Moby Lines

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).

Moby S.p.A.
IndustryPassenger transportation, Freight transportation
Founded1959
HeadquartersMilan, Italy
Area served
Italy, France, Corsica, Sardinia
Key people
Vincenzo Onorato, Chairman
SubsidiariesSt. Peter Line
Tirrenia
Toremar
Websitewww.moby.it
MS Moby Aki in Livorno, 2007.

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 death of 140 people.

History
Moby Wonder in Livorno, 22 of February, 2011.

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 Bonaficio, 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 in 2022.[1][2]

Fleet

Current fleet
ShipFlagBuiltEntered serviceRouteGross tonnageLengthWidthPassengersVehiclesKnots
MS Bastia19741974Piombino—Portoferraio1,936 GT75 m13 m40010018
MS Giraglia19811981Santa Teresa di Gallura—Bonifacio2,041 GT75 m13 m40010018
MS Moby Niki19742016Piombino—Portoferraio9,089 GT118,7 m18,5 m1,44037318
MS Moby Dada19812016Civitavecchia—Arbatax
Civitavecchia—Cagliari		25,905 GT166.1 m28.5 m1,76030522
MS Moby Tommy20022007Livorno—Olbia28,915 GT212 m25 m2,2001,00030
MS Moby Aki20052005Livorno—Olbia36,284 GT175 m27 m2,20075029
MS Moby Wonder20012001Livorno—Olbia36,093 GT175 m27 m2,20075029
MS Moby Ale19691990Laid up in Naples3,937 GT93 m16 m80016019.5
MS Moby Vincent19741990Laid up in Livorno12,108 GT120 m22 m1,60057017.5
MS Moby Baby Two19742000Laid up in Piombino8,570 GT118,6 m18,5 m1,15030017.5
MS Moby Drea 19752003Laid up in Genoa22,528 GT185 m27 m1,90050027
MS Moby Otta19762006Laid up in Civitavecchia22,528 GT185 m27 m1,90050027
MS Moby Zazà19822015Laid up in Livorno21,699 GT153.4 m24.24 m1,85032520
MS Moby Kiss19752016Laid up in Livorno11,977 GT115.35 m20.6 m1,60042018
MS Moby Corse19782010Chartered to Tirrenia19,321 GT152 m25 m1,20045021

References
  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.

Further reading
  • Seville, Richard (2009). Mediterranean Ferries. Ramsey, Isle of Man: Ferry Publications. ISBN 9781871947984.
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