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-
-
- Lisbon
Ferries
- Transtejo
Car Ferries
-
-
- This page
covers the car ferries of Transtejo.
-
- 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have been withdrawn since 2005.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. 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have now been withdrawn, along with the Cacilhense herself, replaced on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 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.
-
-
- Ships on this Page:-
- Alentejense (1957- ) - 2008 Fleet
- Almadense (1947-19??)
- Caparica (1938-19??)
- Eborense (1954- ) - 2008 Fleet
- Monte
Pragal
(1946-200?)
- Ribatejense (1948-19??)
- Sesimbrense (1959-200?)
- Setubalense (1936-2003)
-
- Other Lisbon Pages:-
- Lisbon
Ferries
- Lisbon Header page
- Transtejo
e Soflusa
- Lisbon combined ferry fleet in 2008
- Transtejo
Car Ferries - this page!
- 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
-
- Associated Pages:-
- Portuguese Shipping
- Ferry
Postcards
- Cruise
Ship Postcards
- Ocean
Liner Postcards
- Simplon Postcards Home Page
-
- 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
-
-
-
- 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.
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Setubalense
- (1936-2003)
-
- Reg.
No: L-2464-TL - 271 tons gross - 38.45m x 8.01m
x 2.56m - 412 passengers and 5 crew
-
-
- Built in
1936 by Sociedade de Construções e Reparações
Navais, at the AGPL shipyard, Rocha Conde de Óbidos, Lisbon.
Burmeister and Wain (Copenhagen) 425hp diesel engine. Speed 9
knots. She was used on the Cais do Sodré to Cacilhas car-ferry
service until withdrawn and broken up in 2003.
-
- To
be added
-
-
-
-
- Caparica
- (1938-19??)
-
- 169
tons gross - withdrawn between 1984-1987
-
- To
be added
-
-
-
-
-
- Monte Pragal
- (1946-200?
)
-
- Reg.
No: L-2874-TL - 361 tons gross - 41.64m x 11.02m
x 2.68m - Car ferry + 94 passengers
-
- Built in
1946 by Cockerill at Hoboken, Belgium. Sold to Lisbon in 1959.
The original 2 x Sulzer 400hp engines were replaced in 1991 by
2 x 425hp Cummins engines in 1989, when it underwent a major
refit after being out of use since 1983. It operated the Belém-Porto
Brandão car-ferry service. This vessel has had a number
of accidents: on 15 May 1979 it collided with a German vessel,
the Schwaneck in fog, and on 22 October 1980 it hit the
wreck of the Tollan which had sunk some time earlier off
Cais do Sodré. In 1990 the vessel suffered fire damage
whilst being refitted. From 1990 it ran on the Cacilhas service
from Cais do Sodré. In 1992 the accommodation was upgraded.
No longer in 2008 fleet.
-
- Monte
Pragal
at Cais de Sodré
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 28th October 2003
- Click to open
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-
-
- Monte
Pragal
at Cais de Sodré
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 28th October 2003
- Click to open
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-
- Monte
Pragal
at Cais de Sodré
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 28th October 2003
- Click to open
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-
- Monte
Pragal
at Cais de Sodré
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 28th October 2003
- Click to open
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-
- Monte
Pragal
at Cais de Sodré
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 28th October 2003
- Click to open
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-
- Monte
Pragal
at Cais de Sodré
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 28th October 2003
- Click to open
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-
-
- Monte
Pragal
at Cais de Sodré
- The
new ferry terminal is under construction in the background -
when it opened the car ferries transferred to Belem
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 28th October 2003
- Click to open
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-
- Monte
Pragal
at Cais de Sodré
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 28th October 2003
- Click to open
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-
- Monte
Pragal
at Cais de Sodré
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 28th October 2003
- Click to open
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-
- Monte
Pragal
at Cais de Sodré
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 28th October 2003
- Click to open
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-
- Monte
Pragal
at Cais de Sodré
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 28th October 2003
- Click to open
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-
-
- Monte
Pragal
at Cais de Sodré
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 28th October 2003
- Click to open
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-
-
- Almadense
- (1947-19??)
-
- 353
tons gross - withdrawn between 1984-1987
-
- To
be added
-
-
-
-
-
- Ribatejense
- (1948-19??)
-
- 304
tons gross - withdrawn between 1987-1993
-
- To
be added
-
-
-
-
-
- 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.
-
-
- Eborense at Cais de Sodré
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 29th May 2000
- Click to open
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-
- Eborense at Cais de Sodré
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 29th May 2000
- Click to open
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-
- Eborense at Cais de Sodré
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 29th May 2000
- Click to open
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-
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- Eborense at Cacilhas
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 28th October 2003
- Click to open
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- Eborense at Cacilhas
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 28th October 2003
- Click to open
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-
- Eborense at Cacilhas
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 28th October 2003
- Click to open
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-
- Eborense at Cacilhas
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 28th October 2003
- Click to open
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-
- Eborense at Cacilhas
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 15th March 2008
- Click to open
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-
