Sitmar Cruises

Sitmar Line

House flag of Sitmar Cruises

Sitmar Cruises and its predecessor Sitmar Line were company names derived from the acronym for the Società Italiana Trasporti Marittimi (English: Italian Maritime Transport Company). SITMAR originally was an Italian shipping line founded by Russian émigré

for Ambassador Cruise Line.

Company history

SITMAR began when

and other nations.

SITMAR's first vessel to operate services to Australia was the Castelbianco. Amongst the many companies contracted to carry displaced people, SITMAR's vessels were noted for providing higher quality accommodation and food.

During the 1950s, SITMAR became a major passenger shipping company. It offered regular services between Europe and Australia for migrants and full-fare paying passengers. For several years, the company operated voyages between Europe, Central America and South America. Periodically SITMAR also engaged in the seasonal tourist trade between Europe, the United States and Canada.

The Central and South America services, also the North Atlantic summer services, were abandoned by 1957. SITMAR then sold its nominally last cargo vessel, the reefer Fairsky (1), while other V companies such as Silver Line, Italpacific and the Alva Steamship Co maintained the group's extensive cargo ship and oil tanker operations. SITMAR then concentrated on passenger services between Europe and Australasia until the early 1970s, when it also began offering family-oriented cruises from North America, marketed as Sitmar Cruises. Briefly from 1972, in Australia SITMAR entered a line voyage marketing agreement with Shaw Savill Line, named Sea Travel Centres. However, this agreement was short-lived as both partners ceased regular circumnavigations in 1974. The name Sitmar Cruises was subsequently also used in Australia, offering full-time Sydney based cruises, with TSS Fairsky and Fairsky (2).^[1]

The 1980s brought the orders of the first new ships for Sitmar. In 1984 the lines first newbuild Fairsky debuted. Later in the year, Sitmar would begin negotiations for 3 additional new ships. In December 1985, a letter of intent was signed for two new 798 passenger ships to be built at Fincantieri. Boris Vlasov would take active role in the new ships designs, pulling from his years of experience.^[2]

In June 1986 the order was place for the third ship, the new FairMajesty at Chantiers d'Atlantique in France. This ship was scheduled to debut before the other two Italian built sisters. Renderings showed he ship adopting the lines new livery and Swan logo, and have the name prefix Sitmar FairMajesty.

In November 1987, Boris Vlasov died, while a deal being formed to sell Sitmar Cruises to P&O.^[3] Sitmar at this time was continuing its rebranding, introducing a new livery, abandoning the "V" logo on the funnel and replacing it with a blue funnel and white "S" swan logo, along with hull art. This new color scheme only ended up being fully applied to the Fairwind while in service, while the FairMajesty and Fairstar only received partial application on the funnel.^[2]

In July 1988, Sitmar Cruises' name and ships were purchased by the

Fleet history

Vlasov operated cargo ships registered under either Greek, Italian or United Kingdom flags before and during the Second World War. SITMAR ships carried a letter "V" on their funnels, for "Vlasov". After the war, Vlasov purchased the former American troop ships Wooster Victory and Vassar Victory, chartering them to the IRO. Wooster Victory first operated under its original name then was renamed Castelverde, while Vassar Victory was immediately renamed Castelbianco. Both vessels were Italian-registered.

After the IRO charter contracts ended in 1952, Castelbianco and Castelverde were extensively rebuilt and used to carry emigrants, initially from Europe to Central America, later from Europe to Australia. This service ended in 1957 and both vessels were sold to the

Spanish Line

.

Vlasov also bought two war surplus

British-India Steam Navigation Company

– was acquired in the late 1940s and after refurbishment joined the SITMAR fleet in 1952, seeing duty in a number of markets.

From 1955 until 1970 SITMAR won successive five-year contracts from the Australian government to carry British emigrants from Southampton to Australia under the

Chandris Lines

instead won the migrant contract.

In 1968 Vlasov purchased the

John Latsis

.

New-builds

SITMAR who had traditional converted older passenger ships, decided on its first new-build, the

was sold for scrap in 2013, being its 29th year.

A second new build was ordered and built by Chantiers de l'Atlantique, at their shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France, and launched in 1988 as Sitmar Fair Majesty. Originally ordered for Sitmar Cruises, however with the merger of Sitmar Cruises into Princess, she first entered service with Princess Cruises as Star Princess in 1989.^[2]

A pair of approximately 70,000

. Pacific Jewel would sail briefly as Karnika before being sold for scrap in 2020. While Pacific Dawn was intended to sail as Amy Johnson for Cruise & Maritime Voyages, those plans would fall through and was resold to become a floating residence, named Satoshi. Those plans also fell through, and the ship became the Ambience for Ambassador Cruise Line, the last operating ship of the former brand SITMAR.

Name	Image	Built	Years in Service for Sitmar	Status	Notes
Fairsea		1941	(1949–1969)	Scrapped 1969	Built as the USS Charger (CVE-30) as an escort carrier for the United States Navy
Castelbianco		1945	(1952–1957)	Scrapped	Built in 1945 as Vassar Victory, named Castelbianco in 1947, renamed Castel Bianco in 1952, renamed Begona in 1957.
Castel Felice		1931	(1952–1970)	Scrapped 1970	Built for the British India Company as the Kenya
Castel Verde		1945	(1953–1957)	Scrapped	Previously named Castelverde and Wooster Victory built in 1945
Fairsky		1941	(1958–1977)	Scrapped	Previously named Castel Forte
Fairstar		1957	(1964–1988)	Scrapped as Fairstar in 1997	Built as the Oxfordshire in 1957, retained name Fairstar under new P&O ownership until retirement in 1997
Fairwind		1957	(1968–1988)	Scrapped in 2004 as Albatross	Renamed Sitmar Fairwind in 1988, became Fair Princess when line was taken over by P&O
Fairsea (2)		1956	(1971–1988)	Scrapped in 2005	Originally to be named Fairland, became Dawn Princess when line was taken over by P&O
Fairsky		1984	(1984–1988)	Scrapped in 2013	One of the last large steamships built. Became the Sky Princess when line was taken over by P&O
Sitmar FairMajesty		1988	(1988) Never entering service for Sitmar Cruises	Scrapped in 2021	Ordered and designed for Sitmar, launched with new Sitmar livery, transferred to Princess Cruises right after completion to become Star Princess
Unnamed Newbuild (Crown Princess)		1990	Transferred before entering service	Scrapped in 2021	Ordered and designed for Sitmar, transferred to Princess Cruises before completion
Unnamed Newbuild (Regal Princess)		1991	Transferred before entering service	In service	Ordered and designed for Sitmar, transferred to Princess Cruises before completion

The Vlasov Group, now renamed V-Ships, helped found Silversea Cruises in 1994 by a joint venture between V-Ships of Monaco and Antonio Lefebvre d'Ovidio of Rome. The joint owners had previously been the co-owners of Sitmar Cruises. V Ships and the D'Ovidio family operated Silversea Cruises until taken over by Royal Caribbean Group in July 2020.^[8]

The former Regal Princess, one of the pair of ships originally ordered and designed for Sitmar, and operated for Princess Cruises, before being operated for

, those plans would fall through and was resold to become a floating residence, named Satoshi. Those plans also fell through, and the ship became the Ambience for Ambassador Cruise Line, and is the last operating ship designed for the former SITMAR line.

References

Notes