Baleària orders LNG-powered ro-pax catamaran in Spain

Rather than placing an order with Austal or Incat, Baleària opted to build in Spain © Baleària

Baleària, Spain’s second largest gerry group, has announced an order to build a high capacity fast ro-pax catamaran at the Armon Shipyard, the Gijon-based shipbuilder that has never built this type of craft before. The company President, Adolfo Utor, made the announcement at the 57th Naval and Maritime Industry Congress in Valencia.

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Corsica Linea and La Méridionale to bid separately for next Public Ferry Service Contract to Corsica

Corsica Linea and La Méridionale: partners no more after 1 October 2019? © Jean-Pierre Fabre

The 5 November deadline is fast approaching to submit bids for the upcoming Public Ferry Service Contract for ferry services between the French mainland port of Marseille and Corsica. It has become clear, however, that long-term partners La Méridionale and Corsica Linea will each go their own way and will not bid jointly.

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Hurtigruten signs MoU for a third hybrid expedition ship

© Hurtigruten

Hurtigruten announced a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed with Norway’s Kleven Verft AS for a third hybrid battery-powered expedition ship to be added to the fleet in 2Q 2021. The 530-passenger ship will be based on Hurtigruten’s ROALD AMUNDSEN and FRIDTJOF NANSEN, currently under construction at Kleven Verft AS.

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NISSOS CHIOS to return to Gibraltar Strait

Spain-bound soon: NISSOS CHIOS © George Giannakis

Hellenic Seaways’ 2007-built NISSOS CHIOS – now part of the Attica fleet – is set to leave her homeport of Piraeus for the Gibraltar Strait on 31 October. The 1,782-passenger and 418-car (530 lanemetres) ro-pax ferry will initially be introduced on Africa Morocco Link’s (AML) Algeciras-Tangier Med route.

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SICILIA destined for the Baleària-operated Gijon – Nantes/Saint-Nazaire route

SICILA will operate the subsidized Spain-France Atlantic MoS © Kai Ortel

Baleària has elected the SICILIA to operate between the Spanish northern port of Gijon and the French Atlantic port of Saint-Nazaire. The SICILIA is one of five vessels that will be converted to take LNG.

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STENA FREIGHTER to be converted into rocket landing pad vessel

STENA FREIGHTER will be converted into a rocket landing pad © Marc Ottini

When Shippax first reported about the sale of Stena RoRo’s 2,715-lanemetre STENA FREIGHTER to Blue Origin, it was thought that the vessel would be used for the pre-launch transport of rocket components. This is not the case. Blue Origin’s CEO Bob Smith has confirmed that the vessel will undergo a major conversion project to transform her into a rocket landing pad!

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Bohai Ferry orders two freight ro-ros at Yantai CIMC Raffles Shipyard

China’s Bohai Ferry, based in the northeast of the country, has placed a newbuilding contract with domestic shipyard Yantai CIMC Raffles for the construction of two multi-purpose freight ro-ros for delivery in 2020. The 26,500gt ships will boast a 2,700-lanemetre intake, measuring 189.9m by 26.4m. After delivery both vessels will be chartered to Bohai Ferry’s newly-established joint venture Bohai Hengtong Ferry for domestic coastal service.

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ORIANA sold to JV between COSCO and China Travel Services – to enter service for Twinkle Travel Cruise

ORIANA is set to leave the P&O Cruises fleet in mid-August 2019 © Christian Costa

After much speculation and debate, the news is out: P&O Cruises has sold its 1995-built 69,840gt ORIANA to Chinese interests with the vessel leaving the British owners’ fleet in mid-August 2019 and starting operations from Chinese ports in mid-September of the same year.

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Wasaline further grew its business during 3Q

Wasaline operates the 1981-built WASA EXPRESS which has a capacity of 1,150 lanemetres and 850 passengers © Wasaline

Wasaline saw its traffic figures further increase during 3Q and during the first nine months of the year, the operator of the Vaasa-Umeå route transported 174,865 passengers, an increase of 8% on 2017. The number of tourist vehicles rose by 7.3% to 39,394, with a 1.9% increase in trailer carryings. Overall sales increased by 2.6% to EUR 15.8 million. Notwithstanding a rise in fuel cost of 13.3%, profit improved with 8.4% compared to last year.

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Continued growth for Ports of Stockholm

Frihamnen and Värtahamnen © Ports of Stockholm

With the cruise season just ended on 8 October, Ports of Stockholm wraps up another successful year with records beaten again with a total of 268 vessels called during the cruise season.

International cruise traffic at Ports of Stockholm

* = estimated

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Moby selected to operate Corsica-Sardinia winter service

GIRAGLIA will operate a year-round service between Santa Teresa di Gallura and Bonifacio © Marc Ottini

The Regional Government of Sardinia has selected Moby to operate the winter ferry service between Santa Teresa di Gallura (Sardinia) and Bonifacio (Corsica).

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BEN WOOLLACOTT leaves Gdansk for the Thames

BEN WOOLLACOTT on her way to the UK © Frank Behling

The first of two new hybrid double-ender passenger/vehicle ferries building for Transport for London’s (TfL) Woolwich Free Ferry service – BEN WOOLLACOTT – left Gdansk’s Remontowa Shipbuilders on 19 October bound for the River Thames, where she is due to arrive on October 27, via the Kiel Canal.

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Fincantieri secures 96% of the shares of VARD Group

Italian Fincantieri Oil & Gas has secured 96% of the shares of the Norwegian VARD Group, leading to a suspension of the company’s listing on the Singapore Stock Exchange as of 2 November.

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Remontowa starts production of the first two Norled double-enders

© Remontowa

Production has now started with the first steel cut of the first two Norled double-enders at Poland’s Remontowa Shipbuilding (yard number 619/1 and 619/2). The two diesel-electric hybrid double-enders will be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2019.

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Record breaking throughput for Port of Ystad during first nine months of 2018

Port of Ystad © EHRENBERG SØRENSEN Kommunikation

The Port of Ystad’s freight and passenger throughput continued to grow during the first nine months of 2019. Expressed in tonnes, cargo grew by 9.3% to 2,833,381 tonnes.

Amount and Deviation per September 2017

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Brittany Ferries happy with 2018 summer, but concerned about the 2019 summer

A good 2018 summer for Brittany Ferries, but what will the summer of 2019 bring? © Philippe Holthof

Brittany Ferries, the leading French ferry operator, has published its passenger figures for the July-September period, showing a 2% growth on the same period last year. The Roscoff-Cork route, which saw a capacity increase thanks to the extra weekly sailing operated by the Visentini Class CONNEMARA, saw passenger numbers soar by 9%. During the same period, freight carryings dwindled.

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Smooth first month for STENA JUTLANDICA’s battery operation

STENA JUTLANDICA © Stena Line

Stena Line’s 1996-built Gothenburg-Frederikshavn ro-pax has completed her first month as battery hybrid vessel and the Swedish operator reports that the experiences so far have exceeded the expectations.

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Financials

Third quarter earnings reported by Royal Caribbean Cruises

Total revenues reached USD 2.8 billion in the quarter, up from USD 2.57 billion in the same quarter last year. US GAAP Net Income for the third quarter was USD 810.4 million or USD 3.86 per share and Adjusted Net Income was USD 836.3 million or USD 3.98 per share, beating the mid-point of the guidance by USD 0.05 per share. Last year, both US GAAP and Adjusted Net Income were USD 752.8 million or USD 3.49 per share.

Press Releases

First cut of the spade ceremony for Norwegenkai’s onshore power supply plant

The construction of the first onshore power supply plant for commer-cial vessels in the port of Kiel has begun. Taking part in the official first-cut-of-the-spade-ceremony marking the start of the construction works at the Norwegenkai Terminal were the Economics Minister of the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein, Dr Bernd Buchholz, Kiel’s Lord Mayor Dr Ulf Kämpfer, Port Director Dr Dirk Claus und Color Line GmbH Managing Director Dirk Hundertmark along with Lars Nürnberger, head of Kiel’s Siemens AG branch office.

Rolls-Royce to provide power and propulsion for Norway's new eco-friendly coastal route operator

The Norwegian ship owning company Havila Kystruten AS, has ordered four new build Ro-Pax vessels of Havyard 923 design. Rolls-Royce Commercial Marine will provide power and propulsion for all four ships. From January 2021, Havila Kystruten will operate four ships on the coastal route between the cities of Bergen in south western, and Kirkenes in northern, Norway. The company has contracted Spain’s Astillero Hijos de J. Barreras shipyard to build two of the cruise ferries and Turkey’s Tersan yard to construct the remaining two.

2020 Global sulphur cap | Free Compliance Tool

C-Job has launched its global sulphur cap Compliance Tool. For ship owners operating in any maritime sector, the tool is an easy-to-use and free way to find out the most effective method of complying with the International Maritime Organization’s global sulphur cap that will come into effect on 1 January 2020. The new regulations mean a global sulphur cap of 0.5%, and a 0.1% sulphur cap in existing Emission Control Areas (ECAs).

Saving our seas, simply – unique BAWAT technology transforms ballast water challenge

Untreated ballast water has been identified as the second biggest threat to global biodiversity after climate change. Following years of inaction the shipping industry is addressing the issue and fighting the spread of invasive species. Danish firm BAWAT has devised a revolutionary technology to help shipowners win the war – simply, cost effectively and reliably.

ABB plugs Holland America Line into low-emission shore power worldwide

ABB shore power connectors retrofitted to three Holland America Line vessels will help these ships achieve low emissions in port anywhere in the world. In line with its “Electric. Digital. Connected.” vision for the maritime industry, ABB is playing a key role in Holland American Line’s goals of embracing new technologies to further minimize the environmental impact of its fleet. The premium cruise line will retrofit three of its vessels with ABB’s innovative shore power connectors that allow the ships to draw on land-based electrical grids when docked in port.

Versonix just received approval for U.S. Patent Application

Versonix has received approval for U.S. Patent Application No. 13/938,084 System and Method for Reservation Inventory Management. This technology will allow Versonix to operate in an environment where Inventory can be managed/sold from various physical locations without requiring continuous broadband/network connectivity between the nodes.

Key EU funding instrument recommends co-financing expansion at Port of Ystad

A key EU funding instrument to support an efficient interconnected Trans-European Network in the field of transport, Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), recommends co-financing new initiatives at Port of Ystad. CEF recommends granting Port of Ystad and two other projects a total of 34 million euro.