First of Toll newbuildings reaches Tasmania

TASMANIAN ACHIEVER II has reached Tasmania © Glenn Ross

The first of Toll Shipping’s new Jinling-built ro-ros has reached Tasmania for Australian certification and welcoming formalities ahead of a scheduled entry to Bass Strait service on 1 March.

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SPIRITs owner on FSG watch

In May 2018 TT-Line Tasmania placed a double order with the now cash-strapped Flensburger Shipyard © FSG

Tasmania’s TT-Line is keeping a close eye on the financial problems confronting Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft (FSG) but says preparatory work on the twin replacements for the SPIRIT OF TASMANIA Bass Strait ro-paxes is continuing.

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Fjord Line saw passenger numbers increase in 2018

© Philippe Holthof

Hitting passenger records on four of its five routes, Fjord Line looks back at a strong 2018, with a total of 1,386,700 passengers who travelled with the company, an 8% increase on 2017.

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Innovative Superfast Ferries founder Panagopoulos dies at 83

Through the Superfast Ferries brand, Panagopoulos changed Adriatic ferry shipping dramatically © Shippax archive

Shipping entrepreneur Pericles Panagopoulos, who died in Athens after a long illness, had few equals as an innovator in the cruise and ferry sectors as well as being a successful operator of dry bulk ships. He also emerged with dignity from an eight-day kidnapping drama in 2009.

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Virtu Ferries’ SAINT JOHN PAUL II ready to leave Tasmania

SAINT JOHN PAUL II will connect Malta with Sicily © Brand Tasmania

Today, 5 February, Incat has handed over the 110m wave piercing catamaran SAINT JOHN PAUL II (Incat Hull 089) to Virtu Ferries. The 1,000dwt high-speed ro-pax is set to leave Hobart, Tasmania for Malta tomorrow, 6 February.

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Hurtigruten to move four coastal express vessels into its expedition fleet

TROLLFJORD is one of four Hurtigruten ships to switch permanently to expedition cruising © Søren Lund Hviid

With Norway’s Hurtigruten having to share the coastal express route with compatriot operator Havila Kystruten from 1 January 2021 – Hurtigruten operating seven vessels and Havila four vessels – it comes as no surprise that Hurtigruten has announced that it will move four vessels from its existing coastal express fleet into its expedition fleet by 2021 – FINNMARKEN, MIDNATSOL, SPITSBERGEN and TROLLFJORD – taking the expedition cruise fleet to ten vessels. The four new vessels will be used for year-round expedition cruises.

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Did the UK’s DfT break the law when it awarded the three no-deal Brexit ferry contracts?

© Philippe Holthof

A serious row has broken out in the UK’s House of Commons between the Transport Select Committee (TSC) and the Department for Transport (DfT) over the awarding of the three no-deal Brexit ferry contracts to Brittany Ferries, DFDS and Seaborne Freight, worth in total nearly GBP 103 million. It appears that in using “emergency measures exemption” to fast track the contracts through without following the normal procurement process, the DfT not only broke UK law but also EU law!

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Construction of ODYSSEY OF THE SEAS starts at Meyer Werft

Left to right: Richard Fain, Michael Bayley and Tim Meyer © Christian Eckardt

On Friday 1 February construction of ODYSSEY OF THE SEAS, Royal Caribbean International’s (RCI) second Quantum Ultra Class vessel, started when Michael Bayley, CEO of RCI, and Tim Meyer, Managing Director of Meyer Werft, pushed the start button of the computer-controlled steel cutting machine.

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Jinling hands over GOTHIA SEAWAYS to DFDS

Heading for the Med soon © DFDS

Just before the Chinese New Year or 'Spring Festival', Jinling Shipyard has handed over yard number 408 to DFDS on 31 January. The 6,700-lanemetre ro-ro freighter – the first in a series of six identical ships – has temporarily been named GOTHIA SEAWAYS and will be renamed prior to taking up service between Istanbul and Trieste in March.

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Financials

Strong figures for Corsica Linea and La Méridionale

In a rather flat freight market, Corsica Linea managed to increase its market share to 45% with trailer volumes up 3.1% to more than 1,000,000 lanemetres. Turnover increased at a faster pace of 10%, reaching EUR 220 million. 

Freight volumes for La Méridionale – Corsica Linea’s partner for the current public ferry service contract between Marseille and Corsica – remained stable at 810,000 lanemetres, while turnover increased by 4.3% to a total of EUR 112 million.

DFDS grew its business in a rather flat market

For the full-year 2018, revenue increased 10% to DKK 15.7 billion. EBITDA before special items increased 11% to DKK 3.0 billion for the full-year.

Press Releases

Telespazio will provide satellite communication services to the Neapolitan Shipping Group

Telespazio, a joint venture between Leonardo (67%) and Thales (33%), and the Grimaldi Group recently signed two contracts for the upgrade of the Neapolitan Shipping Group’s satellite communications capacity on its fleet of cargo and passenger vessels.

StormGeo and DNV GL announce creation of new fleet performance management powerhouse

StormGeo and DNV GL announced that they have signed an agreement to consolidate their fleet performance solutions under one banner. The agreement will combine DNV GL’s ECO Insight and Navigator Insight solutions with StormGeo’s FleetDSS and ship reporting solutions. By this a new industry leader in fleet performance management is created as part of StormGeo.

The Fjords sets sights on Oslo expansion in 2020 with LEGACY OF THE FJORDS

The Fjords DA is delaying a planned move into Oslo, with the news that the all-electric LEGACY OF THE FJORDS will now be delivered from specialist shipyard Brødrene Aa on 1 May 2020. The company, which currently operates 11 vessels serving Western Norway’s spectacular fjords area, had arranged delivery of the futuristic 400 PAX catamaran for 2 July this year. However, issues finalizing the required battery-loading infrastructure within the Oslo harbour area have led to a reappraisal of the launch schedule.

French savoir-faire & British customer care: why Brittany Ferries is top transport company

Brittany Ferries is proud to have been named best transport company for customer service by the Institute of Customer Service (ICS). The organisation publishes a comprehensive customer satisfaction index every six months. And in its latest research, Brittany Ferries finished top in a category of 34 transport companies, ahead of British Airways, Virgin Trains, P&O Ferries and Eurotunnel.

Corvus Energy strengthens its product portfolio for maritime batteries with the acquisition of Grenland Energy

Corvus Energy Holding AS, supplier of Energy Storage Systems (ESS) to the maritime industry, has signed an agreement to acquire all shares in Grenland Energy AS. Grenland Energy, located in Skien, Norway in the heart of the Grenland region, develops and manufactures lightweight lithium-ion batteries for the maritime, offshore and subsea industry.

New conference venues for 2021 and 2022 underline Interferry’s global vision

Interferry has confirmed locations for the 2021 and 2022 editions of its annual conference – held every October - in the latest initiative to extend its reach as the only organisation representing the worldwide ferry industry.

Stena Line launches smart chatbot

Stena Line is in the process of launching the smartest chatbot into the ferry market. Stina will help make the customer experience even better by providing assistance in booking a trip as well as answering questions 24/7. The chatbot is an important milestone for Stena Line in its quest to becoming the world’s first cognitive ferry company.

Polar cruise ship SILVER CLOUD using mooring magnets for enhanced excursion boat deployment

High power permanent magnets are now being used by the SILVER CLOUD when deploying boats for passenger excursions. The magnets, supplied by Miko Marine of Norway, each have a holding power of 500 kg and are being used by the boat crews to create additional mooring points on the hull of the ship. This enables Zodiacs and other boats to be held close against the ship before being relocated to the point where passengers must disembark for excursions.

New volume records for Scandinavia’s largest ro-ro port in Trelleborg

Port of Trelleborg’ reached new record levels in 2018 and over one million units, consisting of trucks, trailers and passenger cars passed the port. Thus, Port of Trelleborg secures its position as Scandinavia’s largest ro-ro port.

Trelleborg to supply smart rope free mooring system to Port of Langnas

Trelleborg’s marine systems operation will supply its rope-free automated mooring system, AutoMoor, to the Port of Langnas’ international cruise ferry and domestic ro-ro ferry berths. The Port of Langnas is situated in the Baltic Sea on the archipelago of Aland, which has intensive ferry traffic between Sweden and Finland via Aland. Developed following several years of customer consultations and recently successfully trialled at the Port of Melbourne in Australia, AutoMoor uses smart technologies to enable a faster berthing process and improve safety levels within the port environment.

AS Tallink Grupp statistics for January 2019

In January 2019 AS Tallink Grupp transported 549 278 passengers, which is a 7.3% decrease compared to January 2018. The number of cargo units increased by 4.9% to 31 475 units and the number of passenger vehicles decreased by 3.6% to 71 236 units in the same comparison.

Volvo Penta reveals plans for a fully electric ferry in Gothenburg

Volvo Penta announce that they we will be powering a fully-electric ferry in Gothenburg, made for public transport, as part of Gothenburg's Electricity project.

Valmet signs an automation service agreement with Celebrity Cruises in the United States

Valmet has signed a service agreement with Celebrity Cruises for Valmet DNA integrated automation systems onboard four Millennium-class vessels in the United States. The order was included in Valmet's third quarter of 2018 orders received.

Tallink Grupp makes changes to its Management Board

Tallink Grupp has this morning announced to the stock exchange that it has made changes to the membership of the group’s Management Board with effect from today, 4 February. Based on the recommendations from the Chairman of the Management Board of Tallink Grupp, Mr Paavo Nõgene, the Supervisory Board of the group appointed Mrs Kadri Land and Mr Harri Hanschmidt to the Management Board late last week. At the same time the Supervisory Board recalled Mr Janek Stalmeister from the Management Board following his resignation.

Tallink Grupp’s ship MEGASTAR will take part in research project for autonomous ships

Researchers from the Finnish Geospatial Research Institute and Aalto University will team up with Fleetrange Ltd. and Tallink Grupp as part of a research project carried out under a programme of, and funded by, the European Space Agency (ESA). The goal is to develop techniques for autonomous navigation for ships with focus on safety, using a combination of different sensors, machine learning and artificial intelligence.

Austal increases full year revenue guidance

Austal previously indicated that it expected FY2019 group revenue of $1.3–$1.4 billion. Following preparation of the draft FY2019 H1 accounts, including updated forecasts from the USA, the Company now expects FY2019 revenue of approximately $1.9 billion (assuming that the USD / AUD exchange rate continues at the current level).