Tibor Szamueli and her sister ship were operated by
Interlighter, a company founded in May 1978 by the governments of
Bulgaria,
Hungary, Soviet Union and
Czechoslovakia with the sole purpose of transporting lighters without
transshipment between the countries along the
Danube river and the countries in
South and
South-East Asia. The transportation service was offered under the brand "Danube-Sea Line". The barges carried by
Tibor Szamueli were loaded in various ports along the Danube river and then pushed downstream to
Sulina,
Romania, where they were loaded in the ship. They were mainly transported to the
Mekong Delta, a voyage that took around 18 days, and pushed upstream as far as
Phnom Penh,
Cambodia, for unloading. Occasionally, lighters were also carried to
Karachi,
Pakistan;
Bombay,
India; and
Penang,
Malaysia. The service continued until the early 1990s, when the demand for lighters dropped and the ships were laid up. Both
Yulius Fuchik and
Tibor Szamueli were sold in the late 1990s and renamed
Production Driller and
Development Driller respectively, and were laid up in
Piraeus,
Greece. The ships changed hands again in 2002.
Production Driller was renamed
Asian Alliance and
Development Driller became
Asian Reliance.
Asian Reliance was rechristened
Reliance and then
C Reliance, and scrapped on
Gadani Beach,
Pakistan. == References ==