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It has now finally become easier to enter Norway. People who are fully vaccinated or who have had COVID-19 during the past six months are exempt from entry quarantine.
Currently, only a certificate (Norwegian, Danish, Swedish or EU digital COVID-19 certificate) with a QR code that can be verified by Norwegian authorities is considered to be a secure and verifiable way to document vaccination or having had COVID-19.
Color Line: a few weeks ago the service between Oslo and Kiel was resumed. The service between Sandefjord and Strömstad will restart with COLOR HYBRID on Monday July 5.
COLOR VIKING returns mid July.
DFDS: Oslo – Frederikshavn – Copenhagen route will resume sailings on 2 July for PEARL SEAWAYS and 3 July for CROWN SEAWAYS. Passenger capacity is reduced.
Fjord Line: both STAVANGERFJORD and BERGENSFJORD are in normal operation. The new FJORD FSTR makes one daily round trip between Kristiansand and Hirtshals. This becomes 2 return trips as from July 1.
The reintroduction of OSLOFJORD is imminent, after a test crossing between Norway and Sweden on June 30.
After a slow start to 2021, there looks to be light at the end of the tunnel as demand for RoRos begins to surge post pandemic.
Dan Nash, Head of VesselsValue RoRos, explores what has been happening in the RoRo market with supply versus demand and heightened S&P activity providing an opportune climate for those looking to buy.
KiwiRail and Korean shipyard Hyundai Mipo Dockyard (HMD) have now signed a binding contract for the delivery of two new, state-of-the-art, Cook Strait ferries.
The first will arrive in 2025 and the second in 2026.
The contract price for the two ferries is USD$369 million (NZ$551m).
The two, rail-enabled ferries, when running at full operating capacity, will be able to carry nearly double the number of passengers, and commercial and passenger vehicles when compared with the current fleet.
The rail freight capacity will triple. The only currently rail-enabled ferry ARATERE can carry a maximum of 27, sixty-foot equivalent wagons per sailing. The two new rail-enabled ships will be able to carry 40, sixty-foot equivalent wagons per vessel on up to three return sailings each per day. That is a 300 per cent increase in capacity at peak.
Design: OSK Shiptech.
Contract signing: Stephen O’Keefe, iReX Programme Director; Paul Harper, Chairman of Project Governance Board; iReX, Greg Miller, KiwiRail Group Chief Executive; KiwiRail Chief Operating Officer, David Gordon, Capital Projects and Asset Development; Walter Rushbrook, Executive General Manager, Interislander; Massimo Soprano, iReX Ships Programme Manager. On Screen: Mr. Sam Ka, President & CEO of Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (KSOE) and members of the Hyundai Mipo Dockyard team.
The Board of Directors of CIN S.p.A., held on June 22, 2021, has appointed Mr Simone Ferretti as General Manager of the Company. Mr Ferretti has extensive experience in business management with a particular focus on logistics and shipbuilding both domestically and internationally.
With a video on his LinkedIn profile, Managing Director Sébastien Douvry has announced the imminent start of a new roro ferry company: Blue Channel Line.
Mr Douvry has a background from LD and DFDS, amongst others.
It is a roro service for unaccompanied freight, sailing between Calais and Tilbury, six times per week.
Planned starting date: 1 October 2021, with a 100-freight-unit roro ship.
Investors are from Calais but want to remain under the radar.
The ultimate goal is to invest in an ‘eco ship’, first with an exhaust gas cleaning system from Terraotherme, then with a ‘powered-by-sails-if-the-wind-is-right-vessel’ developed by Zéphyr & Borée.
The new company wants to be a multimodal company rather than only a shipping company.
The COVID-19 global pandemic has had a significant impact on the company’s operations and financial results.
-40% passengers (13.1 million)
-24% vehicles (6.7 million)
BC Ferries expects financial results to continue to improve, in part due to Safe Restart funding and as the provincial economy recovers from the effects of the pandemic. The company remains optimistic that traffic will begin to return as more travellers become vaccinated and as the Provincial Health Officer eases travel restrictions.
Impacts of Safe Restart funding:
Net earnings were $21.0 million, a decrease of $7.8 million compared to net earnings of $28.8 million in the prior year. This reflects BC Ferries’ recognition of $186.0 million from the $308 million in Safe Restart funding received this fiscal year. Without the $186.0 million in Safe Restart funding – recognized as revenue – the net loss for the year would have been $165.0 million.
Inclusive of the Safe Restart funding, revenues decreased by $76.1 million, or 8.1%. Without the revenue contributed by Safe Restart funding, fiscal 2021 total revenues would have decreased by $262.1 million to $679.3 million, or 27.8 % lower than in fiscal 2020.
In response to the impact of COVID-19 on ferry operations, BC Ferries reviewed all spending and reduced its operating expenses in fiscal 2021 by $76.3 million or 8.9%.
The reduction was mainly due to reduced round trips on the major routes and the deferral of certain discretionary costs. The expense reduction includes reduced labour costs, fuel consumption, contracted services, depreciation expense and other miscellaneous costs.
The European Commission has concluded that the public service compensation granted since 2009 to Sicilia Regionale Marittima S.p.A. (‘Siremar’) and Toscana Regionale Marittima S.p.A. (‘Toremar’) for the operation of ferry services in Italy is in line with EU State aid rules.
The same applies to the compensation granted to their acquirers, respectively Società Navigazione Siciliana (‘SNS’) since 2016 and Moby S.p.A (‘Moby’), since 2012.
However, the Commission found that certain other measures in favour of Siremar, currently in liquidation, and SNS are incompatible with EU State aid rules.
Italy must now recover approximately €1.9 million of illegal aid, including interest.
Fincantieri and Faist Electronics, a Faist Group company specializing in the development and supply of complete energy storage systems), have founded Power4Future, a joint venture dedicated to the production of lithium-ion batteries.
The expected cumulative production is expected to exceed 2GWh in five years.
Stena Line has officially taken delivery of its RoPax STENA SCANDICA, on Friday 18th June. The vessel is the first of two Visentini vessels that are being lengthened and modernised at Sedef Shipbuilding in Turkey.
STENA SCANDICA will start operating on Nynäshamn-Ventspils, beginning of July. [Stena Line Route Map]
CEO Niclas Mårtensson
“Taking delivery of the large, modern and efficient vessel Stena Scandica is a major milestone for Stena Line and enables us to continue to grow together with our customers in the Baltic Sea. During the year we will increase capacity with 30 % on the Nynäshamn-Ventspils route, and 40 % on the Liepaja-Travemünde route”.
(CEO Niclas Mårtensson)
Some highlights:
- Lengthened with a 36 metre mid-section
- After the conversion 222m, 970 passengers, 202 cabins and 2,875 freight lane meters.
- To increase the loading efficiency, the vessels are modified with drive through capabilities on two levels.
- The vessels are fitted with several sustainable features and fuel efficiency improvements, such as hybrid scrubbers, ballast water cleaning systems, twisted leading edge rudder with costa bulb.
Baltic Sea expansion: Adding 40 % capacity on Travemünde-Liepaja in 2021
As part of the ongoing expansion in the Baltic Sea, Stena Line will relocate the two vessels currently sailing on Nynäshamn-Ventspils, STENA LIVIA and STENA FLAVIA, to the route Liepaja – Travemünde. The vessels will increase the freight capacity on the route by 40 % and shorten the crossing time from 27 to 20 hours. This will enable a reliable transport service with a fixed timetable with 12 weekly departures, six in each direction.