Cybercaptain: Shipspotting

Thursday, March 27, 2025

Shipspotting

Super Shuttle Roro 9 (SSR9)

As I was on an outing on my recent leave in Philippines I took a ferry from Port of Batangas to Puerto Galera and lo and behold I saw my old workplace, the ex Bore Queen, now Super Shuttle Roro 9 (SSR9), on the roads at anchor. I managed to get some shots of her from afar both going and coming back, see the pictures below.

It made me reminisce of the old liner and the trade she did. It was back in the mid 80's a 10 day round trip from Finland through the Kiel canal to UK via Holland.

Usually we loaded up forestry products in Kotka, mostly paper rolls and bundles of timber, and then we departed for the continent, first stop was 2 days later when we transited the Kiel canal and picked up pilot at Holtenau. There those with homesickness could make a quick call home from the payphone at the lock if one did not fancy using the NMT (nordic mobile telephony system) mobile phone. It became a bit expensive when we got to the Swedish and Danish networks. The GSM network wasn't even on the design board back then.

From having passed the Kiel Canal we dropped pilot at Brunnsbüttel and then it was another day to reach Terneuzen in Holland, it was up the Schelde river past Vlissingen into this small port through a lock. The city was more like a village, it was walking distance from port and the city centre consisted of a few town blocks. Usually we stayed the night to complete discharge and loading any possible cargo to UK as well as we had to coordinate it with the tides. So, guys on day duty usually made it up the road for a few pints and social activities. Sometimes we'd have the seaman mission chaplain visiting us from Rotterdam with books and magazines and offering rides to the church some 1.5hrs away. Occasionally crew would go shop for electronics as they were at the time cheapest in Holland as it was the first port of import (from Japan).

From Holland we made it it in another day to Chatham, an old port behind tidal locks. It is south of river Thames on the river Medway. There we were always visited by the chaplain from the Finnish seaman's mission of London asking if anyone wanted to come visit the church for coffee. Again, guys off duty got a ride up to London for some pints and entertainment (after they had the coffee at the church), many times people went to see a play in West End. I recall the "Cats" being a favorite. Boys who went to hang out at the local Chatham pubs were home early as they closed around 2200hrs in those days. Nightclubs required neckties and slacks so it prevented further debauchery unless one had dressed up for the night.

As I was young I wasn't bothered by such things but opted/ was ordered to do the nightwatch (good overtime compensation), 2000-0800hrs and then next day, after a few hours of kip, I took the train up to London. There as lad I remember being rescued by a gentleman that pulled me back from stepping in front of a bus as I was gawking at the buildings in the wrong direction, I'm sure I would not be here writing this had he not done it.

I also found the Virgin records where I bought LP's that my mates had never seen or heard of back home. I had also heard that the Carnaby street was the place for leatherware and managed to find it. Didn't have any google back in those days, just tourist maps folded up in your back pocket. There I bought my first leather jacket that I wore for years until I sold or gifted it to a colleague of mine. The daypass for the train and tube cost only 3 pounds or so and I used it to my hearts desire zipping back and forth London city. Usually I made it back to the ship for dinner and managed a few hours of kip before my duty started.

Normally we spent 2 nights in UK and then it was time to leave for Kiel Canal again, that was another day for transiting north and then 2 days more to Hanko and Helsinki to complete the circuit. Hanko was only good during summer, in winter it was dead and frigid. Helsinki was just too busy for us to go much anywhere as we were discharging the last bits from UK and getting us on the way to Kotka to start the circle anew. In Kotka I recall we had time to up the road in the evenings and when the wind was right the atmosphere was permeated by the cellulose factory odour that was pungent and ever pervasive.

Eventually the liner traffic above fizzled out and she ended up going to the channel traffic and was very successful there, so much so that she was eventually lengthened & re-engined her + the cargo lifts were removed and replaced with ramps to speed up the cargo handling.

Before I sailed on her she she suffered a heavy grounding on 11th Jan 1982 at 04.07hrs on the "Sunnantillgrundet" off Hanko, Finland. She sustained damages to her propeller, rudder and the starboard main engine foundation cracked. She lost part of her propeller, which was eventually found, and a memorial plaque was made of the incident (with the propeller piece), see below. Still she continued trading with one working engine and then on 31st May to 21st June 1982 she had repairs carried out at the Wärtsilä yard, Turku, Finland.

Memorial plaque

Credit: Juha Pokka

Then between 1983-1985 she had been chartered by OTAL (OT West Africa Line) to sail on the African west coast and the old timers (they seemed to me like that as I was only 16/17yrs old at the time) often related various happenstances, shenanigans and incidents from that time, it was still a rough part of the world in those days. This was also the time when aids was discovered, so several guys had been worried about it.

The crewmess had a bar built from various exotic woods they managed to get from various ports that was built by the shipboard carpenter & crew. It seems the bar disappeared maybe with her sale or relocation out of Finland at some point. In the Flickr album from 2013 (link below) it is nowhere to be seen.

After my time she was then renamed on 6th Aug 1991 to Norqueen and was chartered to North Sea Ferries B.V. Rozenburg, Holland & was commissioned on the Middlesbrough - Zeebrügge line. On 1st Aug 1996 she arrived Öresunds yard, Landskrona, Sweden to be lengthened 28.8m and re-engined. In 26th Feb 1996 she was returned to same liner traffic. In 1997 she was trading for P&O North Sea ferries between Europort (Rotterdam) - Teesport. In 2009 she was commissioned on Zeebrügge - Tilbury line. By 2013 her P&O charter was finished.

On 20th Feb 2013 she departed Zeebrügge for Drapetsona, Greece via Ceuta - Valletta. On 5th March she arrived Pireus and on the 6th she was sold to Medqueen Shipping AS, Panama and renamed Medqueen and was laid up.

The lay up turned out to be very short as by 2nd July 2013 she was sold to Hermes Maritime Service Pvt Ltd, Mumbai, India. (Registered for Baltanas Shipping PVT, Panama), also renamed Queen V.

On 11th July she departed for Bar, Croatia. Then on 17th Aug 2013 she departed Bar for Ho Chi Minh City.

During Aug 2013 she was sold to Asia Marine Transport Co, Cebu City, Philippines and renamed Super Shuttle Roro 9 and flagged under Panama registry.

On 31st Aug she departed Ho Chi Minh City for Cebu City in the Philippines. Credit: Fakta om fartyg.

In recent history I could find out the following:

The current Owner/ operators appears to be the Asian Marine Transport Corporation (AMTC) that is a Filipino passenger and freight shipping company established in 1999 in Cebu City, Philippines. It owns and operates the Super Shuttle RORO, Super Shuttle Ferry and Shuttle Fast Ferry brand of RORO and ROPAX ferries. Since its establishment, the company has grown to become the largest ship-tonnage owner and operator in the Philippines, serving 32 ports of call. The company has an estimated nationwide market share of 35% for containerized cargoes and 80% for rolling cargo.

Equasis has recorded her class, Lloyd's Register (IACS) withdrawn since 30th Dec 2018 by society for other reasons, possibly annual class survey was due and company decided not to pursue it for financial or whatever reason and so the society withdrew class, this could also have been the time she changed flag from Panamanian to Philippines. Her class was according to Equasis records last renewed in 2016.

I am not sure how the Philippines registry works but I could guess that she was registered under domestic traffic and so became subject to Philippines flag regulations for class conditions etc. and as such is not getting port state inspections (PSC). The Tokyo MOU returns no PSC inspections for her.

Also her last PSC inspection had been done on 28th Oct 2012 in Zeebrugge with 2 recorded deficiencies as listed below:

- Propulsion and auxiliary machinery: Propulsion main engine

- Water/Weathertight conditions: Other load lines

Since then there has been no more PSC in the Paris MOU as she sailed in 2013 to Philippines.

Here she is arriving Cebu anchorage on YouTube. On Flickr there is a whole album from 2013 displaying SSR9 inside and out.

On 23 March 2017, two crew members of the tugboat Super Shuttle Tugboat 1 were kidnapped by Abu Sayyaf terrorists off the coast of Sibago Island in Hadji Mohammad Ajul, Basilan. The tugboat was towing M/v Super Shuttle RORO 9, she had suffered an engine problem while enroute from General Santos to Zamboanga City, when the incident happened. SSR9 was left dead in the water. Media does not tell how the story then developed.

According to marinetraffic it appears she has been at anchor for a longer time so I am guessing her end is coming near or the operators are waiting to get more cargo worthwhile her size. The ice strengthened hull should last her in those waters for many years to come...