Chandris Lines and the Crete-Oceania route

The shipping company Chandris Lines was established in 1959 by a member of the Chandris family, which has a long history in shipping. The company’s goal was to operate ocean liners between Europe and Australia. The company’s first journey from Greece was in 1959 with the famous ship Patris.

Australis was acquired a few years later and was one of the most important ships of the Chandris Lines fleet. It was bought in 1964 from an American company which had operated the ship in the USA under the name America, where it was the second largest American-owned passenger ship providing regular service. When it was bought by Chandris, the ship’s American crew protested the sale and the loss of their jobs during the ship’s departure from New York. The first item in this entry is a video of their protest.

In Greece, Australis was the largest passenger ship sailing under Greek flag at the time. When it arrived in Piraeus it was the first ship of such a large size to ever dock at the port. In the mid-1970s it was used in the route linking Greece with Australia and New Zealand through the Suez canal. In spring 1976, an advertisement in a Heraklion newspaper announced that approximately once every two months the Australis would also be departing from Crete for the same destinations.