AMEDEO MATACENA

scrapped

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Beached

Beached at Aliaga 23.02.23 picture: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10159340824588193&set=p.10159340824588193&type=3

Former PSD ferry to be broken up

The 'Amadeo Matacena', the former PSD ferry 'Prinses Juliana',will soon leave Italy for her last voyage to Aliaga to be broken up. The ferry has been rusting away at the quay in Reggio di Calabria for years. The ship has hardly been used since 2003, and the decks are now unsafe due to rust, and it is unclear whether the engines are still working. A tug will tow the ship to the breakers. She was the first double-decker ferry for the Flushing-Breskens service, having been christened on Sep 5, 1985 by Princess Juliana. In 1997, the ferry moved to the Kruiningen-Perkpolder route, howver, struggling with persistent engine problems. The Province of Zeeland sold the ship to what later turns out to be an Italian mafia boss. Occasionally there were sailings between Messina and Reggio di Calabria, but this came to an abrupt end in 2006. In 2011, however, the ship was rebuilt: an internal connection was installed between the two car decks, so that the upper car deck could also be used again. A year later there was hope for the ship start sailing on the ferry service to Elba. At the last moment, the 'Acciarello' was chartered instead. At the end of 2017 the Italian police seized the ship, in the context of investigating the mafia ties of owner Amadeo Matacena, who had been in exile in Dubai for years. In February 2022, an Italian judge lifted the seizure, and a decision on the ship could again be decided by the owner. In September 2022, Amedeo Matacena died in Dubai. Report with photos: https://www.psdnet.nl/2022/10/juliana-naar-de-sloop/