The Wisteria is a passenger car ferry operated by Acciona Trasmediterránea

Acciona Trasmediterránea

Acciona Trasmediterránea is part of the Acciona group. It operates passengers and cargo ferries between mainland Spain and the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands, and northern Africa.-History:...

 and FerryMaroc between Almeria

Almería

Almería is a city in Andalusia, Spain, on the Mediterranean Sea. It is the capital of the province of the same name.-Toponym:Tradition says that the name Almería stems from the Arabic المرية Al-Mariyya: "The Mirror", comparing it to "The Mirror of the Sea"...

 and the Moroccan

Morocco

Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...

 port of Nador

Nador

Nador is a city located in the northeastern Rif region of Morocco. The city is a Mediterranean port on the Bḥar Ameẓẓyan lagoon , and it is the major trading center in the region for fish, fruit, and livestock...

.

History

The Wisteria was built in 1978 as the Prinses Beatrix by Verolme Shipyard, in Heusden

Heusden

Heusden is a municipality and a city in the South of the Netherlands. It is located between the cities Waalwijk and 's-Hertogenbosch.- Population centres :...

, The Netherlands and worked for Stoomvaart Maatschappij Zeeland

Stoomvaart Maatschappij Zeeland

Stoomvaart Maatschappij Zeeland was a Dutch ferry operator that ran services from Hook of Holland to Harwich between 1875 and 1989.-History:The Stoomvaart Maatschappij Zeeland was founded in 1875....

 on their joint Sealink

Sealink

Sealink was a ferry company based in the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1984, operating services to France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Channel Islands, Isle of Wight and Ireland....

 route between Hoek van Holland and Harwich, Parkeston Quay. She was named and launched by H.R.H. Princess Beatrix

Beatrix of the Netherlands

Beatrix is the Queen regnant of the Kingdom of the Netherlands comprising the Netherlands, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, and Aruba. She is the first daughter of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands and Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld. She studied law at Leiden University...

 on 14 January 1978. Brittany Ferries

Brittany Ferries

Brittany Ferries is a French ferry company that runs ships between France, the UK, Ireland and Spain.-1970s and 1980s:Following the provision of the deep-water port at Roscoff, the company commenced in January 1973 at the instigation of Alexis Gourvennec, when existing ferry companies showed...

 bought the ferry on 1 October 1985, and after chartering it for a year back to SMZ, renamed it Duc de Normandie, operating between Portsmouth

Portsmouth

Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...

 and Ouistreham

Ouistreham

Ouistreham is a commune in the Calvados department' in the Basse-Normandie region in northwestern France.Ouistreham is a small port with fishing boats, leisure craft and a ferry-harbour. It serves as the port of the city of Caen. The town is about the mouth of the Canal de Caen à la...

 from 5 June 1986. The ferry sailed alongside MV Reine Mathilde

MV Reine Mathilde

Reine Mathilde was a ferry operated by Brittany Ferries. She was built as the MS Prince of Fundy in 1970 by Schiffbau Gesellschaft Unterweser, AG, Bremerhaven, Germany for service between Portland, Maine and Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.-History:...

 on its favoured route to Ouistreham

Ouistreham

Ouistreham is a commune in the Calvados department' in the Basse-Normandie region in northwestern France.Ouistreham is a small port with fishing boats, leisure craft and a ferry-harbour. It serves as the port of the city of Caen. The town is about the mouth of the Canal de Caen à la...

.
On 10 July 2002, she was transferred to the Plymouth

Plymouth

Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...

 - Roscoff

Roscoff

Roscoff is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in northwestern France.The nearby Île de Batz, called Enez Vaz in Breton, is a small island that can be reached by launch from the harbour....

 route, replacing the MV Quiberon

MV Quiberon

The M/V Quiberon was a ferry operated by Brittany Ferries between 1982 and 2002. She then operated on the Mediterranean for Euroferrys under the name Guila D'Abundo.. In 2010, she was renamed D'Abundo and sent to Alang for scrapping...

. She ended her Brittany Ferries career on this route, her final sailing being on 30 September 2004.

Particular features of the Duc were a calvados still in the Alambic bar and a cider press at the wine bar.

Brittany Ferries sold the Duc in 2005 to TransEuropa Ferries

Transeuropa Ferries

TransEuropa Ferries operates a ferry service between Ramsgate, Kent, UK and Ostend, West Flanders, Belgium. TransEuropa Ferries n.v. is the cross channel satellite arm of TransEuropa Shipping Lines d.o.o. of Slovenia....

, operating between Port of Ramsgate and Ostend

Ostend

Ostend  is a Belgian city and municipality located in the Flemish province of West Flanders. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerke , Stene and Zandvoorde, and the city of Ostend proper – the largest on the Belgian coast....

under the name MV Wisteria. In 2006 she was chartered to Ferrimaroc and Acciona Trasmeditarranea for use on their Almeria (Spain) to Nador (Morocco).

External links

• Photos from shipphoto-keil-canal.de