- Passenger
Ship Website
- www.simplonpc.co.uk - Simplon Postcards
Home
- Recent Updates - Search - Copyright Information - Contact Simplon
- This
website has no connection with any shipping company, cruise line,
boat operator or other commercial organisation
-
-
- Transtejo
Passenger Ferries
- Transtejo
e a Soflusa
-
-
- This page shows the passenger
ferries built and acquired by Transtejo since its formation in
1975.
-
- 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been withdrawn since 2005.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withdrawn, along with the Cacilhense herself, replaced on most routes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.
-
-
- Ships on this Page:-
- Cacilhense (1980-2006) - Cacilhense Class - not in 2008 fleet
- Campolide (1983- ) - Cacilhense
Class
- Dafundo (1983- ) - Cacilhense
Class
- Madragoa (1981- ) - Cacilhense
Class
- Madre
de Deus
(1982-200?) - Monsanto Class
- Martim
Moniz
(1992- ) - Martim Moniz Class
- Marvila (1977- ) - ex-HADAG:
1956-1977
- Miratejo (1982-200?) - Monsanto
Class
- Monsanto (1982-200?) - Monsanto
Class
- Montes
Claros
(1981- ) - Cacilhense Class
- Moscavide (1982-200?) - Monsanto
Class
- Mouraria (T1977- ) - ex-HADAG:
1957-1977
- Palmelense (1982- ) - Cacilhense
Class
- S.Jorge (1992- ) - Martim
Moniz Class
- S.Paulus (1999- ) - ex-HADAG:
1959-1999
- Seixalense (1982- ) - Cacilhense
Class
- Sintrense (1982- ) - Cacilhense
Class
- Trafaria
Praia
(1999- ) - ex-HADAG: 1960-1999
-
- Sections on this Page:-
- Passenger
Ferries
- Cacilhense
Class
- Martim
Moniz Class
- Monsanto
Class
- ex-HADAG
Passenger Ferries
-
- Other Lisbon Pages:-
- Lisbon
Ferries
- Lisbon Header page
- Transtejo
e Soflusa
- Lisbon combined ferry fleet in 2008
- Transtejo
Car Ferries
- Transtejo
Passenger Ferries - this page!
- 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 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. The Monsanto class consisted of Madre de Deus, Moscavide, Miratejo and Monsanto.
-
-
-
-
- Cacilhense
- (Cacilhense
Class: 1980-2006)
-
- 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
-
-
- Cacilhense leaving Cais de Sodré
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 29th May 2000
- Click to open larger
image in new window
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Madragoa
- (Cacilhense
Class: 1981- )
-
- Madragoa at Cacilhas
- Note
the wing mirrors
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 28th October 2003
- Click to open larger
image in new window
-
-
- 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
-
-
- 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
-
-
- Madragoa between Cais de Sodré
and Cacilhas
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 15th March 2008
- Click to open larger
image in new window
-
-
- Madragoa and Sintrense 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
-
-
- 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- )
-
- Montes
Claros
arriving at Cais de Sodré
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 28th October 2003
- Click to open larger
image in new window
-
-
- Montes
Claros
arriving at Cais de Sodré
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 28th October 2003
- Click to open larger
image in new window
-
-
- Montes
Claros
arriving at Cais de Sodré
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 28th October 2003
- Click to open larger
image in new window
-
-
- Montes
Claros
arriving at Cais de Sodré
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 28th October 2003
- Click to open larger
image in new window
-
-
- Montes
Claros
arriving at Cais de Sodré
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 28th October 2003
- Click to open larger
image in new window
-
-
- Montes
Claros
at Cais de Sodré
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 28th October 2003
- Click to open larger
image in new window
-
-
- Montes
Claros
at Cais de Sodré
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 28th October 2003
- Click to open larger
image in new window
-
-
- Montes
Claros
at Cais de Sodré
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 28th October 2003
- Click to open larger
image in new window
-
-
- Montes
Claros
leaving Cais de Sodré
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 28th October 2003
- Click to open larger
image in new window
-
-
- Montes
Claros
leaving Cais de Sodré
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 28th October 2003
- Click to open larger
image in new window
-
-
- Montes
Claros
leaving Cais de Sodré
- Photo:
© Ian Boyle, 28th October 2003
- Click to open larger
image in new window
-
-
