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- Lisbon
Ferries 2008
- Transtejo
e a Soflusa
-
-
- This page shows the combined
Lisbon fleet of Transtejo e a Soflusa in 2008.
-
- Lisbon has a superb location
on the River Tagus, and there remains an intensive network of
ferry services across the river, despite the imposing Ponte
25 de Abril bridge which links the two sides and carries
both rail and road traffic. Even a car ferry service has survived
the arrival of the bridge, unusual in such circumstances, and
the ferries on this route are of an extremely distinctive design.
The car ferry now runs between Belem and Cacilhas with the two
remaining ferries Alentejense and Eborense, replacing the two routes Belem-Porto
Brandao and Cais de Sodré-Cacilhas, for which Monte
Pragal and
Sesimbrense had been retained. These have
been withdrawn since 2005.
-
- Since 1975, the Lisbon
ferries have been operated by two companies, Transtejo and Soflusa
(originally Portuguese Railways (CP)) These are now combined
as Transtejo
e a Soflusa. Transtejo
(Transportes Tejo) operated from three ferry terminals on the
north bank of the Tagus:- Belem, Cais de Sodré and Cais
da Alfandega; operating routes to seven terminals on the south
banks with a fleet of around 30 ferries. Transtejo had received
a mixed fleet of ferries from various companies when nationalized
in 1975. In 1980 the 300grt Cacilhense was delivered, the name ship of
a new class of eight ferries. These are fully enclosed vessels
and not particularly pleasant to travel on. The ships in the
Cacilhense class were:- Cacilhense, Campolide, Dafundo, Madragoa, Montes Claros, Palmelense, Sintrense and Seixalense. They were followed in 1982 by the four ships of
the Monsanto class, similar to Cacilhense but featuring a bar and an open
sided deck space aft, reducing tonnage to 280 grt. These were
far more attractive to travel on compared to the previous Cacilhense class, but all four have now been
withdrawn, along with the Cacilhense herself, replaced on most routes
by the many fast ferries delivered since the mid-1990s. The Monsanto class consisted of Madre
de Deus, Moscavide, Miratejo and Monsanto.
-
- The service linking the
railway station at Estacao do Sul e Sueste (also known as Terreiro
do Paço, and adjacent to the Transtejo terminal at Cais
da Alfandega) to the station at Barreiro had for many years been
run by Caminhos de Ferro Portugueses (CP - Portuguese Railways).
It was the government's intention to transfer Soflusa services
to Transtejo. In 1992, the two large ferries Martim
Moniz and S.Jorge were built in Germany for Transtejo,
intended for a Cais de Sodré to Barreiro service. In the
event, the service transfer did not take place and the two ferries
were chartered to CP for their Barreiro service. In 1994, the
railway ferries were transferred to a wholly owned subsidiary
Sociedade Fluvial de Transports S.A. (known as Soflusa). Barreiro
was 30 minutes away by conventional ferry on the south bank of
the Tagus. Trains left Barreiro for the south of the country,
although the addition of a railway across the Tagus bridge replaced
most of these routes. Soflusa had eight conventional ferries
of their own, plus the two on charter from Transtejo. The conventional
ferries have been replaced on this service by nine large fast
ferries, which have cut the passage time considerably. Despite
losing many of its train services, Barreiro still acts as a large
bus terminus, and ferries still leave every 5/10 minutes at peak
periods. More recently, Transtejo and Soflusa have combined as
Transtejo e a Soflusa (although each retaining slightly different
management structures).
-
- The mainstay of the Barreiro
services for many decades were six 1000 passenger ferries built
in pairs between 1961 and 1970:- Algarve (1961), Estremadura (1961), Minho (1968), Trás-os-Montes (1968), Alentejo (1970) and Lagos (1970). These were purposeful
looking vessels of 701 gross tons which had a small area of open
top deck. They were joined in 1978/79 by two larger 1600 passenge
ferries, the Tunes and Pinhal Novo. These look like stretched versions
of the Cacilhense class and had no external deck
space. All of these conventional ferries were withdrawn in the
mid-2000s when new fast catamarans arrived, Tunes and Pinhal Novo surviving longer than the smaller
ships for use on peak period extras.
-
- Damião
de Goes was
the first of a series of nine large catamarans built by Damen
Shipyards, Singapure for use by Soflusa on the Barreiro-Terreiro
do Paço route. The complete list is:- Damião
de Goes (2003),
Augusto
Gil (2003),
Miguel
Torga (2003),
Fernando
Namora (2003),
Gil
Vicente (2003),
Jorge
de Sena (2003),
Almeida
Garrett (2004),
Fernando
Pessoa (2004)
and Antero
de Quental
(2004). When I visited Lisbon in October 2003, I was lucky to see five of the
six 1960s ferries still in service, since the first four new
catamarans had already arrived.
-
- In 2008, six basic Transtejo
e a Soflusa routes remain, operated by 22 fast catamarans, 2
car ferries and 14 conventional ferries.
-
-
- 2008 Routes:-
- Cais do Sodré
> Cacilhas (Transtejo)
- Cais do Sodré
> Seixal (Transtejo)
- Cais do Sodré
> Montijo (Transtejo)
- Belém
> Porto Brandão > Trafaria (Transtejo)
- Belém
> Cacilhas (car ferry)
- Terreiro do
Paço > Barreiro (Soflusa)
-
- Sections on this Page:-
- Transtejo
Car Ferries
- Transtejo
Passenger Ferries
- Transtejo
Fast Ferries
- Soflusa
Fast Ferries
-
- Conventional Ferries on
this Page:-
- Alentejense (1957- ) - car ferry
- Cacilhense (1980-2006) - Cacilhense Class - not in 2008 fleet
- Campolide (1983- ) - Cacilhense Class
- Dafundo (1983- ) - Cacilhense Class
- Eborense (1954- ) - car ferry
- Madragoa (1981- ) - Cacilhense Class
- Martim
Moniz
(1992- ) - Martim
Moniz
Class
- Marvila (1977- ) - ex-HADAG
- Montes
Claros
(1981- ) - Cacilhense Class
- Mouraria (1977- ) - ex-HADAG
- Palmelense (1982- ) - Cacilhense Class
- S.Jorge (1992- ) - Martim Moniz Class
- S.Paulus (1999- ) - ex-HADAG
- Seixalense (1982- ) - Cacilhense Class
- Sintrense (1982- ) - Cacilhense Class
- Trafaria
Praia
(1999- ) - ex-HADAG
-
- Fast Ferries on this Page:-
- Algés (Transtejo: 1995- )
- Algés Class
- Almeida
Garrett
(Soflusa: 2004) - Damião
de Goes
Class
- Antero
de Quental
(Soflusa: 2004) - Damião
de Goes
Class
- Aroeira (Transtejo: 1998- )
- Aroeira Class
- Augusto
Gil (Soflusa:
2003) - Damião
de Goes
Class
- Bairro
Alto
(Transtejo: 2001- ) - Bairro Alto Class
- Bica (Transtejo: 1995- )
- Algés Class
- Carnide (Transtejo: 1998- )
- Aroeira Class
- Castelo (Transtejo: 1995- )
- Algés Class
- Cesário
Verde
(Transtejo: 2002- ) - Pedro Nunes Class
- Chiado (Transtejo: 1995- )
- Algés Class
- Damião
de Goes
(Soflusa: 2003) - Damião
de Goes
Class
- Fantasia (Transtejo: 2001- )
- Fantasia Class
- Fernando
Namora
(Soflusa: 2003) - Damião
de Goes
Class
- Fernando
Pessoa
(Soflusa: 2004) - Damião
de Goes
Class
- Gil
Vicente
(Soflusa: 2003) - Damião
de Goes
Class
- Jorge
de Sena
(Soflusa: 2003) - Damião
de Goes
Class
- Miguel
Torga
(Soflusa: 2003) - Damião
de Goes
Class
- Parque
das Nações (Transtejo: 2001- ) - Bairro Alto Class
- Pedro
Nunes
(Transtejo: 2002- ) - Pedro Nunes Class
- São
Julião
(Transtejo: 1998- ) - Aroeira Class
- Sé (Transtejo: 1998- )
- Aroeira Class
-
- Other Lisbon Pages:-
- Lisbon Ferries - Lisbon Header page
- Transtejo
e Soflusa
- Lisbon combined ferry fleet in 2008 - this page!
- Transtejo
Car Ferries
- Transtejo
Passenger Ferries
- Soflusa
Ferries
- Metro
Transportes do Sul - new Lisbon tramway south of the Tagus
- Aurora
in Lisbon - 2000
- Photographs of P&O's Aurora
- Grand
Princess in Lisbon - 2000 - Photographs of the P&O/Princess cruise ship
- Oriana in Lisbon - 2003 - Photographs of P&O's Oriana
- Costa
Europa in Lisbon - 2008 - Photographs of the Costa Crociere cruise ship
-
- References:-
- Cacilheiros
- Luis Miguel Correia
- www.transtejo.pt - Transtejo e a Soflusa
official website
- www.luso.u-net.com - Excellent English language site covering
Lisbon's ferries, trains, trams and more
-
- Associated Pages:-
- Portuguese Shipping
- Ferry
Postcards
- Cruise
Ship Postcards
- Ocean
Liner Postcards
- Simplon Postcards Home Page
-
-
-
-
-
- Transtejo Car Ferries
-
- In 2008, just two car
ferries remained, the Alentejense (1957) and Eborense (1954 - shown above). Following the rebuilding
of Cais de Sodré terminal, the service runs from Cacilhas
to Belem.
-
- More images of Transtejo car ferries
-
-
-
-
- Eborense
- (1954-
)
-
- Reg.
No: L-2794-TL - 393 tons gross - 47.04m x 11.22m
x 2.3m
-
- Eborense was built in 1954 by Estaleiros
Navais de Viana, rebuilt in 1991 and re-engined in 2004. She
is 50.25 m long, 460 gross tons and can carry 346 passengers
and 30 cars (or 2 trucks). She has a speed of 11 knots.
- More images of Eborense
-
-
- Eborense at Cacilhas
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 15th March 2008
- Click to open larger
image in new window
-
-
- Eborense at Cacilhas
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 15th March 2008
- Click to open larger
image in new window
-
-
- Eborense at Cacilhas
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 15th March 2008
- Click to open larger
image in new window
-
-
- Eborense at Cacilhas
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 15th March 2008
- Click to open larger
image in new window
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-
-
-
-
-
- Alentejense
- (1957-
)
-
- Reg.
No: L-2822-TL - Built 1957 - 355 tons gross. 38.54m
x 8.15m x 2.56m - 462 passengers and 4 crew
-
- Built in 1957 by Estaleiros
Navais de Viana do Castelo. The original Sulzer 650hp engine
was replaced in 1991 by a 495hp MTU engine giving an operating
speed of 10km/hr. Until 1983 used on the route to Montijo but
since then on the Cais do Sodré to Cacilhas service, remaining
in service in 2008 between Cais do Sodré and Belem.
-
- Alentejense between Cais de Sodré
and Cacilhas
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 29th May 2000
- Click to open larger
image in new window
-
-
- Alentejense between Cais de Sodré
and Cacilhas
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 29th May 2000
- Click to open larger
image in new window
-
-
- Alentejense at Cais de Sodré
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 29th May 2000
- Click to open larger
image in new window
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-
-
-
-
-
- Transtejo Passenger Ferries
-
-
- In 1980 the 300grt Cacilhense
was delivered, the name ship of a new class of eight ferries
which replaced older ferries in the fleet. These are fully enclosed
vessels and not paritularly pleasant to travel on as a tourist
or enthusiast. They were followed in 1982 by the four ships of
the Monsanto class, similar to Cacilhense but featuring
a bar and open sided deck space aft, reducing tonnage to 280
grt. These were far more attractive to travel on compared to
the previous Cacilhense class, but all four have now been
withdrawn, along with the Cacilhense, replaced on most
routes by the many fast ferries delivered since the mid-1990s.
The surviving ships in the Cacilhense class are the Campolide,
Dafundo, Madragoa, Montes Claros, Palmelense, Sintrense and
Seixalense.
-
- More images of Transtejo passenger ferries
-
-
-
-
-
- Cacilhense
- (Cacilhense
Class: 1980-2006)
-
- Cacilhense
has recently been
withdrawn, but as the name ship of the class is shown for completeness.
-
-
- Cacilhense between Cacilhas and
Cais de Sodré
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 29th May 2000
- Click to open larger
image in new window
-
-
- Cacilhense leaving Cais de Sodré
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 29th May 2000
- Click to open larger
image in new window
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-
- Cacilhense leaving Cais de Sodré
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 29th May 2000
- Click to open larger
image in new window
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-
-
-
-
-
- Madragoa
- (Cacilhense
Class: 1981- )
-
- Madragoa at Cacilhas
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 15th March 2008
- Click to open larger
image in new window
-
-
- Madragoa between Cais de Sodré
and Cacilhas
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 15th March 2008
- Click to open larger
image in new window
-
-
- Madragoa between Cais de Sodré
and Cacilhas
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 15th March 2008
- Click to open larger
image in new window
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Montes Claros
- (Cacilhense
Class: 1981- )
