New superferry on the Palma-Barcelona route

Joan Collins THE new superferry, owned by the company Balearia, came into operation yesterday between Palma and Barcelona. Named the Pau Casals, she has a capacity of 2'000 linear metres of roll on-roll off cargo and cars and can carry 400 passengers. She will make one round trip per day between the two cities. According to a spokesman for the company, this new service will be a reliable alternative to all the other ships on the Palma-Barcelona route as there is a great demand at the moment for quality shipping services at competitive prices. The superferry, which has a service speed of 24 knots, will make the crossing in just over six hours. She will leave Palma at 12.30pm and Barcelona at 11.15pm, according to sources at the company. The new ship is of modern construction, is 180 metres long and has cabins and armchairs for the comfort of her passengers who will also have all sorts of facilities and services available to them on board. Balearia is also constructing two more large superferries. With this new service, Balearia completes its complement of routes offered to, from and between the Balearics. It is already the only company which operates in all four Balearic islands during the whole year. It has routes from Barcelona to Minorca, Majorca and Ibiza and from Denia to Formentera, Ibiza and Majorca as well as covering inter-island services in the four islands. Although figures for last year are not yet available, the company expects to have ended 2005 with more than two million passengers and a turnover of 100 million euros. This is the first time that the turnover has topped 100 million euros, the sources said. The same sources said that more than half the passengers on regular lines who landed at island ports last year had done so using Bealearia's service.