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- Lisbon
Ferries
- Transtejo
e a Soflusa
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- This is the header for
a series of pages on the Transtejo e a Soflusa ferries of Lisbon.
Each of the sections
listed below links
to a more detailed page on the subject (fast ferries still to be added). There is also a page covering
the complete 2008
Transtejo e a Soflusa feet (to be completed)
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- Lisbon has a superb location
on the River Tagus, and there is 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. Ferries
are operated by two companies, the main one being Transtejo (Transports
Tejo SA) who operate from three ferry terminals on the north
bank of the Tagus:- Belem, Cais de Sodré and Cais da Alfandega.
This company was nationalized in 1975 after the revolution, and
operates routes to seven terminals on the south banks with a
fleet of around 30 ferries.
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- The second ferry company
is Soflusa (Sociedade Fluvial de Transports S.A.), which links
the railway stations at Estacao do Sul e Sueste (adjacent to
the Transtejo terminal at Cais da Alfandega) to Barreiro, 30
minutes away on the south bank. Trains leave for the south of
the country from this station, although a railway across a new
Tagus bridge may make the route redundant. To confuse matters,
the two newest Transtejo conventional ferries are chartered to
Soflusa, who also have around eight other ferries of their own.
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- More recently, Transtejo
and Soflusa have combined as Transtejo e a Soflusa (although
each retaining slightly different management structures). In 2008, six basic Transtejo e a Soflusa
routes remain, operated by 22 fast catamarans, 2 car ferries
and 14 conventional ferries.
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- A beautifully illustrated
book, Cacilheiros, by well known Lisbon photographer Luis
Miguel Correia, gives the history of the Transtejo ferries (though
strangely does not cover the Soflusa ships). The book is written
in both English and Portuguese.
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- Sections on this Page:-
- Transtejo
Car Ferries
- Transtejo
Passenger Ferries
- Transtejo
Fast Ferries
- Soflusa
Passenger Ferries
- Soflusa
Fast Ferries
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- Other Lisbon Pages:-
- Lisbon
Ferries
- Lisbon Header page - this page!
- Transtejo
e Soflusa
- Lisbon combined ferry fleet in 2008
- 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
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- 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
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- Associated Pages:-
- Portuguese Shipping
- Ferry
Postcards
- Cruise
Ship Postcards
- Ocean
Liner Postcards
- Simplon Postcards Home Page
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- Lisbon
Ferries
- Transtejo
e a Soflusa
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- Transtejo Car Ferries
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- More images of Transtejo Car Ferries
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- I will begin the pictures
with the interesting car ferries which operate the Cais de Sodré-Cacilhas
route, which has survived despite the building of the River Tagus
bridge. These ferries are quite venerable, the youngest dating
from 1958, although they have all been re-engined at least once
over the years. The first picture below shows the Setubalense, built in 1936, which is the oldest
in the fleet. This picture was taken some years back by my father,
Terry Boyle, and shows the older black funnel colours. The next
three pictures show the Alentejense, one of the newest in the car
ferry fleet, dating from 1957. The design is little changed from
the Setubalense, 20 years its senior. In 2008,
only Alentejense and Eborense remained in service, now running
from Cacilhas to Belem.
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- The last two
car ferry pictures show the Eborense, dating from 1954.
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- Transtejo Passenger Ferries
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- More images of Transtejo Passenger Ferries
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- The main class of Transtejo
ferries is shown below. This is the Cacilhense, name-ship of a class of eight
ships built in between 1982 and 1984, which are around 300grt
and carry 500 passengers. The other ships in the class (all still
in service in 2008) are the Campolide, Dafundo, Madragoa, Montes Claros, Palmelense, Sintrense and Seixalense. Cacilhense had been withdrawn by 2008.
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- This is the
Madre
de Deus,
a similar
design to those above but featuring a bar and open sided deck
space aft, reducing tonnage to 280 grt. They were all built in
1982, and the sisters are Moscavide, Miratejo and Monsanto. They are known as the Monsanto class. All had been
withdrawn by 2008.
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- Five Elbe ferries were
bought from Hamburg operator HADAG in the 1977. These were the
Castelo (ex-HADAG Lichtwark), Marvila (ex-HADAG Volksdorf), Mouraria (ex-HADAG Ottensen), Porto Brandao
(ex-HADAG Falkenstein) and
Vouga (ex-HADAG Otmarschen). The vessel below is the S.Paulus, here shown running a river cruise, previously the
similarly named Hamburg ferry St Pauli, ex-Sulldorf
of 1959, renamed in 1978. Marvila, Mouraria, S.Paulus and Trafaria Praia remain in service in 2008, mainly
on harbour tours.
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- These two photos are of
the Martim
Moniz, one
of two large ferries delivered to Transtejo in 1992, the other
being the S.Jorge. They are both of 650 grt, and
carry 1000 passengers. Both sisters are chartered to Soflusa,
for service to Barreiro.
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- Transtejo Fast Ferries
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- More images of Transtejo Fast Ferries
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- Transtejo had four fast
catamarans built in 1995/6. These were the Alges, Castelo,
Chiado and Bica. The first two were designed and built
by FBM Marine in Cowes, Isle of Wight. Further vessels to this
design were built locally in Portugal. Subsequent fast ferries
have been built in various locations around the world.
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- The vessel below is the
Carnide which can carry 496 passengers and operate at
20 knots.
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- Soflusa Passenger Ferries
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- More
images of Soflusa Passenger Ferries
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- The railway companies
operated their own service from Estacao do Sul e Sueste (also
known as Terreiro do Paco) to Barreiro. Despite the nationalization
of the private companies to form Transtejo in 1975, the railway
services remained separate, being operated by Soflusa since 1994.
They have a fleet of eight vessels, of which six are of the same
class, including the Alentejo and Trás-os-Montes shown below. These are of 700
grt and carry 1000 passengers. The other sisters are the Algarve, Estremadura, Lagos and Minho. they were built between 1961
and 1970. The other two ships are the Tunes and Pinhal Novo, which are larger at 893 grt and
1600 passengers. Two chartered Transtejo ferries, the Martim
Moniz and S.Jorge also operate on this route. These
conventional ferries were all withdrawn in the mid-2000s when
the nine new
fast ferries were
delivered.
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- Soflusa Fast Ferries
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- More images of Soflusa Passenger Ferries
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- 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. They were all delivered in 2003/2004 and
replaced all the conventional ferries on the route (Tunes and Pinhal Novo surviving longer than the smaller
ships for use on peak period extras). The comlete 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).
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- Aurora
Cruise to Lisbon
- Grand
Princess at Lisbon
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