Shippax Newsletter– week 8
Gotlandsbolaget begins work on decommissioning high-speed ferry GOTLANDIA II
GOTLANDIA II © Gotlandsbolaget
Gotlandsbolaget have announced that they intend to sell or lease out their high-speed ferry GOTLANDIA II, which is no longer in use for Destination Gotland.
GOTLANDIA II was commissioned in 2006 after delivery from Italian Fincantieri. Destination Gotland has used the vessel in the Gotland traffic, mainly between Visby, Nynäshamn and Västervik. Now that GOTLANDIA II is no longer used in traffic, she is returned to the owner Gotlandsbolaget.
DELPHINE returns to service with wind propulsion system fitted
DELPHINE © CLdN
CLdN announced that the DELPHINE has been successfully fitted with rotor sail wind propulsion system. She is the first vessel in the CLdN fleet to be fitted with the system and will return to service from Zeebrugge, Belgium, as from 27 February.
The DELPHINE is a vessel with a cargo capacity of over 8,000 lane meters and transits between the UK, Ireland and mainland Europe.
EXPRESS 1 will stay in Bornholm service
EXPRESS 1 © Bornholmslinjen
With an approved supplementary contract from the Danish Ministry of Transport, it has become official that EXPRESS 1 will replace MAX as the high-capacity ferry to Bornholm.
Strong 2022 for Wasaline
AURORA BOTNIA © Wasaline
The turnover for Wasaline grew by 78.6 percent in 2022. For passenger services revenue grew by 150.7 percent and volumes were up 149 percent. For cargo services, revenue grew by 7.7 percent and the number of cargo units transported by 4.4 percent.
The departures of AURORA BOTNIA increased by 14 percent to 1,133 departures. The amount of passenger vehicles transported increased by 126 percent. Fuel costs increased by 55.3 percent to a total of EUR 5.97 million. Cost of labour and benefits increased by 37.5 percent.
The operating profit was EUR 3.3 million.
Tallink Grupp 2022 financial results
MYSTAR © George Giannakis
Tallink Grupp published its 2022 unaudited financial results, reporting the first full year profit of EUR 13.9 million since 2019 (EUR 56.6 million net loss in 2021). Revenue increased to EUR 771.4 million (EUR 476.9 million in 2021).
The year of recovery after the pandemic saw the company’s passenger number nearly double in 2022 compared to 2021, amounting to 5.5 million passengers (2,961,975 in 2021), and the transported cargo units also increased by 11%, compared to the previous year, totalling 409,769 units on all the company’s routes and vessels.
PANSTAR TSUSHIMA LINK to connect S. Korea with Japan
Osaka-based Sanstar Line, a general agent for South Korean shipping company, Panstar recently announced that their PANSTAR TSUSHIMA LINK fast ferry will enter service on the Tsushima (Japan)-Busan (South Korea) route on 25 February 2023.
The 709 gt fast ferry can carry up to 425 passengers at speeds up to 40 knots and will run on weekends (one round trip per day) for the time being.
PANSTAR TSUSHIMA LINK is the former OCEAN FLOWER of Dae A Express and was bought in August 2022 by PanStar Ferry.
CoCo Yachts announced the sale of two 1,000 passenger double ended ferries to Sun Ferries in Hong Kong
CoCo Yachts B.V. of the Netherlands announced the sale of two CoCo Yachts designed Urban Sprinters 1,000 to Hong Kong, where Sun Ferries will daily operate the ferries on the route between Central Pier and Cheung Chau pier in Hong Kong.
Both of the Urban Sprinter 1,000 will be built by YaGuang Technology Co. Ltd in Zhuhai, China, and have an aluminium hull and superstructure. Both vessels will have a battery pack for overnight energy to avoid diesel generators running.
Tallink has no immediate plans to resume its Riga-Stockholm ferry service
ISABELLE © Jukka Huotari
Tallink has said that it has no immediate plans to resume its ferry service between Riga and Stockholm in the near future. Tallink’s Latvia-Sweden service was suspended three years ago because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tallink's press secretary Katri Link said: "After two very challenging years of the pandemic, followed by geopolitical and economic upheaval related to the to the war in Ukraine, Tallink is currently focusing on restoring operations on it key routes, namely between Estonia, Finland and Sweden.
"Once we have restored operations and business on the main routes, we will again begin to consider options beyond those main routes."
Stena Line and Peel Ports sign major new deal at Birkenhead for port operations until the year 2100
STENA EMBLA at Birkenhead © Stena Line
Stena Line has signed a new deal with Peel Ports, a major UK Port operator, to operate their 12 Quays port and ferry terminal in Birkenhead until the beginning of the 22nd Century. Stena Line has operated twice daily ferry services to Belfast since 2011 and this new deal will see them continue to operate there for at least another 77 years, until 2100.
STENA NORDICA to replace STENA EUROPE on the Fishguard – Rosslare route
STENA NORDICA © Stena Line
Stena Line has confirmed its plans to secure the future stability of its Fishguard-Rosslare service by redeploying another ferry from its fleet. STENA NORDICA, which has been operating in the Baltic Sea, is a familiar ship on the Irish Sea having provided temporary relief cover on several Irish Sea routes over the last few years. It is scheduled to replace the older STENA EUROPE in July.
P&O Ferries to strengthen UK to Belgium link
FINNPULP
P&O Ferries is joining forces with Finnlines to boost the flow of trade between Belgium and the UK by introducing new sailings on the Zeebrugge-Teesport route. In response to increased customer demand, P&O Ferries will charter Finnlines’ FINNPULP for three days a week under a new services agreement, which will increase the overall number of P&O Ferries sailings to six.
Kristian Durhuus new CEO at Molslinjen
Kristian Durhuus
The deal where Molslinjen buys ForSea, was recently completed. It has now been announced that the current CEO at ForSea, Kristian Durhuus, will become the new CEO at Molslinjen.
Molslinjen and ForSea are now being merged into one shipping company. It happens in parallel with Molslinjen's former CEO, Carsten Jensen, leaving the post and becoming the new CEO of Nordic Ferry Infrastructure (NFI) in Oslo.
Seventh INFINITY class vessel reordered by SunStone
SunStone INFINITY class vessel © Ulstein
The U.S.-based shipowner, SunStone Ships, goes for another cruise vessel in its INFINITY class. In May last year the order for this was cancelled after the yard decided they could not build it, but this has now obviously been solved and SunStone will receive their seventh and last INFINITY class vessel in August 2025.
The vessel holds accommodation for 199 passengers, and a crew of 101. She is ICE CLASS 1A certified for polar cruising, holds the highest comfort class, and is SOLAS* certified including a Safe Return to Port passport.
Viking Line 2022 year-end report
VIKING GLORY © George Giannakis
Viking Line released its year-end report for 2022, showing that sales increased to EUR 494.7 million (EUR 258.2 million) and operating income to EUR 38.3 million (EUR 32.1 million).
The Group’s total cargo volume was 117,777 cargo units (129,278). The Group’s share of the cargo market was approximately 14.7% (16.3%). Demand for cargo in their service area varied during the year, and the situation prevailing in Europe makes it especially sensitive.
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