ANEK Lines
ANEK Lines (Ανώνυμη Ναυτιλιακή Εταιρεία Κρήτης, "Anonymi Naftiliaki Eteria Kritis", Anonymous Shipping Company of Crete) is one of the largest passenger shipping companies in Greece. It was founded in 1967 by numerous shareholders who were inhabitants of Crete. It operates passenger ferries, mainly on Piraeus-Crete and Adriatic Sea lines. Today the company is listed on the Athens Stock Exchange () and 37.5% owned by Cyprus-based Sea Star Capital PLC (Yannis S. Vardinoyannis). Also Amalia Vardinoyannis holds a 26.9% stake through her holding company Varmin. History. In Crete protests broke out after the Typaldos Lines car ferry capsized  due to a series of safety regulations violations. The ship sank on her way from Chania to Piraeus on 8 December 1966, resulting in the death of more than 200 people. In the aftermath a few hundreds of Cretans (traders, free-lancers, pensioners, farmers) following a proposal by the Association of Economists of the Chania Prefecture and the support of the Metropolitan of Kissamos and Selinos, Irineos Galanakis, implement their idea to found a multi-shareholder shipping company. Therefore, on Exploitation, the Directorate of Technical Services and the Piraeus main agency Fleet. Fleet of ANEK Lines are motor Ro-Ro /passenger ferries. ANEK-Superfast. On 7 June 2011 ANEK Lines and Superfast Ferries created a joint venture for the Piraeus-Heraklion and the Patra-Igoumenitsa-Ancona routes with two RO-PAX ships on the first route (the ANEK-owned "Olympic Champion" and the Superfast-owned "Superfast XII") and three in the second route (the ANEK-owned "Hellenic Spirit" and the Superfast-owned "Superfast VI" and "Superfast XI"). Affiliates. Companies that are affiliates of ANEK Lines (larger than 10%) are outlined below. ANEK Group: Former affiliates and investments: RETHYMNIAKI (took over and finally merged into ANEK Lines in 1999) ANEN 19.36