SEAROAD I © Peter Therkildsen

Bass Strait newbuilding arrives at Fayard after sea trials in Skagerrak

Ro-roSEAROAD I passed through Gabet, the entrance to Odense Fjord from the Kattegat, at 04:15 local time on 17 August after four days of sea trials in the Skagerrak and Kattegat. The 210-metre-long and 29.3-metre-wide dual-fuel LNG-powered RoRo ship was launched and named on 7 November last year at Flensburger Shipyard.

Following the latest sea trials, SEAROAD I has entered the final stages before delivery to Australia’s SeaRoad Shipping, which will deploy the vessel across the Bass Strait between Melbourne, Victoria, and Devonport, Tasmania.

Instead of returning directly to the shipyard on Flensburg Fjord in northern Germany, SEAROAD I proceeded into Odense Fjord because Flensburger Shipyard cannot drydock its newbuildings once they have been launched from the building berth.

SEAROAD I will therefore be drydocked at the large Danish repair yard Fayard at Munkebo, on the southeastern side of Odense Fjord. The underwater hull will be cleaned and receive a new coating as part of the final preparations before delivery.

SeaRoad Shipping currently operates two ships across the Bass Strait: the chartered 2020-built LIEKUT and its own SEAROAD MERSEY II, built in 2016. SEAROAD MERSEY II was also built at the Flensburg yard, then known as Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft (FSG). It likewise called at Fayard before delivery, arriving there on 19 September 2016, around a month before being handed over.

aug 18 2026