1914-Built DOULOS PHOS On The Beach
Plans are moving ahead with the conversion of the DOULOS PHOS into a hotel on the Indonesian island of Bintan. The ship was moved from a shipyard on the nearby island of Batam to its new permanent home near Bintan’s Bandar Bentan Telani Ferry Terminal.
This weekend, the process of hauling DOULOS PHOS onto a large promontory of reclaimed land next door to the ferry terminal began. Giant winches were pulling cables attached to the ship, which will ride up a gentle slope on top of industrial-strength airbags.
The process is being professionally managed and the ship is expected to be positioned in its final resting place in about two weeks from now.
Extensive structural work has been carried out on the DOULOS PHOS in a dry dock before she was moved to Bintan.
A full refurbishment of the interiors to provide 100 hotel rooms will begin soon.
The DOULOS PHOS is a joint venture between BizNaz Resources, which has been the ship’s owner since it was withdrawn from active service in 2010, and Bintan Resorts International, a hotel development company that owns and operates several large resort properties on a stretch of coastline close to where the DOULOS PHOS is now docked.
Bintan is located across the Singapore Strait from Singapore and can be reached via an hour-long journey by fast ferry.
The DOULOS PHOS was built in 1914 as the general cargo ship MEDINA for Mallory Steamship Company’s U.S. East Coast to Gulf of Mexico service at Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company.
After the Second World War, the ship was sold to Italian interests to become the migrant ship ROMA but very quickly thereafter was sold to Costa and rebuilt as the FRANCA C. The ship gave Costa decades of dependable service, first as a transatlantic liner and later as a cruise ship.
In its last decades of service, the ship operated as Operation Mobilization’s DOULOS as a missionary ship and floating bookstore.
END
For the ultimate coverage on this long-lived ship, see Peter Knego’s Decking DOULOS PHOS, Part One on MaritimeMatters
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Wonderful news for preservationists and ship lovers.
Can this be a miracle or just plain common sense? Whatever, if this does come to pass, great news all around.
Well in my view there are a lot more minuses to the pluses of her conversion ,, but a guess i should be happy that she has been spared from scrapping (at least for the next few years)
So nice to have Julia back in action! Great photos and reporting. Congratulations to Eric Saw for all of his hard work, self-funding and determination in saving the DOULOS PHOS from the breakers! Wishing him much success with making her viable in her new role.
What wonderful news! The Doulos is probably one of my favorite liners. It’s nice hear some positive news for a change.
Is the Doulos Phos being used as only a hotel or is it multi-use?
Che bella notizia. E’ stata la mia innamorata per tanti anni, ce l’ho ancora nel cuore.
What an amazing ship. Great photos….thanks Peter. Marvelous Italian models and 60’s clothes. We toured her once when she stopped in San Diego, and there was not one drop of luxury or beauty left for us to see.
Glad to hear that one of the oldest surviving Newport News – built ships has a new lease on life.
She is clearly a historical asset of the maritime world–a contemporary of the ”Aquitania” and others of her time and the last of hr kind of that re-WWI era. I certainly hope she lives long and prospers more in retirement–providing new and unique experiences for visitors there.
Does anybody know the status of the conversion work and what they are doing interior-wise?
Served as 2nd officer on her for 8 months about 1978/79 around South Africa. Not sure if I am pleased or not about seeing her now a hotel really.
Served on her as 2nd officer for eight months around 1978/79 sailing around South America. Not sure if pleased to see this or not really…