Australian National Line On entering service,
Australian Trader was assigned to
Bass Strait crossings between
Melbourne and
Devonport; the ship departed from Melbourne on her maiden voyage on 24 June 1969, then commenced paid services on 29 June. In April 1972, the ferry was returned to the dockyard for modifications, prior to entering service on the
Sydney to
Hobart and Sydney to
Bell Bay/
Burnie routes. Because of the longer run, more crew needed to be accommodated; this was achieved by extending the superstructure and converting some of the passenger cabins to crew use, in turn reducing the passenger complement to 172.
Australian Trader fared poorly on the run: the service was dogged by bad reviews of the ship's design and amenities, while
maritime union strikes disrupted service. In June 1976, Australian National Line announced plans to cease passenger service between Sydney and Tasmania, with replacement by a cargo-only service aboard
Bass Trader. Although due to cease operations on 3 July, delays in the completion of the new vessel kept
Australian Trader in operation until the end of July, when she was laid up.
Jervis Bays primary role was to facilitate the seamanship and navigation training of officer cadets, with logistic transport of
Australian Army soldiers and equipment seen as a back-up capability.
Jervis Bay paid off on 18 April 1994.
Post-military service The ship was put up for sale in October 1994. On 23 December, she was sold to Liberian company Voyager Marine, renamed to MS
Agios Andreas, and
registered to
Kingstown, Saint Vincent. The ship sailed from Sydney on 14 January 1995; the voyage to Greece was made using the port engine only, as the starboard engine had been disassembled with the ship was to receive new engines in Greece. Once in Greece,
Agios Andreas underwent major modifications including the installation of new engines from the ships to be scrapped, fire damaged
Ionian Express, extension of the superstructure along the length of the hull; this and other modifications resulted in a passenger capacity increase to 1,120 (316 in cabins), vehicle capacity to grow to 300 cars, and the ship's gross tonnage to become . On completion, the ship began ferry services between Greece and Turkey, under the operation of Greek company Med Link Lines. In November 2003, the ship was sold to Marwan Shipping and Trading of
Comoros, renamed MS
Ajman Leader, and began operations in the
Persian Gulf out of
Dubai. In February 2004, ownership was transferred to Marwan Shipping and Trading of
Sharjah,
United Arab Emirates, and the vessel was renamed MS
Ajman City. In September 2004,
Ajam City was sold to
shipbreakers, and was taken to
Alang, India, for scrapping. ==Citations==