Lisbon Ferries - Transtejo Car Ferries - Transtejo e Soflusa Sodré

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Lisbon FerriesTranstejo Car Ferries

This page covers the car ferries of Transtejo.

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 These have been withdrawn since 2005.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. 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 These were far more attractive to travel on compared to the previous Cacilhense class, but all four have now been withdrawn, along with the Cacilhense herself, replaced on most routes by the many fast ferries delivered since the mid-1990s.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 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 passenger 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, Singapore 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.

Ships on this Page:-

Alentejense (1957- ) - 2012 Fleet - to be withdrawn?
Almadense (1947-1984)
Caparica (1938-1984)
Eborense (1954- ) - 2012 Fleet - to be reserve ship
Lisbonense (2010- ) - 2012 Fleet
Monte Pragal (1946-2006)
Ribatejense (1948-1992)
Sesimbrense (1959-2004)
Setubalense (1936-2003)

Other Lisbon Pages:-

Lisbon Ferries - Lisbon Header page

Transtejo e Soflusa - Lisbon combined ferry fleet in 2008

Transtejo Car Ferries - this page!

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

Associated Pages:-

Portuguese Shipping

Ferry Postcards

Cruise Ship Postcards

Ocean Liner Postcards

Simplon Postcards Home Page

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

Transtejo Car Ferries

In 2008, just two of the old car ferries remained, the Alentejense (1957) and Eborense (1954 - shown above). During the rebuilding of Cais de Sodré terminal between 2006-2009, the service ran from Cacilhas to Belem. In 2010/11, two new car ferries were delivered, the Lisbonense (2) and Almadense (2)

Setubalense

(1936-2003)

Reg. No: L-2464-TL - 271 tons gross - 38.45m x 8.01m x 2.56m - 412 passengers and 5 crew

Built in 1936 by Sociedade de Construções e Reparações Navais, at the AGPL shipyard, Rocha Conde de Óbidos, Lisbon. Burmeister and Wain (Copenhagen) 425hp diesel engine. Speed 9 knots. She was used on the Cais do Sodré to Cacilhas car-ferry service until withdrawn and broken up in 2003.

To be added

Caparica

(1938-1984)

169 tons gross - withdrawn between 1984-1987

To be added

Monte Pragal

(1946-2006 )

Reg. No: L-2874-TL - 361 tons gross - 41.64m x 11.02m x 2.68m - Car ferry + 94 passengers

Built in 1946 by Cockerill at Hoboken, Belgium. Sold to Lisbon in 1959. The original 2 x Sulzer 400hp engines were replaced in 1991 by 2 x 425hp Cummins engines in 1989, when it underwent a major refit after being out of use since 1983. It operated the Belém-Porto Brandão car-ferry service. This vessel has had a number of accidents: on 15 May 1979 it collided with a German vessel, the Schwaneck in fog, and on 22 October 1980 it hit the wreck of the Tollan which had sunk some time earlier off Cais do Sodré. In 1990 the vessel suffered fire damage whilst being refitted. From 1990 it ran on the Cacilhas service from Cais do Sodré. In 1992 the accommodation was upgraded. No longer in 2008 fleet.
Monte Pragal at Cais de Sodré Photo: © Ian Boyle, 28th October 2003

Monte Pragal - Lisbon - Photo: � Ian Boyle, 28th October 2003 - www.simplonpc.co.uk

Almadense (1947-1984) 353 tons gross - withdrawn between 1984-1987

To be added

Ribatejense (1948-1992) 304 tons gross - withdrawn between 1987-1993

To be added

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. In 2011 she began a further refit to enable use as reserve ferry for the two new large catamarans.

Eborense at Cais de Sodré
Photo: © Ian Boyle, 29th May 2000

Eborense - Lisbon - Photo: � Ian Boyle, 29th May 2000 - www.simplonpc.co.uk

Eborense at Cacilhas
Photo: � Ian Boyle, 28th October 2003

Eborense - Lisbon - Photo: � Ian Boyle, 28th October 2003 - www.simplonpc.co.uk

Eborense leaving Cacilhas for Belem
Photo: � Ian Boyle, 15th March 2008

Eborense - Lisbon - Photo: � Ian Boyle, 15th March 2008 - www.simplonpc.co.uk

Eborense between Belem and Cacilhas
Photo: � Ian Boyle, 15th March 2008

Eborense at Cacilhas
Photo: � Ian Boyle, 15th March 2008

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 at Cais de Sodr�
Photo: � Ian Boyle, 29th May 2000

Alentejense - Lisbon - Photo: � Ian Boyle, 29th May 2000 - www.simplonpc.co.uk

Alentejense between Cais de Sodr� and Cacilhas
Seen from the departing Aurora on its maiden (completed) voyage
Photo: � Ian Boyle, 29th May 2000

Sesimbrense (1959-2004)

Reg. No: L-2830-TL - 357 tons gross - 38.54m x 8.15m x 2.56m - 709 passengers and 5 crew

Sesimbrense was built in 1958 by Estaleiros Navais de Viana do Castelo. A sister-ship to Alentejense, 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. The vessel had a full refit in 1990 and a new 425hp Cummins engine was installed, giving a service speed of 10 knots. She returned to service in 1993. No longer in 2008 fleet.

To be added

Lisbonense (2)
(2010- )

The first of two large new catamaran car ferries built to run between Cais de Sodr� and Cacilhas, entering service in February 2011.

Catamaran car ferry Lisbonense of 2010
Photo: � 2012 Jose de Palma