The Dover UK-based P&O Ferries sold the ships Pride of Bruges and Pride of York.
Pride of York was handed over to her new owner and operator GNV-Grandi Navi Veloci on April 15. The sistership Pride of Bruges will be transferred within days and renamed "GNV Antares".
GNV confirmed the sale in a press release. Pride of York will sail between Naples-Palermo and renamed "GNV Aries". The vessel will be refurbished prior to being introduced to service.
P&O Ferries has not commented publicly on the sale.
The Pride of York ship left Rotterdam Netherlands at ~10 am Saturday morning, April 17, and headed to Naples Italy. The vessel will sail will be Cyprus-flagged. The boat had been laid up at Rosslare Europort Ireland for months.
Pride of Bruges is expected to follow after preparations for her trip have been made.
The vessels Pride of Bruges and Pride of York sailed nightly between Hull England and Zeebrugge Belgium until P&O Ferries ended the service in January 2021 due to a drop in demand.
Both Ro-Pax vessels (each with a max capacity of 1250 passengers and 850 cars) were listed on a German shipbrokers website.
The UK's Department for Transport said the operation of ferry routes was a commercial matter for the relevant companies concerned and added that throughout the pandemic the government had invested millions to protect the critical passenger and cargo routes.
Both ferries are sisterships (1987-built/34-years-old), with LOA length 179 m (588 ft), and were among the largest in the UK.
The route Hull-Zeebrugge had been running since the 1960s. However, it was described as loss-making by P&O and saw its last crossing on January 1, 2021.