MS Oujda

Career
Name:	Viking Venturer (1974 - 1989) Pride of Hampshire(1989 - 2002) Pride of Al Salam 2 (2002 - 2004) Oujda (2004 - 2010)
Owner:	European Ferries (1974 - 1987) P&O Ferries (1987 - 2002) Seven Seas Marine (2002 - 2010)
Port of registry:	Panama Portsmouth, UK (1994)
Builder:	Aalborg Værft AS
Launched:	1974
Out of service:	2010
Identification:	IMO number: 7358286
Fate:	Scrapped early 2010
General characteristics (Original)
Tonnage:	6,387
Length:	128.71 m
Beam:	19.81 m
Draught:	4.53 m
Propulsion:	Två Werkspoor 8TM410, En 9TM410 diesel
Speed:	18 knots
Capacity:	1,200 passengers 275 cars
General characteristics (Extended)
Tonnage:	14,760 Gross Tonnes
Length:	143.66 m
Beam:	23.47 m
Draught:	5.05 m
Propulsion:	Två Werkspoor 8TM410, En 9TM410 diesel
Speed:	18 knots
Capacity:	1,316 passengers 380 cars

MS Oujda was a ferry built by Aalborg Værft AS in 1974 for Townsend Thoresen. She sailed under the name Viking Venturer from Southampton to Le Havre then latterly Portsmouth to Cherbourg . She was sold to P&O European Ferries and renamed Pride of Hampshire. With the takeover of Townsend Thoresen by P&O and the sinking of the Herald of Free Enterprise in 1987, P&O wanted to drop the Townsend Thoresen name and the ship names associated with the company. She was repainted from her Townsend Thoresen orange and white livery to the new P&O blue and white, the TT logo on her funnel was also replaced by the P&O house flag. Her funnel was also painted P&O navy blue replacing the TT turquoise colour. Townsend Thoresen became P&O European Ferries and in 1989 Viking Venturer became Pride of Hampshire. She continued to sail under that name until 2002. She was transferred to the Portsmouth-Cherbourg route in 1994 as a result of larger vessels Pride of Le Havre & Pride of Portsmouth being chartered for the Le Havre route. She carried a lot of freight on this route and was very busy with families during school holidays. ^{[citation needed]}

The Pride of Hampshire eventually became a well-loved ferry by her regular passengers and was affectionately known as 'The Happy Hampshire' by her loyal crew. ^{[citation needed]}Despite her rather unattractive appearance due to extensive "jumboisation" in Bremerhaven in 1986. This work added an extra deck to the ship making it appear rather top heavy. She was sold off in 2002 after 27 years service on the English Channel; at the time she was the eldest cross-channel ferry sailing from the country. ^{[citation needed]}

After her service with P&O Ferries she was sold to El Salam Maritime and renamed the Pride of El Salam 2 then latterly Oujda sailing between Sète and Nador in her final days with a Panama flag.

She was sold for demolition in India in 2010.

Sister Ships

Viking Venturer was one of four sister ships ordered by Townsend Thoresen.

The other three were:

• Viking Valiant - later the Pride of Cherbourg ², then Mogador & was scrapped May 2010
• Viking Voyager - later Pride of Cherbourg ¹, now Samothraki
• Viking Viscount - later Pride of Winchester, now Vitsentzos Kornaros

Further reading

• From the scrapyard Oujda (blog)
• 'Uglyships.wordpress.com' Pride of Hampshire
• An account of a Sète - Nador crossing in September 2006