Holland Shipyards Group takes a large step forward with a contract for four autonomous electric ferries

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October 4, 2022 – Holland Shipyards Group signed a contract with Trafikverket Sweden for the delivery of two plus two autonomous all-electric ferries. The ferries will sail according to autonomy level 2 and will be controlled from the remote control center based in Stockholm.

The contract includes the delivery of two ferries with four automooring facilities and two charging stations, a simulator facility and a remote control center. The tender covers the entire procurement: four ferries, eight automooring facilities, four charging stations and more.

The ferries, measuring 86.00 by 14.24 m with a 60-car carrying capacity, are intended to be autonomous vessels level 2 (IMO), meaning that the vessel are remotely monitored, but do have crew on board that can take control whenever necessary. Crossing the ferry route can be done with just the push of a button. While mooring, the vessels are being charged by a shore charging facility within approximately four minutes.

The first ferry is scheduled to be delivered in the second half of 2024 and the other ferries will arrive in constant intervals after the first.

Ettore Morace: “Good news for the Motorways of the Seas, also in Spain”

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Mergers and acquisitions between shipping companies, consolidation, bigger ships, ports and berths to be redesigned, reshoring of production to Europe or North Africa, Mediterranean trades, new technologies and the impact of the war in Ukraine. These are some of the trending topics on the table according to Ettore Morace, CEO of Trasmed Gle (company part of Grimaldi group) and founder of Malta Shipbrokers International.

Speaking at the Euromed Convention held in Sorrento, he revealed that the Spanish Government, for the time ever, allocated EUR 60 million to support the Motorways of the Seas, of which EUR 20 million for the first year. Grimaldi’s customers will benefit from this measure for the lines linking the ports of Valencia and Barcelona to Italy and also for the routes between Spain and the Baltic region.

Recently Grimaldi and Trasmed also opened a new roro link Salerno – Sagunto with stops in Cagliari and Palma de Mallorca.

“We are making a small revolution in maritime transport to the Balearic islands,” Morace commented. “Thanks to synergies withing the group and to the new Salerno – Sagunto line we are diverting ‘Eco-series’ ships to Palma trying to shift trailer traffic from ropax ferries to roro units. In this way we aim to reduce waiting time in port and therefore we can make the ships sailing at slower speed.”

Talking to FERRY SHIPPING NEWS he further added that “this is still a waiting time for the shipowners as we are all waiting to understand what are the new technologies and new fuels available and in compliance with Net Zero Emission. A ready technology still does not exist.”

The seasoned broker and manager also underlined that today, all dual-fuel LNG ferries are using traditional fuels.”

Talking about the impact of the war in Ukraine on the ferry market, Morace thinks that, “the price increase of raw materials have slowed down the current phase of mergers and acquisitions,” but he concluded that, “as soon as the situation normalizes, the phase of consolidation of shipping companies will continue.”

Sefine shipyard launched NEREA, first ropax for Siremar

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Turkish shipbuilder Sefine launched NEREA, the new ferry ordered by Siremar (company part of Caronte & Tourist group) in Q1, 2021.

This new 8,300 GT ropax, entirely financed by Caronte & Tourist, is part of a wider fleet renovation plan. Another sister ship of the ELIO series has been commissioned for the Strait of Messina and further two to three vessels are likely to be ordered in the near future for the shortsea routes to Sicily.

NEREA is being built according to a design from Naos Design and will be ready for delivery before the next summer season.

Dimensions: 110m long, 20m wide, 800 passengers, 420 lane metres

Route: port of Milazzo – Aeolian Islands

Propulsion: Dual-fuel LNG hybrid

BC Ferries: More ships, more service

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Modernization and replacement of vessels, terminals and IT systems are the centrepieces of BC Ferries’ Performance Term Six submission provided to the BC Ferries Commissioner recently for rate determination activities.

The 12-Year Capital Plan responds to anticipated passenger and vehicle growth and changing customer needs. It includes:

  • Building 7 new major vessels to replace 6 existing ships, and an incremental vessel to support growth and improve resiliency
  • Building 4 more Island Class vessels to improve capacity on inter-island routes
  • 2 new Island Class to serve the Crofton – Salt Spring Island route
  • 1 new Island Class to serve the Quadra Island – Cortes Island route
  • 1 new Island Class to serve as a relief vessel and allow for the redeployment of existing vessels to support growth on several routes.

In addition to investments included in the 12-Year Capital Plan, BC Ferries is planning customer enhancements including:

  • Expanding two-ship operation on the Horseshoe Bay – Langdale route during peak season to increase sailing frequency.
  • Increasing sailing frequency between Nanaimo and Metro Vancouver to better support changing travel patterns.
  • Providing an additional sailing each week in peak season between Prince Rupert and Haida Gwaii.
  • Deploying a second vessel on the Swartz Bay – Salt Spring Island route in peak season.
  • Deploying a larger vessel on the Denman Island – Hornby Island route in peak season.

SET is building three new ferries for HADAG

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In August 2022 Hamburg transport company HADAG ordered three innovative ferries from SET GmbH, which are ready for hydrogen propulsion and will soon expand HADAG’s fleet of 26 ships.

The shipyard SET Schiffbau- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft Tangermünde mbH signed the contract for the construction of the new ferries, which will have innovative plug-in hybrid drives.

Since they were technically designed for the use of hydrogen technology, completely emission-free operation will soon be possible on the Elbe.

The Type 2030 ships represent a step towards sustainability and climate neutrality for HADAG.

Concept Design by naValue GmbH

ANEK, H1 Results

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+ The sharp recovery from the pandemic in conjunction with the considerably positive developments in tourist traffic and the relevant proceeds during the summer period, created optimism regarding the performance of the sector and the Greek economy in general.

– However, the deterioration of the international economic climate with the ongoing geopolitical instability and energy crisis, led to an increase in costs and prices in general, preserving a climate of uncertainty.

– Huge increase in the price of fuels that formed in unprecedented levels, burdened excessively the operating cost, absorbed the benefit from turnover increase, worsened significantly the operating results and prevented the effort to preserve adequate working capital.

Statistics

-15% itineraries / +61% pax / +28% vehicles / -11% freight units

Financial figures

+28% Group Turnover EUR 74.2 million

+13% Parent company turnover EUR 64.7 million

EBITDA

Group losses of EUR 12.0 million over EUR 0.7 million

Parent Company losses of EUR 11.7 million versus EUR 1.6 million.

Financial Results

The net financial cost of the Group and the Parent Company amounted to EUR 5.6 million versus EUR 5.4 million.

Net Results

Consolidated net results after taxes and minority interests for the first half of 2022 amounted to losses of EUR 22.6 million over EUR 12.1, while correspondingly, Parent Company’s net results after taxes formed at losses of EUR 20.7 million versus EUR 11.9 million.

ANEK > Attica

On 26 September 2022, the Company’s Board of Directors decided –following the agreement between Attica and the major creditors and shareholders of ANEK– the commencement of the procedure

Tallink Grupp reports largest quarterly passenger number since 2019

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September

The September figures reflect the fact that as of 20 September 2022, six of the company’s vessels are chartered out.

+26.5% pax / +0.6% freight units / -4.7% pax vehicles

Q3

The biggest passenger number increase during the quarter was on the Finland-Sweden route with the passenger number increasing in Q3 2022 by a total of 82.2% compared to the same period last year.

The Estonia-Finland route also saw significant recovery in passenger numbers during the quarter year-on-year with the passenger number up in 2022 by 61.7%

+65.5% pax / +13.1% freight units / +21% passenger vehicles

Commenting on the statistics, Paavo Nõgene, CEO of Tallink Grupp said: 

 “As we enter the last quarter of this turbulent year, we have taken several steps to secure our business over the low season, both through unpleasant, but vital price increases as well as various charter agreements for our vessels. Although the latter means that we have less services to offer our loyal customers over the coming months, it also means that we have secured the future of these vessels in our fleet and will be able to offer more of these services again once our vessels return to the Baltic Sea.”

Grimaldi (1): announced new orders and new lines at the XXV Euromed Convention

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At the occasion of the XXV Euromed Convention held in Sorrento, small village not far from Naples, where Gianluigi Aponte (MSC) was born, the Grimaldi Group made some interesting announcements.

2 more GG5Gs

CEO Emanuele Grimaldi revealed that a new order for further two GG5G roro ships has been signed with Jinling shipyard, taking the total number of ships of this project to 14.

The next two will cost roughly $100m each, some 30% more than the first 12 ordered in 2018 for $66m per unit.

10 more PCTCs

Grimaldi also confirmed that before the end of the current month, another order for 10 Pure Car Truck Carriers will be signed with a shipyard part of the China Merchants group for a contract worth $1billion and with delivery expected from 2025 onwards.

Far East

After having consolidated its market position in the Mediterranean, Northern Europe, North and West Africa and the east Coast of America, Grimaldi Group started covering the Far East to Europe route with car carriers following the demand and strong interest coming from various car manufacturers. At least 7 ships will be deployed on the new line calling the ports of Busan (South Korea), Singapore, Shanghai, Tianjin and Guangzhou (China), Chiba (Giappone), Port Kembla and Brisbane (Australia), Dammam and Jeddah (Saudi Arabia), connected with Gioia Tauro in Italy and Antwerp in Belgium.

Roro > Ropax

As for the local ferry market in Italy Emanuele Grimaldi anticipated the intention to extend to the passenger transport the lines currently operated only for roro freight traffic between the ports of Naples, Palermo and Cagliari.