Creta Cargo Lines’ RoRo AGIOS GEORGIOS (ex-OLYMPUS) is expected to enter service on the Piraeus – Santorini – Heraklion line on July 3, 2023.
The Japanese-built ship is still undergoing her refit at Spanopoulos shipyards and she will be the 4th vessel on the Creta Cargo’s fleet.
Photo: Kostas Papadopoulos
On June 22, 2023, Kerkyra Lines’ IONIAN EXPRESS (ex- ASAKAZE No 5) arrived in Greece.
The ship left the port of Hakodate (Japan) on May 23.
She was purchased from Seikan Ferry in January 2023 and delivered to Kerkyra Lines on March 26, 2023.
She has been serving on the Aomori – Hakodate line since 1998.
The ship was sent to Atsalakis Shipyards for necessary repairs and upgrades.
Photo: Voyager (Christos Chatzaras)
CEO Dennis Jul Pedersen said at Port Esbjerg’s Annual Meeting held on 23 June, that the deepening of the fairway, which is expected to be completed in the spring of 2024, brings new perspectives.
“Last year, Europe exported goods to the USA at a value of USD 527 billion. Obviously, we would like to see a lot of that go through Port Esbjerg, and that’s what we’re planning for. In fact, we’ve made a commitment to the EU that the number of RoRo calls will be quadrupled over the next ten years,” said Jul Pedersen, emphasising that the RoRo segment will be a focal point for Port Esbjerg in the near future.
Last year, the EU gave Port Esbjerg a grant of DKK 211 million to deepen the fairway. (EUR 28.3 million).
Belfast Harbour reported robust financial results for 2022, with annual turnover and profits in line with expectations, despite a challenging global trading environment.
Belfast Harbour reported turnover of £77.2m for 2022, up 5% on its figures for 2021, and underlying pre-tax profits of £34.3m, up 1% on the previous year.
Despite the climate of global uncertainty and external challenges sparked by the war in Ukraine, port trade dropped only slightly on the record levels recorded in 2021. Total tonnage through Belfast Harbour was reported at 24.5m tonnes, representing the second highest levels in its history, and a slight easing back of 4.3% from the record levels of 2021.
RoRo freight on Stena Line performed strongly, recording 600,000 freight units during the year, and matching the record performance delivered in 2021.
The volume of ferry passengers travelling through the Port increased by 22% year on year to almost 1.8 million people, with routes benefitting from the full easing of Covid-19 travel restrictions.
The number of passenger cars reached a record high of 462,000, increasing by 12% from the year before, reflecting a continued interest in staycations and local holidays.
Valenciaport and Nextport have developed an Artificial Intelligence tool assisted by data technology professionals, which will adjust the traffic of cargo vehicles in Valencian ports.
The tool, which is in the pilot phase, is fed by the data managed by Valenciaport and is crossed with other variables such as holidays by country or meteorology, which help to forecast the behaviour of land traffic.
This system is a competitive advantage both for terminals – which will know the workload by time slot – and for carriers – which will have a real timetable planning.
Since June 26, the regular ro-ro line operated by Grimaldi Group between Venice, Bari and Patras is covered by two of the GG5G-series ro-ro ships: ECO CATANIA and ECO MALTA.
These vessels can offer much higher capacity (7,800 linear metres of freight, equivalent to around 500 trailers and 180 cars and better performances) than the Eurocargo-class ships that they replaced on the line.
The ro-ro traffic flows in the port of Venice grew by over 11% in 2022 according to the statistics released by the local port authority, and this trend has continued also in the first half of 2023.
The doubling of the capacity of the new ships compared to those previously operating will lead to a further increase in ro-ro cargo capacity on the Venice – Greece link.
Algérie Ferries made public the decision not to charter the vessel CAMOMILLA recently sold by Corsica Ferries to the new company Flipper Lines, controlled by Saimja Shpk.
For the 2023 summer season, the Algerian national maritime passenger transport company decided to strengthen its programme of crossings with new routes departing from Italy, Spain and France. New routes have been opened, offering Algerian travellers a wide choice of destinations.
“In view of the impossibility of chartering the CAMOMILLA, Algeria Ferries reassures its customers that the ships in its fleet are ready to ensure the best possible operation of its crossings” a press release from the company said.
In order to meet the growing demand from its passengers, the Algerian national shipping company informs that “all the human and material resources will be made available to its passengers to ensure the smooth running of all its voyages during the 2023 summer season”.
After beginning their voyage early this month from the Damen shipyard in Vietnam, the two brand-new high-speed catamaran vessels for the new Hullo Ferries service arrived in British Columbia this past weekend.
Hullo Ferries is a private, passenger-only ferry service linking downtown Vancouver and downtown Nanaimo, designed for both regular commuters from Vancouver Island and tourists.
Both vessels have a hul’q’umi’num’ name according to the Snuneymuxw First Nation (*).
SPUHÉLS (**) and STHUQI’ (***) will begin sailing in early August 2023.
* The Snuneymuxw are a vibrant First Nation of the Coast Salish People, residing in the centre of Coast Salish territory on the eastern coast of Vancouver Island, with villages on the Fraser River and waterways in the Gulf Islands. Snuneymuxw territory encompasses one of the most productive and resource rich areas at the heart of the Salish Sea.
**Spuhéls (spah – els): is the hul’q’umi’num’ name meaning wind.
**¨Sthuqi’ (sta – key) is the hul’q’umi’num’ name for Sockeye salmon.
DFDS has announced that it will be launching a new unaccompanied freight service from Tilbury to Calais, replacing its existing Sheerness – Calais service.
The newly located service will start in late June 2023 and will offer one daily sailing in each direction six days a week.
Vessel: BOTNIA SEAWAYS (115 unaccompanied units).
The relocation comes as a result of feedback received from customers and demand for a more accessible route into the UK.
Competitors: P&O Ferries, CLdN, Transfennica…
Grimaldi Group 2022 in figures:
These results are the result of “higher volumes of passengers and new cars transported, as well as containers and general cargo” and “are by far the best achieved by the Grimaldi Group in its long history and confirm exponential and continuous growth, with the exception of 2020, which was affected by the effects of Covid.”
At the end of last year the managed fleet consisted of about 140 vessels, of which 130 owned, with an average age of about 14 years.
Outlook: “The management has not recorded any reductions in activities and/or volumes transported in the first months of the year 2023.”
Also mentioned in the annual report:
The 1995-built EUROFERRY OLYMPIA owned by Grimaldi Group which caught fire in February last year while sailing off the Greek island Ereikoussa is bound for scrap soon.
She is to be sold to Dido Steel Corporation S.A. and will be dismantled and recycled.
