PENTALINA completes major berthing trials programme for CalMac

CalMac might charter Pentland Ferries' PENTALINA. © Frank Lose

The move to introduce a new vessel to the fleet of Caledonian MacBrayne (CalMac) has taken a major step forward this week with Pentland Ferries’ 70m medium-speed ro-pax catamaran PENTALINA completing a major series of berthing trials at mainland and island ports/harbours on CalMac’s western isles network.

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SNAV charters MOBY CORSE for Ancona-Split service

MOBY CORSE will have a summer stint in the Adriatic, operating under the SNAV banner between Ancona and Split. © Marc Ottini

SNAV has chartered Moby’s 1978-built ro-pax MOBY CORSE to operate its Adriatic service between Ancona and Spilt this summer. The 1,240-passenger and 400-car capacity vessel’s charter is for the months of July and August.

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Brittany Ferries envisages introducing all-electric ‘seaglider’ passenger-only ferries by 2028

The shape of things to come in 2028 for Brittany Ferries? Zero-emission high-speed seagliders. © Brittany Ferries

Brittany Ferries has signed a Letter of Intent with Regional Electric Ground Effect Nautical Transport (REGENT) for the development of zero-emission high-speed ‘seagliders’, a new all-electric wing-in-ground effect vehicle (WIG) that combines hydrofoil with airplane technology, promising a sustainable and more efficient form of ferry travel.

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Algérie Ferries takes delivery of BADJI MOKHTAR III

Naming ceremony of BADJI MOKHTAR III, held on 15 June. © GSI

During a naming ceremony held 15 June, builders Guangzhou Shipyard International (GSI) handed over the 1,800-passenger and 600-car capacity BADJI MOKHTAR III to Algérie Ferries (ENTMV).

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Stena Line adds Holyhead-Belfast weekend sailings

STENA ESTRID will operate Holyhead-Belfast weekend sailings aimed at both tourists and freight. © Maritime Photographic

Heavy tourist demand on Stena Line’s domestic Cairnryan-Belfast and Birkenhead (Liverpool)-Belfast routes has led to the addition of a new temporary weekend service connecting Holyhead in Wales with Belfast, Northern Ireland.

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New Marseille-West Africa ro-ro service to start on 1 July

MY ROSE will open a new monthly ro-ro service from Marseille to Nouadhibou and Dakar. © Bolloré Shipping

The 1,497-lanemetre capacity, Glenhallen Shipping-operated ro-ro MY ROSE is to start a monthly freight ro-ro service between Marseille and two ports in West Africa – Nouadhibou (Mauritania) and Dakar (Senegal).

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Irish Ferries to start Dover-Calais service on 29 June

ISLE OF INISHMORE is being readied for Irish Ferries' new Dover-Calais service, due to start on 29 June. © Peter Therkildsen

Irish Ferries’ new single-ship service between Dover and Calais will start on 29 June with the 09:20 sailing of ISLE OF INISHMORE from Dover. The 2,200-passenger and 2,060-lanemetre capacity ro-pax will operate five sailings in each direction each day from 30 June, with a 50 to 55-minute layover between each sailing.

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Tallink to resume Tallinn-Stockholm sailings next month

A familiar sight in the Stockholm archipelago again soon - Tallink's BALTIC QUEEN. © Christian Costa

After being suspended for nearly 16 months, Tallink Grupp will resume sailings between Tallinn and Stockholm on 9 July. Normally a two-ship service with daily sailings, it will initially be operated by BALTIC QUEEN only, offering sailings from Tallinn and Stockholm every other day.

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NYK orders 12 LNG-powered PCTCs from Japanese yards

Last year, Shin Kurushima Toyohashi already built the 7,000-CEU SAKURA LEADER, the prototype LNG-powered PCTC. © NYK Line

NYK, a major Japanese shipping line and leading PCTC operator, has ordered a total of 12 LNG-powered PCTCs at Japanese yards after earlier committing to an order for four vessels at the China Merchants Jinling Shipyard.

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SILVER BREEZE ready to take up service

On 13 June SILVER BREEZE made her maiden call at Tomakomai. © Tsuyoshi Ishiyama

Following its delivery by Naikai Zosen’s Setoda shipyard, the brand-new ro-pax ferry SILVER BREEZE, operated by Tokyo-based Kawasaki Kinkai Kisen Kaisha (K Line Kinkai), is ready to take up service between Tomakomai and Hachinohe on 16 June.

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Baleària to open new France-Morocco routes

The 1980-built REGINA BALTICA might appear on the Sète-Nador route this summer. © Frank Lose

Spanish ferry operator Baleària has announced that it will start operating between Sète (France) and Nador (Morocco), a route for which it had previously received authorisation.

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Stena’s ro-pax ferry SAGA ready to leave Sweden for the Med

STENA SAGA - here seen still in service - has been laid up in Uddevalla for the past 14 months. © Philippe Holthof

Stena’s 1981-built ro-pax ferry SAGA – the former STENA SAGA – is being prepared to leave her layup berth in Uddevalla, Sweden on Wednesday 16 June. The 2,230-passenger and 1,032-lanemetre ferry will head for the Mediterranean where it is expected to take up a summer charter.

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Press Releases

These press release news are published “as is”, i.e. this is how we get it from the senders. If you want to have your relevant news published, please send it to news@shippax.se

Now the DFDS ferries in Copenhagen will be receiving shore power

© DFDS

The work to establish a shore power facility at the DFDS ferry terminal in Copenhagen is in full swing. The initiative is a joint collaboration between CMP and DFDS, with the Swedish company Actemium as contractor and COWI as technical advisor. The facility is expected to be operational in late summer 2021 and will makes it possible for DFDS’ ferries CROWN SEAWAYS and PEARL SEAWAYS to significantly reduce the ships’ CO2 emissions while in port.

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The production of the third expedition cruise vessel started at Helsinki Shipyard

Swan Hellenic © Helsinki Shipyard

The production of the third vessel of the luxury expedition cruise ships ordered from Helsinki Shipyard began on June 10th. The project NB518 has progressed as expected, and now they have started cutting steel parts.

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Carsten Nørland to succeed Søren Poulsgaard Jensen as Scandlines CEO

After more than ten successful years leading Scandlines, Søren Poulsgaard Jensen informed the Board that he found it the right time to pass on the baton. To replace Søren Poulsgaard Jensen as CEO, the Board has appointed Carsten Nørland, Senior Vice President International at Royal Unibrew.

Tallink opens its 10th Burger King® restaurant in the Baltics today in Galerija Centrs, Riga

Tallink Grupp, owners of the Burger King® franchise in the Baltic states, will open their 10th Burger King restaurant in the Baltics at Galerija Centrs, Riga (Audeju street 14).

Tallink plans to re-open Riga - Stockholm route from spring 2022, and during this year offers opportunities for Latvian travellers to get to Stockholm via Tallinn

AS Tallink Grupp decided to re-open the route Riga – Stockholm from the spring of 2022. It is planned that the ship ROMANTIKA will sail between the capitals of Latvia and Sweden every other day. This, however, means that regular traffic on the regular route Riga – Stockholm will not be resumed this year.

Tallink offers three special cruises with SILJA EUROPA to Visby, Gotland in July and August

Tallink Grupp offers Estonian, Finnish and Latvian travel fans three opportunities to travel to Visby on the island of Gotland in Sweden this summer. The special cruises to Visby are operated from Helsinki via Tallinn on three Sundays, 11 July, 25 July and 8 August and will be operated with the company’s vessel SILJA EUROPA.

Production of ICON OF THE SEAS began at Meyer Turku shipyard

On Monday 14th, Meyer Turku started the production of the ICON OF THE SEAS, a ship to be built for Royal Caribbean International. The start of production and the revealing of the ship’s name were celebrated in a corona-safe manner at the shipyard's plate hall. Meyer Turku CEO Tim Meyer, Chairman of the Board of Meyer Turku , Bernard Meyer, Chairman and CEO of Royal Caribbean Group, Richard Fain, and Harri Kulovaara, Executive Vice President of Maritime&Newbuilds, were present. CEO and president of Royal Caribbean International, Michael Bayley, attended the event remotely.

On-shore power plant at Kiel's Ostseekai officially inaugurated

An important step for climate protection in the port of Kiel. At the Ostseekai, the Minister of Economics, Transport, Labour and Technology and Tourism of the State of Schleswig-Holstein, Dr Bernd Buchholz and Kiel's Lord Mayor, Dr Ulf Kämpfer, officially commissioned one of the most powerful on-shore power plants in Europe together with the CEO of the Costa Group, Michael Thamm and Dr Dirk Claus, Managing Director at the PORT OF KIEL. After the successful integration test, the AIDASOL was the first cruise ship to be connected to the shore power supply system on 16th June. With 16 megawatts, the facility can supply a cruise ship at the Ostseekai and the Stena Line ferries at the Schwedenkai in parallel with electricity produced from hydropower in a climate-neutral way.

Wärtsilä and Weathernews partner to enhance smart data solutions designed to make shipping safer and greener

Wärtsilä Voyage and Japan based Weathernews Inc (WNI), the world’s largest private weather routeing provider, have signed a strategic partnership agreement. The partnership will enable the integration of WNI’s weather forecasting data and Optimum Ship Routeing (OSR) service with Wärtsilä’s products and solutions, thereby increasing navigational safety and supporting the decarbonisation efforts of ship owners and operators.

Royal Caribbean Group announces pricing of $650 million senior unsecured notes

Royal Caribbean Group announced that it has priced its private offering of $650 million aggregate principal amount of 4.250% senior unsecured notes due 2026 (the "Notes"). The Notes will mature on July 1, 2026. The Notes are expected to be issued on or around June 24, 2021, subject to customary closing conditions.

American Cruise Lines Confirms Two More New Builds for 2022 as AMERICAN MELODY Readies for August Mississippi Debut

American Cruise Lines announced today that it has signed contracts with Chesapeake Shipbuilding of Salisbury, MD, to build 2 more modern riverboats in 2022. The new builds will be the 5th and 6th in American Cruise Lines revolutionary modern series, first introduced in 2018. Both new modern riverboats are yet to be named and will follow the 2021 debuts of AMERICAN JAZZ and AMERICAN MELODY on the Mississippi River.

Delivery date of car and passenger ferry AURORA BOTNIA, operating between Vaasa in Finland and Umeå in Sweden, moved to July

The car and passenger ferry AURORA BOTNIA is nearing the end of the construction phase at Rauma Marine Constructions’ shipyard in Rauma, Finland and will be handed over to Wasaline in mid-July this year. The adjusted date of handover in July allows RMC enough time for the preparatory work done on the ferry’s innovative fuel solution to be completed and to assure a corona-safe working environment at the shipyard.

Wärtsilä supports EU and Waterborne Technology Platform partnership to reach zero emissions by 2050

The technology group Wärtsilä is active in its support for a co-programmed partnership between the European Commission and the Waterborne Technology Platform. The aim of the partnership is to demonstrate zero-emission solutions for all main ship types and services before 2030, which will enable zero-emission waterborne transport before 2050. An agreement for the partnership is to be signed during the European Research and Innovation Days event on June 23.

EfficientFlow project delivered concrete operational results

The Ports of Gävle and Rauma implemented a Port Activity App for sharing operational key timestamps among port call actors. The solution is operational since November 2020. Port of Gävle is using it as a basis for a Just-in-Time project for tankers, and in Finland, the solution is being rolled out to more ports through a Software as a Service solution from FinTraffic. The Swedish Maritime Administration (SMA) is making the Meeting Optimization project solution for narrow archipelago fairways operational.

Commuters travelling between Finland and Estonia will be able to get vaccinated against Coronavirus onboard Tallink vessels on 17 and 18 June 2021

Initiated by Tallink Grupp and in cooperation with the Estonian medical centre Confido, Tallink customers commuting between the capitals of Estonia and Finland on 17 and 18 June onboard Tallink shuttle vessels STAR and MEGASTAR will be offered an opportunity to get vaccinated during their voyage.

Stena Line eases mouth mask requirements for passengers

From Monday 14 June, Stena Line will ease the requirement to wear mouth mask on board the company's ferries to Denmark on the Gothenburg-Fredrikshavn and Halmstad-Grenaa routes. The announcement comes after Denmark introduced further easing of its covid restrictions.

More orders in Norway for Cavotec’s next generation vacuum mooring system

Cavotec has been awarded an order for its next generation vacuum mooring technology, MoorMaster™ NxG, from leading Norwegian ferry operator Fjord 1. The new systems will be used with a new-build, zero-emission vessel to reduce energy consumption in port. The customer has also signed a long-term service agreement for the operator’s existing MoorMaster vacuum mooring systems and e-vessel charging units.

Another hybrid ferry is being built at the CRIST shipyard

The first steel cutting of a modern, environmentally friendly, ecological hybrid ferry for the Finnish shipowner Finferries, with construction number P317, has taken place.
This is the third modern plug-in hybrid ferry of this type, fully equipped, built for the Finnish ferry operator Finferries by the CRIST shipyards.

MOL Joins International Think Tank and accelerate development for Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. announced that it joined the Australia-based Global CCS Institute (GCCSI), an international think tank on carbon capture and storage (CCS), which is recognized as a means to achieve a low-carbon and decarbonized society.

Ports collaborate for safe and speedy restart of important cruise ship tourism

Sweden’s first cruise ship call of the year where passengers will be able to leave the ship to visit Gothenburg, Visby and Stockholm will take place on 15th June. A joint collaboration of ports and regulatory authorities has made this cautious restart possible, sending a positive message both to international cruise shipping companies and to the Swedish tourism industry.

Shipping industry agrees action on R&D investment and trade digitisation

As world leaders meet in Cornwall, England, for the G7, the first ever meeting of the equivalent maritime bodies, titled M7, took place on Wednesday this week, organised by the UK Chamber of Shipping.
Delegates from the shipowner associations of the G7, plus those from Australia, India, South Africa and South Korea, were joined by the Secretary General of the International Chamber of Shipping, Chief Executive and Secretary General of BIMCO and a representative from ECSA.

22 industry players kick off studying ammonia as an alternative marine fuel

Industry players set up “Joint Study” framework for studying common issues on ammonia as an alternative marine fuel, to get ready to IMO’s decarbonization targets, including energy, mining, power utility, chemical, terminal, shipping, shipbuilding, manufacture, bunkering, and classification society.