The sale of MOBY OTTA follows that of her sister ship MOBY DREA, which was sold back in April to the Italian company MedFuel Srl. MOBY DREA was later unsuccessfully sent for scrapping in Turkey, where the import permit was revoked after it became clear that the ship contained a higher amount of asbestos-contaminated material than Turkish regulations allow for the import of vessels for dismantling.

Instead, MOBY DREA was towed to Split, Croatia, where Brodosplit Shipyard was supposed to carry out asbestos removal. However, this was also prevented by Croatian authorities following local protests. As a result, MOBY DREA, under tow by the Greek tug PROTUG 75, had to return to Italy.

PROTUG 75 arrived with MOBY DREA in Crotone, southern Italy, on 6 September. MOBY OTTA and MOBY DREA were originally built as TOR SCANDINAVIA and TOR BRITANNIA in 1976 and 1975 respectively, for the Swedish company Salenrederierna AB and its Tor Line service between Gothenburg, Felixstowe, and Amsterdam.

The ferries spent the longest part of their Northern European careers with DFDS, sailing as PRINCESS OF SCANDINAVIA and PRINCE OF SCANDINAVIA. Moby Line acquired the ships in 2006 and 2003 respectively, and they have in their Mediterranean careers primarily operated out of Genoa.

© Shippax