Moby Lines

Moby S.p.A.
Industry	Passenger transportation, Freight transportation
Founded	1959
Headquarters	Milan, Italy
Area served	Italy, France, Corsica, Sardinia
Key people	Vincenzo Onorato, Chairman
Subsidiaries	St. Peter Line; Tirrenia; Toremar
Website	www.moby.it

Moby Lines (Moby Lines S.p.A.) is an Italian shipping company that operates ferries and cruiseferries between the Italian or French mainland and the islands of Elba, Sardinia and Corsica. The company was founded in 1959 under the name Navigazione Arcipelago Maddalenino (NAVARMA for short).

In 2006 Moby Lines purchased Lloyd Sardegna. The company is known for using Warner Bros. Looney Tunes characters as the external livery of its ships. Notable events include the Moby Prince disaster in 1991, which resulted in the deaths of 140 people.

History

NAVARMA was founded in 1959 by Achille Onorato, and started traffic from Sardinia to the islands on coast of Sardinia with the small ferry M/S Maria Maddalena purchased from Denmark. In February 1966 NAVARMA purchased a second ferry, M/S Bonifacioo, and started service between Sardinia and Corsica. The company slowly expanded, purchasing another ferry in 1967 and taking delivery of two newbuilds in 1974 and 1981. With the larger fleet, new routes to the Italian mainland were also introduced.

In 1982 the company acquired M/S Free Enterprise II from Townsend Thoresen, renamed her M/S Moby Blu and painted her in the "blue whale" livery that later came to characterise Moby Lines (the company name still remained NAVARMA at this point). The Moby Blu was over twice the size of NAVARMA's previously largest ship. By 1988 four additional larger ferries (all with Moby-prefixed names) had joined by NAVARMA fleet and additional routes to the Italian mainland were opened.

In 1991 one of the ferries of the fleet, the Moby Prince, was involved in the worst disaster in the Italian merchant navy since World War II. This resulted in 140 deaths.

During the early 1990s NAVARMA acquired further used ferries, which replaced the Moby ferries acquired in the 1980s. During the same time "Moby Lines" was adopted as the official company name. From 1996 onwards the company fleet has grown radically with addition of new, larger and faster tonnage, including the newbuilt fast cruiseferries Moby Wonder, Moby Freedom and Moby Aki. Around 2003 Moby Lines entered an agreement with Warner Bros. to paint their vessels in liveries featuring Looney Tunes characters. However, only the larger ships have such liveries, the company's smaller ships either have similar graphics not featuring the Looney Tunes characters, or simply the Moby Lines' whale logo.

In 2020, in a departure away from Moby Lines' signature business model of acquiring vintage tonnage for its routes, it was announced that steel cutting has started for Moby Lines' two newbuild vessels on order from the Guangzhou Shipyard. These newbuilds will be 238 metres (784 feet) long and roughly 69,500 GT, and specifically designed for the 7-9 hour Livorno-Olbia ferry crossing. These newbuild twins are earmarked to replace the Moby Aki and Moby Wonder between 2022 and 2023.^[1]^[2]

Fleet

Current Ships

Ship	Built	Entered service	Route	Gross tonnage	Length	Width	Passengers	Vehicles	Knots
MS Giraglia	1981	1981	Santa Teresa di Gallura—Bonifacio	2,041 GT	75 m	13 m	400	100	18
MS Moby Ale	1969	1990	Piombino—Portoferraio	3,937 GT	93 m	16 m	800	160	19.5
MS Moby Baby Two	1974	2000	Piombino—Portoferraio	8,570 GT	118.6 m	18.5 m	1,150	300	17.5
MS Moby Kiss	1975	2016	Piombino—Portoferraio	11,977 GT	115.35 m	20.6 m	1,600	420	18
MS Moby Drea	1975	2003	Genoa—Olbia	22,528 GT	185 m	27 m	1,900	500	27
MS Moby Otta	1976	2006	Genoa—Olbia	22,528 GT	185 m	27 m	1,900	500	27
MS Moby Corse	1978	2009	Livorno—Bastia	19,583 GT	152.9 m	26.3 m	1,200	450	20
MS Moby Zazà	1982	2015	Livorno—Bastia	22,161 GT	153 m	24.2 m	2,048	530	20
MS Moby Orli	1986	2017	Genoa—Porto Torres	37,583 GT	176.8 m	32.9 m	2,500	580	22
MS Vincenzo Florio	1999	2024	Napoli—Palermo	31,041 GT	180.3 m	26.8 m	1.471	630	23
MS Raffaele Rubattino	2000	2024	Napoli—Palermo	31,041 GT	180.3 m	26.8 m	1.471	630	23
MS Moby Ale Due	2001	2024	Ajaccio—Porto Torres	35,736 GT	214 m	26.4 m	2,700	900	29.5
MS Moby Wonder	2001	2024	Genoa—Porto Torres	36,093 GT	175 m	27 m	2,200	750	29
MS Moby Aki	2005	2005	Genoa—Olbia	36,284 GT	175 m	27 m	2,200	750	29
MS Moby Fantasy	2021	2023	Livorno—Olbia	69,500 GT	237 m	32 m	3,000	1,300	23.5
MS Moby Legacy	2023	2024	Livorno—Olbia	69,500 GT	237 m	32 m	3,000	1,300	23.5

Out of Service

Ship	Built	Entered service	Route	Gross tonnage	Length	Width	Passengers	Vehicles	Knots
MS Bastia	1974	1974	Laid up in Livorno	1,936 GT	75 m	13 m	400	100	18
MS Moby Niki	1974	2016	Laid up in Livorno	9,089 GT	118,7 m	18,5 m	1,440	373	18
MS Moby Tommy	2002	2007	Laid up in Civitavecchia	28,915 GT	212 m	25 m	2,200	580	30

Chartered Ships to other Companies

Ship	Flag	Built	Entered service	Route	Gross tonnage	Length	Width	Passengers	Vehicles	Knots
MS Moby Dada		1981	2016	Chartered to Algerie Ferries	34,093 GT	169.1 m	28.5 m	1,538	500	22

Cargo Ship

Ship	Flag	Built	Entered service	Route	Gross tonnage	Length	Width	Passengers	Vehicles	Knots
MS Pietro Manunta		1991	?	Laid up in Livorno	22,059 GT	169 m	26 m	?	?	16

Former fleet

Maria Maddalena (1959-1978) as Maria Maddalena for SNAP since 2005
Elba Prima (1967-2007) scrapped as Prima in Aliaga, Turkey in 2008.
Agostino Lauro (1968-1974) scrapped in Aliaga, Turkey in 2008.
Portoferraio (1974-2001) as Bomaris Legend for Bomaris Shipping since 2016.
Citta di Piombino (1978-2002) as Don Peppino for GesTour since 2010.
Moby Blu (1982-2003) scrapped as Moby B in Alang, India in 2003.
Moby Prince (1985-1991) in 11th April 1991 the ship departured from Livorno and collided with the tanker Agip Abruzzo; the ship caught fire and 141 passengers died onboard. In 1998 the ship partially sank in the port of Livorno and then the ship sold for scrap in Aliaga, Turkey in 1998.
Moby Dream (1986-1994) scrapped as Sardegna Bella in Aliaga, Turkey in 2001.
Moby Love (1986-1993) scrapped in Aliaga, Turkey in 2011.
Moby Will (1988-1993) scrapped as Aljubi in Alang, India in 2007.
Moby King (1989-2002) scrapped in Alang, India in 2002.
Moby Baby (1990-2017) scrapped as Anemos in Aliaga, Turkey in 2018.
Moby Vincent (1990-2024) To be scrapped in Aliaga, Turkey in 2024.
Moby Fantasy (1992-2013) scrapped in Aliaga, Turkey in 2013.
Moby Magic (1997-2005) scrapped in Aliaga, Turkey in 2005.
Moby Love (1998-2017) as Sporades Star for Seajets since 2021.
Moby Gum (1998-2003) scrapped as Moby G in Bombay, India in 2004.
Moby Rider (1998-2007) scrapped as M. River in Alang, India in 2007.
Moby Freedom (2001-2012) as Finlandia for Eckerö Line since 2019.
Luigi Pa (1987-2017) former Isola delle Stelle for Lloyd Sardegna, as Cenk M since 2019.
Giuseppe Sa (2006-2022) former Isola delle Perle for Lloys Sardegna, sold to an Arabic company in 2022.
Eliana M (2006-2007) former Golfo del Sole for Lloyd Sardegna, scrapped in Aliaga, Turkey in 2012.
Maria Grazia On. (2006-2007) former Golfo degli Angeli for Lloyd Sardegna, as Venezia for Grimaldi Lines since 2019.
Golfo Aranci (2006-2007) as Florencia for Grimaldi Lines since 2007.
Massimo M. (2010-2013) Scrapped in 2013.
Moby Vinci (2023-2024) Sold to Grandi Navi Veloci in 2024.

References

^ "Steel cutting starts on the first of Moby's next-generation ferries". 3 June 2020.
^ "June (And early July) 2019 news roundup". 18 July 2019.

Moby Lines at Simplon Postcards, retrieved 3. 7. 2007

External links

Company website
Moby Lines at Fakta om Fartyg (in Swedish)
MobyAki.it

[1] "Steel cutting starts on the first of Moby's next-generation ferries". 3 June 2020.

[2] "June (And early July) 2019 news roundup". 18 July 2019.

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