She was built as a multi-purpose ferry, capable of carrying railway rolling stock as well as road vehicles.

She served on cross-channel routes until she was sold in 1990 to the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company (IoMSPCo) and reflagged to the Bahamas.

She was due to be delivered in October 1972,[2] but the shipyard went bankrupt after her launch and the unfinished ship was laid up in Genoa.

She reverted to the Dover–Dunkerque route on 27 September, serving until 24 April 1988 when she was again chartered by SNCF for use between Calais and Dover.

[1] On 23 July 1988, Saint Eloi collided with the breakwater at Dover and suffered a damaged stern.

On 4 March 1989, Saint Eloi entered service on the Dún Laoghaire–Holyhead route, which she operated on until 28 April.

[2] This enabled the regular ferry St Columba to undergo an overhaul at Bremerhaven, West Germany.

[2] On 11 January 1990, Channel Entente arrived at Douglas, Isle of Man for berthing trials.

She entered service on the Douglas–Heysham route on 19 February, serving until 27 September when she was sent to Messrs Wright & Beyer, Birkenhead for a refit.

[1] In February 1995, King Orry was reflagged to the Isle of Man, with Douglas as her port of registry.

[2] In October 1998, King Orry was sold to Moby Lines Srl, Naples, Italy.

The ship was renamed again Azores Express and remained laid-up with until the summer of 2019, when she returned to service for one day in Alexandroupoli-Samothraki route without success.

The ship changed name and signals, and returned to service, replacing Aqua Blue on the Lavrion-Agios Efstratios-Lemnos-Kavala route, again without any success, leading to her getting laid-up again.