Shippax Newsletter– week 26
A busy week finishing three publications before the holidays. Shippax Guide 23 with P&O PIONEER as theme ship, Market 23 with its incredible amount of data and statistics and the latest issue of our monthly magazine Shippax Info. Guide and Market will be available to order next week in our webshop and sent to our subscribers shortly after, while Shippax Info will be uploaded on the website for our subscribers to read on tuesday next week. All our publications are available to read both printed and online.
DFDS switch ports from Sheerness to Tilbury for its unaccompanied freight service
FINLANDIA SEAWAYS, sister to BOTNIA SEAWAYS © Peter Therkildsen
Customer feedback and demands has resulted in DFDS taking the decision to switch from Sheerness to Tilbury its unaccompanied freight service to Calais from the end of June. The port switch will see the same vessel maintaining the service, with one round-trip sailing six days a week – the 115-trailer capacity BOTNIA SEAWAYS.
Seajets adds another fast ferry to its growing fleet
© Marc Ottini
Greece’s largest owner and operator of high-speed ferries, Seajets, have added another fast ferry to its fleet in the shape of Panellenic Line’s former SANTA IRINI.
The vessel has been renamed SPEEDRUNNER JET 2.
Grimaldi Group gets its hands on the Port of Heraklion
The Grimaldi Group has been announced as the preferred bidder for the Greek port of Heraklion, on the island of Crete.
The Board of Directors opened two closed bids for the acquisition of 67 per cent of the shares of the Heraklion Port Authority SA. The winning bid, by a long way, was that from Grimaldi Euromed SpA and Minoan Lines NE for EUR 80 million.
Scandlines generated higher revenue and results after car and shopping traffic rebounded in 2022
DEUTSCHLAND © Scandlines
2022 came off to a difficult start impacted by travel restrictions and efforts to mitigate the spreading of COVID-19, but passengers returned to Scandlines’ ferries in large numbers as soon as restrictions were lifted in Germany, Sweden and Denmark. The volume growth from increased car traffic, record-high freight activity and shopping boosted revenue by 42 percent to EUR 464 million and the result before tax from EUR 62 million to EUR 125 million.
FRS acquires HSC ARTEMIS for FRS Iberia service between Spain and Morocco
PONIENTE JET here as HSC ARTEMIS for Ponte Ferries © Marc Ottini
Förde Reederei Seetourist FRS has acquired the 96m Incat HSC ARTEMIS and, following a major interior upgrade in Valletta, Malta, will introduce the vessel into service with FRS Iberia, on its services between Spain and Morocco, across the Straits of Gibraltar.
Renamed PONIENTE JET for FRS, it will be able to carry 640 passengers, 180 cars and 18 trucks and enter service in July.
Wärtsilä ANCS launches retrofit solution for its marine engine governor system
Wärtsilä Automation, Navigation and Control Systems (ANCS) has launched an innovative retrofit solution for its marine engine governor system in collaboration with Swedish marine green tech company Qtagg. The solution is designed to extend the lifespan of a ship’s propulsion control system, while simultaneously enhancing the vessel’s overall efficiency.
ECO CATANIA and ECO MALTA enter service on Grimaldi’s Venice-Bari-Patras ro-ro service
ECO CATANIA and EUROCARGO RAVENNA © Kai Ortel
From 26 June, Grimaldi has upped the anti on its freight ro-ro service between Italy and Greece, the Venice-Bari-Patras route, by introducing the two GG5G – class ro-ro’s ECO CATANIA and ECO MALTA onto the route, replacing four smaller Eurocargo-class vessels.
The two GG5G vessels can carry 7,800 lanemetre of freight, equivalent of 500 trailers and 180 cars – double the capacity of the vessels that they replace. However,the green giants consume the same amount of fuel as the Eurocargo-class ro-ro's.
Interislander’s VALENTINE put up for sale just six months after being bought
VALENTINE © Interislander
New Zealand’s Cook Strait ferry operator Interislander has the ro-ro VALENTINE up for sale, just six months after it bought the vessel. It seems that the ferry operator needs the cash from the sale and the crew that the ro-ro releases to provide resilience to its remaining three ship ageing fleet, until its two giant ro-pax newbuildings under construction in South Korea enter service in 2025 and 2026.
Condor Ferries commits to Portsmouth International Port for a further 10 years
Jersey, Channel Islands-based Condor Ferries has continued its long-term association with Portsmouth International Port (PIP) by committing to a further 10 years running both freight and passenger services from the UK south coast port to the Channel Islands of Guernsey and Jersey.
Kyoudougumi Kaiun’s TSUBASA launched
A freight ferry built for Kyoudougumi Kaiun was launched at the Japanese Miura Shipbuilding. The vessel was named TSUBASA, meaning "wing" in Japanese.
TSUBASA is scheduled to be completed in the middle of October, 2023.
Travel to Tallinn has returned to normal – Viking Line to double its capacity this summer
VIKING XPRS © Viking Line
Tallinn and Estonia are attracting more Finns than in years, and Viking Line is responding to summer demand by also placing its GABRIELLA and VIKING CINDERELLA in service on the same route as VIKING XPRS. One new development is that passengers, more often than in the past, book at the last minute. Viking Line’s three daily departures guarantee that there will be sufficient options for people who want to travel across the Gulf of Finland.
Wärtsilä to accelerate Stena Line’s decarbonisation journey through methanol conversions
STENA GERMANICA was converted to operate with methanol in 2015 © Gothenburg Port Authority
Wärtsilä has been contracted by Stena Line to carry out and convert some of its vessels to operate with methanol fuel. As methanol is one of the key components of decarbonisation in the maritime industry, this contract will equip the vessels with unmatched fuel flexibility, thus marking an important milestone in Stena Line’s journey towards becoming a leader in sustainable shipping.
The conversions will include the fuel supply system and engine modifications, as well as integrating the new installations with the ships’ existing systems.
The conversions are scheduled to take place in 2025.
DFDS May volumes: freight slowdown, passengers up 31%
Total volumes in May 2023 for DFDS were 18.6% below 2022 while the number of passengers continued to recover and increased 30.5% to 384,000, equal to 88% of volumes in May 2019, the latest comparable month pre-Covid-19.
City Council approved the amended town plan for Ferry Terminal Turku
© PES-Arkkitehdit Oy
The Turku City Council approved the proposed amendment of town plan for Ferry Terminal Turku in its meeting on 19 June. The objectives of the amended town plan are to enable the building of the joint terminal for ship traffic and the relocating of the passenger rail, and to develop the traffic arrangements and the operations in the port area.
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