas
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 15th March 2008
- Click to open
larger image in new window
-
-
-
-
-
- Alentejense
- (1957-
)
-
- Reg.
No: L-2822-TL - Built 1957 - 355 tons gross. 38.54m
x 8.15m x 2.56m - 462 passengers and 4 crew
-
- Built in
1957 by Estaleiros Navais de Viana do Castelo. The original Sulzer
650hp engine was replaced in 1991 by a 495hp MTU engine giving
an operating speed of 10km/hr. Until 1983 used on the route to
Montijo but since then on the Cais do Sodré to Cacilhas
service, remaining in service in 2008 between Cais do Sodré
and Belem.
-
- Alentejense between Cais de Sodré
and Cacilhas
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 29th May 2000
- Click to open
larger image in new window
-
-
- Alentejense between Cais de Sodré
and Cacilhas
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 29th May 2000
- Click to open
larger image in new window
-
-
- Alentejense at Cais de Sodré
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 29th May 2000
- Click to open
larger image in new window
-
-
-
-
-
- Transtejo Passenger Ferries
-
-
- In 1980 the
300grt Cacilhense was delivered, the name ship of a new
class of eight ferries which replaced older ferries in the fleet.
These are fully enclosed vessels and not paritularly pleasant
to travel on as a tourist or enthusiast. They were followed in
1982 by the four ships of the Monsanto class, similar
to Cacilhense but featuring a bar and open sided deck
space aft, reducing tonnage to 280 grt. These were far more attractive
to travel on compared to the previous Cacilhense class,
but all four have now been withdrawn, along with the Cacilhense,
replaced on most routes by the many fast ferries delivered since
the mid-1990s. The surviving ships in the Cacilhense class
are the Campolide, Dafundo, Madragoa, Montes Claros, Palmelense,
Sintrense and Seixalense.
-
- More images of Transtejo passenger ferries
-
-
-
-
- Cacilhense
- (Cacilhense
Class: 1980-2006)
-
- Cacilhense
has recently
been withdrawn, but as the name ship of the class is shown for
completeness.
-
-
- Cacilhense between Cacilhas and
Cais de Sodré
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 29th May 2000
- Click to open
larger image in new window
-
-
- Cacilhense leaving Cais de Sodré
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 29th May 2000
- Click to open
larger image in new window
-
-
- Cacilhense leaving Cais de Sodré
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 29th May 2000
- Click to open
larger image in new window
-
-
-
-
-
- Madragoa
- (Cacilhense
Class: 1981- )
-
- Madragoa at Cacilhas
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 15th March 2008
- Click to open
larger image in new window
-
-
- Madragoa between Cais de Sodré
and Cacilhas
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 15th March 2008
- Click to open
larger image in new window
-
-
- Madragoa between Cais de Sodré
and Cacilhas
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 15th March 2008
- Click to open
larger image in new window
-
-
-
-
-
- Montes Claros
- (Cacilhense
Class: 1981- )
-
- Montes
Claros
arriving at Cais de Sodré
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 28th October 2003
- Click to open
larger image in new window
-
-
