- 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
-
-
- Soflusa
Passenger Ferries
- Transtejo
e a Soflusa
-
-
- This page
shows the passenger ferries of Soflusa both conventional ferries and the replacement
fast
catamaran ferries.
-
- 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have been withdrawn since 2005.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have now been withdrawn, along with the Cacilhense herself, replaced on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.
- In 2008,
six basic Transtejo e a Soflusa routes remain, operated by 22
fast catamarans, 2 car ferries and 14 conventional ferries.
-
-
- Conventional Ferries
on this Page:-
- Alentejo (Soflusa: 1970-200?)
Algarve (Soflusa: 1961-200?)
Estremadura (Soflusa: 1961-200?)
Lagos (Soflusa: 1970-200?)
- Martim
Moniz
(Transtejo: 1992- )
Minho (Soflusa: 1968-200?)
- Pinhal
Novo
(Soflusa: 1979-200?)
- S.Jorge (Transtejo: 1992- )
Trás-os-Montes (Soflusa: 1968-200?)
- Tunes (Soflusa: 1978-200?)
-
- Fast Ferries on this
Page:-
- Almeida
Garrett
(Soflusa: 2004) - fast catamaran
- Antero
de Quental
(Soflusa: 2004) - fast catamaran
- Augusto
Gil
(Soflusa: 2003) - fast catamaran
- Damião
de Goes
(Soflusa: 2003) - fast catamaran
- Fernando
Namora
(Soflusa: 2003) - fast catamaran
- Fernando
Pessoa
(Soflusa: 2004) - fast catamaran
- Gil
Vicente
(Soflusa: 2003) - fast catamaran
- Jorge
de Sena
(Soflusa: 2003) - fast catamaran
- Miguel
Torga
(Soflusa: 2003) - fast catamaran
-
- Sections on this Page:-
- Soflusa
Passenger Ferries
- Martim
Moniz Class - Chartered from Transtejo 1992-2003
- Soflusa
Fast Ferries - Fast catamaran ferries deliverered 2003-2004
-
- Other Lisbon Pages:-
- Lisbon
Ferries
- Lisbon Header page
- Transtejo
e Soflusa
- Lisbon combined ferry fleet in 2008
- Transtejo
Car Ferries
- Transtejo Passenger Ferries
- Soflusa
Ferries
- this page!
- 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
-
-
-
-
- Soflusa Passenger Ferries
-
-
Algarve
- (Soflusa:
1961-200?)
-
- 701
grt - 50.0m long - 1022 passengers
-
-
- Algarve on the Soflusa service
between Barreiro and Terreiro do Paço
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 28th October 2003
- Click to open
larger image in new window
-
-
- Algarve on the Soflusa service
between Barreiro and Terreiro do Paço
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 28th October 2003
- Click to open
larger image in new window
-
-
- Algarve on the Soflusa service
between Barreiro and Terreiro do Paço
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 28th October 2003
- Click to open
larger image in new window
-
-
- Algarve on the Soflusa service
between Barreiro and Terreiro do Paço
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 28th October 2003
- Click to open
larger image in new window
-
-
- Algarve on the Soflusa service
between Barreiro and Terreiro do Paço
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 28th October 2003
- Click to open
larger image in new window
-
-
- Algarve on the Soflusa service
between Barreiro and Terreiro do Paço
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 28th October 2003
- Click to open
larger image in new window
-
-
-
-
Estremadura
- (Soflusa:
1961-200?)
-
- 701
grt - 50.0m long - 1022 passengers
-
-
- Estremadura was the first of the
1960s ferries to be withdrawn and scrapped, and I did not photograph
her in service. I caught her accidentally in the images below,
which shows the first four replacement catamarans - left-to-right:
Fernando Namora, Miguel Torga, Augusto Gil and Damião
de Goes
-
-
- Estremadura laid up at Barreiro
(far left)
- Catamarans
- left-to-right: Fernando Namora, Miguel Torga, Augusto Gil
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 28th October 2003
- Click to open
larger image in new window
-
-
- Estremadura laid up at Barreiro
(bow visible far left)
- Catamarans
- left-to-right: Fernando Namora, Miguel Torga, Augusto Gil
and Damião de Goes - plus Pinhal Novo far right
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 28th October 2003
- Click to open
larger image in new window
-
-
-
-
- Minho
- (Soflusa:
1968-200?)
-
- 701
grt - 50.0m long - 1035 passengers
-
-
- Minho
at Barreiro
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 28th October 2003
- Click to open larger image in new window
-
-
- Minho
at Barreiro
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 28th October 2003
- Click to open larger image in new window
-
-
- Minho
at Barreiro
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 28th October 2003
- Click to open larger image in new window
-
-
- Minho
at Barreiro
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 28th October 2003
- Click to open larger image in new window
-
-
- Minho
at Barreiro
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 28th October 2003
- Click to open larger image in new window
-
-
- On
board the Minho
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 28th October 2003
- Click to open larger image in new window
-
-
-
-
Trás-os-Montes
- (Soflusa:
1968-200?)
-
- 701
grt - 50.0m long - 1035 passengers
-
-
- Trás-os-Montes arriving at Terreiro
do Paço
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 29th May 2000
- Click to open
larger image in new window
-
-
- Trás-os-Montes arriving at Terreiro
do Paço
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 29th May 2000
- Click to open
larger image in new window
-
-
- Trás-os-Montes arriving at Terreiro
do Paço
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 29th May 2000
- Click to open
larger image in new window
-
-
- Trás-os-Montes arriving at Terreiro
do Paço
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 29th May 2000
- Click to open
larger image in new window
-
-
- Trás-os-Montes arriving at Terreiro
do Paço
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 29th May 2000
- Click to open larger
image in new window
-
-
- Trás-os-Montes at Barreiro
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 28th October 2003
- Click to open
larger image in new window
-
-
- Trás-os-Montes at Barreiro
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 28th October 2003
- Click to open
larger image in new window
-
-
- Trás-os-Montes at Barreiro
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 28th October 2003
- Click to open
larger image in new window
-
-
- Trás-os-Montes at Barreiro
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 28th October 2003
- Click to open
larger image in new window
-
-
- Trás-os-Montes engine room
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 28th October 2003
