History | |
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Name: |
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Owner: |
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Operator: |
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Port of registry: | |
Route: | Almería–Nador |
Builder: | AG Weser Seebeckwerft, Bremerhaven, West Germany |
Yard number: | 1028 |
Launched: | 22 November 1980 |
Acquired: | 21 March 1981 |
Identification: |
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Status: | in active service |
General characteristics | |
Type: | Cruiseferry → Passenger ferry |
Tonnage: | 21,473 GT |
Length: | 153.40 m (503 ft 3 in) |
Beam: | 24.20 m (79 ft 5 in) |
Draught: | 5.82 m (19 ft 1 in) |
Ice class: | 1 A |
Propulsion: | |
Speed: | 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) |
Capacity: |
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MS Isabella 1 is a cruiseferry owned by the shipping company Isabella Cruises on their route connecting Almería, Spain, to Nador, Morocco. She was built in 1981 by AG Weser Seebeckswerft, Bremerhaven, West Germany for Olau Line as MS Olau Hollandia. Between 1989 and 1997 she sailed as MS Nord Gotlandia for Gotlandslinjen and between 1998 and 2013 as MS Nordlandia for Finnish shipping company Eckerö Line.
MS Olau Hollandia was the first newbuild ever to be built for Olau Line. Up until that point the company had operated with used ships purchased or chartered from other companies, but after TT-Line acquired Olau in 1979, the new owners invested in building two new cruiseferries for the company. The Olau Hollandia and her sister MS Olau Britannia were more than twice the size of the largest ferries operated by Olau before that point (they were also larger than any ships operated by TT-Line at the time). The Olau Hollandia was built to be "NATO-compatible", so that she could easily be converted to a troopship if required. She was also built with a thicker hull than normal, enough to be classified under Finnish ice class 1 A Super (the highest possible class) when she began service on the Baltic Sea without any structural changes to her hull.
On 21 March 1981 the Olau Hollandia was delivered to her owners, and four days later she started operating on Olau Line's Sheerness (United Kingdom)–Vlissingen (the Netherlands) route.