AS Tallink Grupp Statistics for October 2020
- -79.9% passengers (162,311)
- -18.7% cargo units (27,794)
- -46.2% cars (46,524)
All five companies operating passenger transport services in the Gulf of Naples decided to close down or reduce the sailings offered to and from the surrounding islands (such as Capri, Ischia, etc.).
Three labour unions (Filt Cgil, Fit Cisl e Uiltrasporti) publicly protested against the ferry companies Alilauro, Snav, Medmar, Navigazione Libera del Golfo e Gestour and complaining that less sailings have a direct impact on the workforce and on the social distance needed for the people onboard during the current pandemic emergency.
The ferry companies from their side decided to reduce the number of ships deployed and the sailings offered to and from Naples just because, due to the new procedure and limits introduced by the local authorities, the number of passengers sharply decreased.
Next summer, Blu Navy will add a second vessel on the Piombino – Portoferraio link, where the Italian ferry company has just obtained from the Tuscan port authority further three slots (from five to eight).
Blu Navy will operate the short-sea link also during the winter season.
Gianluca Morace, CEO of Blu Navy, told Ferry Shipping News that “the second ship will enter service next June and will be similar to the ro-pax ACCIARELLO.” (currently deployed by the company in the route linking the Elba island to Italy mainland).
With intra-European traffic accounting for 76% of its business, the Port of Zeebrugge knows the benefits of a Europe without internal borders perhaps better than any other. But then came Brexit…
The RoRo terminal at Stockholm Norvik Port has two new berths for the largest ferries and roro ships.
One of the quay-berths has a length of 280 metres and a depth of 10.5 metres. The other quay-berth has a length of 230 metres and a depth of 10 metres.
These are the final two of a total of nine ramps that have been delivered to Ports of Stockholm in recent years.
Stena Line will start to operate from Norvik as from 9 November. (route Nynashamn – Ventspils)
Eventually, nine investors have expressed interest for the acquisition of the 67% of the Igoumenitsa Port Authority (OLIG). The specific port has high profitability and respectable infrastructure and the future candidate will also take over pitches, buildings and facilities that are within the port zone and managed by OLIG as well as the fishing shelters of Sagiada and Plataria, and the yacht marina at Sivota. The 9 candidates that expressed interest in the port of Igoumenitsa are the following:
- Port Authority of Thessaloniki
- Quintana Infrastructure & Development
- Attica Holdings
- Danthia Shipping Company Limited: a private shipping company based in Cyprus
- Marg Limited: Infrastructure Company in India listed on the Mumbai Stock Exchange
- Portek International Private Limited: subsidiary of Japanese Mitsui & Co. Ltd., based in Singapore, manages 7 medium-sized ports
- Aegean OIL SA: part of the Aegean group (belongs to the Melissanidis family) with activities in the Greek oil and shipping market, trade in energy products, etc.
- ARCHI-RODON GROUP NV- ANEK consortium and TRIDENT HELLAS GROUP: a Greek construction company, ANEK Lines and a part of the American group Trident that provides security solutions and consulting services
- Grimaldi Euromed-Minoan Lines consortium: belong to the Italian group Grimaldi, a multinational supply chain group specializing in the operation of roll-on / roll-off ships, car and ship transport.
Methanol Can Be the Climate-Neutral Marine Fuel of the Future
The Fastwater project is about the use of methanol as fuel for existing ships and newbuildings.
The problems that Fastwater wants to solve are:
- Today’s engines do not work with methanol, but require either new engines or technology that enables the conversion of existing engines
- There must be a good international methanol supply chain
- There are many rules and regulations that need to be reviewed
The project has received five million euros from the EU to develop the new technology.
Fastwater is a project which unites universities (Lund, Ghent), engine manufacturer Anglo Belgian Corporation, shipyard Meyer Werft, Lloyds Register etc… A list with all Fastwater partners can be found here.
STENA GERMANICA was converted to be capable of running on methanol fuel in 2015.
Fastwater says a methanol-powered pilot boat will be launched in 2022.
Lack of Expertise, Poor Negotiating at Root of Quebec Ferry Fiasco, Auditor General Finds
“STQ (Société des traversiers du Québec)’s procurement of ropax F.-A.-GAUTHIER was doomed from the start because of a lack of in-house expertise and the lack of experience at the negotiating table,” says a “Report of the Auditor General of Québec to the National Assembly for 2020-2021, October 2020”
- STQ did not have all the expertise to successfully carry out the project to build a ship of the scale of the MV F.-A.-Gauthier and was unable to obtain the resources necessary to make up for that shortcoming.
- The process used to select the shipbuilder was not in line with naval industry practices.
- STQ was unable to capitalize on several areas of negotiation with the shipbuilder.
- The measures put in place by STQ to mitigate risks in the event of the interruption of an essential ferry service were insufficient.
Report of the Auditor General of Québec to the National Assembly: Full Report in French
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Report of the Auditor General of Québec to the National Assembly: Summary in English
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A third attempt to award a tender for a €115 million ferry service between Malta and Gozo was killed in its tracks on Tuesday after the Public Contracts Review Board ordered its cancellation.
Second Rail-RoPax Ferry for Russian Far East Launched
On October 30, United Shipbuilding Corporation’s Amursky Shipyard (Russian press release) launched the second of two Rail RoPax ferries.
The two ferries will be used on the Vahini-Kholmsk line (Russian Far East, between mainland and Sakhalin Island).
ALEKSANDR DEYEV and VASILY OSHCHEPKOV have been designed by MEB (Marine Enginering Bureau) for the State Transport Leasing Company (GTLK).
