ELPIS, now renamed PISA, is currently still in Penang, Malaysia. The ferry was sold by Italy’s Moby Lines, for which it sailed as MOBY OTTA, to Hoiyu International Group in October 2025.

The Chinese company extensively converted the ferry into a casino ship. The work primarily involved converting the vehicle decks to accommodate gambling activities, while the passenger decks remained largely unchanged from their time in Mediterranean service with Moby. ELPIS began operating under the brand Elpis Cruise on casino mini-cruises to nowhere from Penang in March 2026, but the operation ceased in mid-October.

ELPIS was delivered as TOR SCANDINAVIA by Lübecker Flender-Werke in what was then West Germany for Swedish operator Tor Line’s route linking Gothenburg with the UK and the Netherlands. TOR SCANDINAVIA was delivered in 1976, one year after sister ship TOR BRITANNIA. The latter remains in existence despite attempts to sell it for scrapping. Now named MOBY DREA, it was sold by Moby Lines to Med Fuel S.R.L. in 2025.

The Genoa-based company subsequently attempted to sell the ship for scrapping in Turkey. However, the Turkish authorities blocked this because the ship contains asbestos. When the owner later sought to have MOBY DREA’s asbestos removed in Croatia, the Croatian authorities refused to allow the ship to berth at a Croatian port. MOBY DREA has therefore been in cold lay-up in Crotone, southern Italy, since September 2025.

Sister ship ELPIS is unlikely to encounter the same obstacles to scrapping. Stricter Swedish regulations governing the use of highly hazardous asbestos as fire and thermal insulation in buildings and ships came into force in October 1975, between the construction of the two sister ships at the West German yard. TOR SCANDINAVIA was therefore delivered the following year without this problematic material on board.

Read also: Moby has sold its last “Tor Line sister” to China 

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