Lion Ferry

Lion Ferry was a Swedish ferry company which operated passenger and freight ferry services in Scandinavia and North America.

Lion Ferry Ab

Founded	1959
Defunct	1998
Fate	Rebranded as Stena Line
Headquarters	Halmstad, Sweden
Area served	Kattegat
Services	Passenger transportation Freight transportation
Parent	1959 - 1985: Bonnier Group 1985 - 1998: Stena Line

Lion Prince, a ferry of Lion Ferry in Sweden

History

In 1960 The Prins Bertil enters service between Halmstad and Aarhus. Lion Ferry acquired Norwegian ferry operator Europafergen in 1965. It commenced the Portland - Yarmouth route operated by the Prince of Fundy in 1970 and closed in 1976. In 1973 it started a joint venture with Irish Shipping to form Irish Continental Line. Lion Ferry AB acquired by Stena Line in 1985. Lion Ferry commences Karlskrona - Gdynia route in 1995.

In 1997 Lion Ferry services were rebranded as Stena Line.

Routes

Lion Ferry operated various routes during its 39 years in operation.

• Halmstad - Aarhus
• Halmstad - Grenå
• Varberg - Grenå
• Karlskrona - Gdynia
• Portland - Yarmouth
• Bremerhaven - Harwich (Marketed as Prinzen Line)

Fleet

Lion Ferry operated many vessels during its time in operation.

Name	Built	In service	Tonnage	Note
MS Prins Bertil	1960	1960 - 1964	2355 GRT	Chartered 1964 to Red AB Nordö as M/S Calmar Nyckel, sold 1965 to Red AB Nordö.
MS Prins Bertil	1964	1964 - 1966	3,625 GRT	Sold to Canadian National in 1966, Renamed Leif Eirikson.
MS Varberg	1940	1964 - 1966	1,217 GRT
MS Europafergen	1960	1965 - 1978	2,209 GRT
MS Gustav Vasa	1965	1965 - 1971	3,801 GRT	Broken up in 2004.
MS Kronprins Carl Gustaf	1966	1966 - 1971	3,801 GRT
MS Prins Hamlet	1966	1966 - 1969	8,687 GRT	Broken up in 2002
MS Europafärjan II	1964	1970 - 1976	2,498 GRT
MS Prins Oberon	1970	1970 - 1978	7,993 GRT	Casino ship Ambassador II in Florida
MS Prince of Fundy	1970	1970 - 1978	5,464 GRT	Broken up in 2005
MS Gustav Vasa	1973	1973 - 1983	7,457 GRT	Converted to book ship Logos Hope
MS Svealand	1973	1973 - 1982	5,159 GRT	Currently operating in the Adriatic as the Seatrade
MS Europafärjan III	1974	1974 - 1983	4,774 GRT	Currently operating for Corsica Ferries as the Corsica Serena Seconda
MS Europafärjan MS Europafärjan II MS Lion Princess	1971	1983 - 1985 1985 - 1987 1987 - 1994	8,772 GRT	Currently operating for Color Line as Bohus
MS Lion Queen	1967	1988 - 1989 1994 - 1997	14,193 GRT	Scrapped in Alang in 2021
MS Europafärjan I MS Lion Prince	1969	1985 - 1987 1987 - 1997	5,679 GRT
MS Lion King MS Lion King II	1986	1995 - 1996 1996	11,763 GRT	Still in service on the Varberg - Grenå route as the Stena Nautica
MS Lion King	1979	1996 - 1997	10,604 GRT
MS Lion Europe	1981	1997	14,378 GRT	In service with Stena Line as Stena Europe