page_title: MV Maria Dolores
section_title: Later career
hierarchical_section_title: MV Maria Dolores / Career / Later career
caption_attribution_description: Ir - Rampa Ta' L - Isla, L-Isla, Malta
context_page_description: MV or HSC Maria Dolores is a high-speed catamaran ferry owned by Virtu Ferries. It was built by Austal in 2005–06, entering service as a ferry between Malta and Sicily in March 2006. The vessel soon became too small to allow for the increasing passenger and cargo traffic on this route, and in October 2010 it was replaced by the larger catamaran MV Jean de La Valette.
  In 2011, the vessel took part in evacuating people from Tripoli during the Libyan Civil War. Since 2012, it has been leased to Inter Shipping SRA as a ferry between Tarifa and Tangier.
context_section_description: After the vessel was out of service, plans were made for it to operate on a different undisclosed route in the Mediterranean Sea.
  During the Libyan Civil War, the vessel was chartered by the US Embassy in Malta to evacuate some 500 to 550 people from Libya. Maria Dolores left Malta on 22 February 2011 and arrived in Tripoli on the following day. Embarkation of the passengers took longer than expected, and the vessel left Libya on 25 February, arriving in Malta on the same day. Two other Virtu Ferries catamarans, San Gwann and San Pawl, also took part in the evacuations.
  In 2012, Maria Dolores was chartered to Inter Shipping SRA for a period of five years. The time charter agreement was renewed in 2017 with a three-year lease which expires on 31 May 2020. The vessel is currently operated by Inter Shipping SRA on a time charter basis on routes between Tarifa in Spain and Tangier in Morocco.
caption: Maria Dolores and other smaller Virtu Ferries vessels moored off Senglea in May 2012
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