TOR Line Ferry Postcards


Page 1 - Passenger Ferries 1966-1981


This page is devoted to postcards of the passenger-carrying ferries of Tor Line. An alphabetical list of ships covered on this page is shown below. The Table beneath gives links to complete postcard history pages on the individual ships. Below the table are official postcards of the fleet in date order.

Tor Line was founded by Trans Oil and Rex Shipping (hence Tor) to instigate a modern passenger, car and freight service across the North Sea from Sweden to the UK and Holland. The established operators in this area were the ELS consortium (ELS = Ellerman's Wilson Line, Swedish Lloyd and Stockholms Rederi "Svea"), who were initiating vehicle ferry services at the same time, with the ships Spero, Svea and Saga. Although new, these ships were very traditional in concept, and did not have full-height, through freight decks as designed. In contrast, the two new Tor ships Tor Anglia and Tor Hollandia followed the latest Scandinavian trends, with bright colours, full-height vehicle decks and high speeds (22 knots). The marketing was aimed a new, younger clientele, and the reduced crossing times appealed to freight customers. The Tor service followed a triangular route pattern serving Immingham in the UK, Amsterdam in Holland, and Göteborg in Sweden. Additional freight-only services with dedicated ro-ro ferries were also soon introduced (although not covered on this page). Competition was fierce, and the three ELS members each dropped out of passenger services in turn, Swedish Lloyd's Tilbury-Göteborg service being the last closure in 1977, following the arrival of the much larger, and even faster, Tor Britannia and Tor Scandinavia, and transfer of the UK terminal to Felixstowe in 1976. These large ferries were arguably the finest in the world at the time of their introduction. The control of Tor Line passed to the Salens group in the late 1970s.

Despite the successes in winning traffic, the levels of competition kept profits low. Tor Line entered into a partnership in 1980 with Sessan Line, who also sailed out of Göteborg, in competition with Stena Line. This partnership was short-lived since Stena Line acquired Sessan. On freight services, there was a brief partnership with former rivals Swedish Lloyd to form Tor Lloyd. Negotiations began to sell one of the large passenger ships to DFDS Seaways, but instead DFDS acquired the complete Tor Line passenger operation in 1981, followed by the freight operations in 1982. The two passenger ships received DFDS Seaways livery and, for a short period, the hull logo of DFDS Tor Line. The passenger ships soon began assisting on traditional DFDS Seaways routes, and soon lost the DFDS Tor logo. In 1991 they lost their Tor names as well, becoming the Prince and Princess of Scandinavia.


Ships on This Page:-
Tor Anglia
Tor Hollandia
Tor Britannia
Tor Scandinavia

DFDS Pages:-
DFDS - Header Page
DFDS - Passenger Ferries Pre-1945
DFDS - Passenger Ferries 1945-74
DFDS - Passenger/RoRo Ferries 1974-
DFDS - Dover-Dunkerque Services 2010-
Tor Line - Passenger Ferries - this page!
DFDS Tor Line - Freight Ferries
Scandinavian World Cruises - DFDS Caribbean Venture
www.dfdsseaways.co.uk - DFDS Official Website

Associated Pages:-
Corsica Ferries
Minoan Lines
Sessan Line
Ferry Postcards
Simplon Postcards Home Page

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Table of Ship Histories
Name Other names Built Tor Anglia Sardinia Nova 1966 Tor Hollandia Ariadne 1967 Tor Britannia Prince of Scandinavia 1976 Tor Scandinavia Princess of Scandinavia 1976 Tor Line Fleet List


Tor Anglia (1966-1976)

Tor Anglia was built in 1966 for service on the Tor Lines "triangle" of services between the UK, Sweden and Holland. In 1975, Tor Anglia was sold to Trans Tirreno Express, due to the imminent arrival of the larger Tor Britannia and Tor Scandinavia, but was chartered back to continue Tor Line service until June 1976. She was then renamed Expresso Olbia, and used on the services Livorno-Olbia and Genoa-Palermo. From 1978, Expresso Olbia was chartered to Adriatica, B&I Line, Fred Olsen, TT-Line and Olau Line, until sold in 1981 to Corsica Ferries and renamed Sardinia Nova. Sardinia Nova initially served on the Livorno-Olbia route. During the winter of 1989/90, Sardinia Nova was chartered to Da-No Linjen for service between Oslo-Frederikshavn, retaining Sardinia Ferries colours. In 1993, Sardinia Nova was rebuilt with additional accommodation aft. On return, she served between Livorno and Golfo Aranci until 2001, when she moved to the Civitavecchia-Cagliari route. Sardinia Nova remains in the 2003 Corsica Ferries fleet.

Complete Ship History Tor Anglia


Tor Line official postcard of Tor Anglia.




Tor Line official postcard of Tor Hollandia & Tor Anglia.




Postcard of Tor Anglia at Göteborg.
Scan supplied by Cees de Bijl.







Tor Hollandia (1967-1976)

Tor Hollandia was built in 1967. She was a slightly larger version of Tor Anglia (now Corsica Ferries Sardinia Nova) which introduced the Tor Lines services from Immingham to Amsterdam and Gothenburg in 1966. Both the pioneer ships were sold in 1976 when replaced by the larger Tor Britannia and Tor Scandinavia. Tor Hollandia was sold to Minoan Lines and renamed Ariadne. Ariadne was sold by Minoan Lines during 1999. In 2001, Ariadne continues to serve between Italy and Greece as the Ouranos of Fraglines.

Complete Ship History Tor Hollandia


Tor Line official postcard of Tor Hollandia.




Tor Line official postcard of Tor Hollandia & Tor Anglia.




Spanjersberg postcard C1123 of Tor Hollandia. Photograph by C.v.d.Meulen.




Colourmaster postcard PT15185 of Tor Hollandia.




Postcard of Tor Hollandia at Göteborg.
Scan supplied by Cees de Bijl.







Tor Britannia (1975-1981)

Tor Britannia was built in 1975 for the Göteborg-Amsterdam and Göteborg-Felixstowe services of Tor Line. Her sister Tor Scandinavia followed a year later in 1976. They were both 16000grt, carried 1358 passengers, and had a high service speed of around 25 knots (over 26 knots maximum). In the late 1970s, there was a brief partnership between Tor Line and SESSAN Line, marketed as SESSAN Tor Line. In 1981 the the passenger operations of Tor Line were acquired by DFDS Seaways. The two ships were initially marketed as DFDS-Tor Line. From 1983, Tor Britannia operated some services between Harwich and Esbjerg, which was achieved 4 hours faster than running-partner Dana Anglia due to Tor Britannia's higher speed. She later served on most other DFDS Seaways routes, including Harwich-Hamburg, and routes from Ijmuiden to Norway and Sweden. Tor Britannia was renamed Prince of Scandinavia in 1991, and in 2001 she operated between Newcastle and Ijmuiden.

Complete Ship History of Tor Britannia


Tor Line official postcard of Tor Britannia.




Tor Line official postcard of Tor Britannia.




Tor Line official postcard of Tor Scandinavia & Tor Britannia.




Colourmaster postcard PLX13596 of Tor Britannia arriving at Felixstowe.




Jos-Pe postcard 01796 of Tor Britannia at Ijmuiden.




DFDS Seaways official postcard of Tor Britannia in DFDS Tor Line colours.







Tor Scandinavia (1975-1981)

Tor Scandinavia was built in 1976 for the Göteborg-Amsterdam and Göteborg-Felixstowe services of Tor Line, one year after her sister Tor Britannia. They were both 16000grt, carried 1358 passengers, and had a high service speed of around 25knots (over 26knots maximum). In 1980, there was a brief partnership between Tor Line and Sessan Line, marketed as SESSAN TOR LINE.

In 1981 the passenger operations of Tor Line were acquired by DFDS Seaways. The two ex-Tor ships were initially marketed as DFDS TOR LINE. The logo was soon removed, and Tor Scandinavia began to serve on other DFDS Seaways routes. Tor Scandinavia was renamed Princess of Scandinavia in 1991.

Complete Ship History of Tor Scandinavia


Tor Line official postcard of Tor Scandinavia & Tor Britannia.




Dennis postcard F.0664 of Tor Scandinavia arriving at Felixstowe.




Tor Line official postcard of Tor Scandinavia in Sessan Tor Line colours.




DFDS Seaways official postcard of Tor Scandinavia in DFDS Tor Line colours.






Corsica Ferries - DFDS Seaways - Minoan Lines - Sessan Line
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Name	Other names	Built
Tor Anglia	Sardinia Nova	1966
Tor Hollandia	Ariadne	1967
Tor Britannia	Prince of Scandinavia	1976
Tor Scandinavia	Princess of Scandinavia	1976