Friday February 26 saw the delivery of Fjord Line’s new high-speed catamaran, “FJORD FSTR”.
The 110m-long 31m-wide vessel was built by Austal in the Philippines.
Speed: 37 knots
Capacity: 410 vehicles and 1200 passengers
Time for crossing: 2 hours and 15 minutes between Kristiansand and Hirtshals
She still has to make the long journey from the Philippines to Norway.
No surprise: the Corsican Assembly has voted to attribute the 5 subsidised ferry lines to Corsica Linea and La Méridionale. (public service contract).
Route 1: Marseille – Ajaccio: Corsica Linea & La Méridionale
Route 2: Marseille – Bastia: Corsica Linea
Route 3: Marseille – Portovecchio: Corsica Linea
Route 4: Marseille – Propriano: La Méridionale
Route 5: Marseille – Ile-Rousse: Corsica Linea
Period: 1 March 2021 – 31 December 2022
Earlier it was reported that Corsica Ferries’ offer was rejected (because of “non-compliance of the offer”).
According to the Greek Tourism Confederation Institute’s (INSETE) recent report, the Coastal Traffic in Greece in 2020 is as follows:
The Greece – Italy decreased by 70% in passengers, 56% in cars and 9% in freight.
The Greek domestic traffic is reduced by 50% in passenger, 40% in cars and 17% in freight.
On February 2, Sea Lines launched a new roro line between Karasu in Turkey and Constanta in Romania. After only two weeks, they had to close the new line, temporarily.
“Due to an unsustainable heavy administrative burden and unforeseen costs, the Karasu-Constanta Ro-Ro route will be temporarily suspended. Sea Lines is in consultation with authorities, ports and customers, supporting the necessary changes to resume the service.”
Roro vessel VASALAND is now on its way to Tunisia for another charter.
Transporting products across the UK landbridge is going to get rougher before it gets smoother
‘Brexit Buster’ Direct Shipping Link Announced Between Port Of Poole And Morocco
New roro route linking Poole and Tanger is to be launched within the next few months.
New shipping company, United Seaways.
Kerkyra Lines’ ferry EVDOKIA (300gt/1995) performed her first sailing from Corfu to the Diapontia Islands on March 2, 2021.
EVDOKIA was built in Japan (1995) and her carrying capacity is for 300 passengers and 20 cars.
The christening of the roro ECO LIVORNO took place at the port of Livorno, March 2nd.
The brief ceremony was held on the occasion of the ship’s inaugural call in the port of Livorno – her first Italian stop since she left the Jinling shipyard.
At the end of the brief speeches, the ECO LIVORNO was blessed by Mons. Placido Bevinetto, belonging to the diocese of Livorno. The ceremony ended with the cutting of the ribbon and the traditional breaking of the bottle by the godmother Nicoletta Landi, the wife of Livorno’s mayor Luca Salvetti.
The ECO LIVORNO will set sail from the Tuscan port to begin serving regularly the roro connection between Livorno, Savona, Barcelona and Valencia.
Tallink Grupp reported an unaudited net loss of EUR 108.3 million for the 2020 financial year (net profit of EUR 49.7 million in 2019), resulting from travel restrictions, border closures and states of emergency due to the global COVID 19 pandemic.
Consolidated revenue amounted EUR 442.9 million (949.1 million)
EBITDA EUR 8.0 million (171.1 million)
Gross profit EUR -43.5 million
-62% passengers
-5.2% cargo units
-20% trips
Attempts to boost its operations by setting up various temporary routes during summer 2020 and by operating a number of special cruises where possible. These attempts were once again curbed in autumn 2020 by travel restrictions.
Investments EUR 100.1 million.
Mainly prepayment instalments for the new LNG-fuelled vessel MYSTAR (2022).
Also increasing the company’s cargo capacity by acquiring roro SAILOR.
The group ended the year with a total liquidity buffer of EUR 147.1 million (EUR 128.9 million in 2019).
Employee numbers: from 7240 at the end of 2019 to 4237 at the end of 2020.
Tallink Grupp’s CEO Paavo Nõgene: “As we wait for the COVID storm to pass and borders to reopen for travelling, we continue to develop business areas we feel will give us a strategic advantage going forward and enable us to spread risks, make preparations for offering our services again with an even stronger focus on safety and sustainability and get ready to provide safe and happy journeys and to reunite people around the Baltic sea after a year of separation.”
Tallink Grupp will require passengers travelling to Finland to present a negative COVID-19 test result certificate or a certificate from the GP evidencing that the passenger has recovered from coronavirus. The new requirement follows a strong recommendation from the Finnish Health Authority (Terveyden ja hyvinvointilaitos) to all shipping companies operating passenger ferries between Finland and neighbouring countries to introduce such a requirement.
In a recent interview published in the Reporter.gr, the Chairman of the Hellenic Passenger Shipping Business Association, Mr. Michalis Sakellis, pointed out the following:
