MS Oujda was a roll-on/roll off ferry built as Viking Venturer by Aalborg Værft AS[4] in 1974 for Townsend Thoresen.
History
Viking Venturer was initially put into service on the route 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 replaced by the P&O house flag.[6] 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.
In 1986, the ship was taken to Bremerhaven for "jumboisation", which added an extra deck to the ship, making it appear comparatively top heavy.
She was sold in 2002 after 27 years service on the English Channel. At the time she, was the eldest cross-channel ferry sailing from the United Kingdom.[citation needed]
Her new owner, El Salam Maritime, renamed her the Pride of Al Salam 2[1] then latterly Oujda[1] sailing between Sète and Nador in her final days with a Panama flag.[2]
