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sandra

Aug 06
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Increased Protocol and Strict Measures on Board Greek Ferries

By 2020 Newsletter week 32

On August 2, the Hellenic Ministry of Shipping and Island Policy announced the change in the health protocol with an increase of the passenger capacity on board coastal ferries to 80%.

The protocol on the ships with cabins is also increased to 85%, while the minimum distance of 1,5 meters is maintained between the passengers.

The passenger and crew cabins would accommodate up to four people if they are first- or second-degree relatives or people with disabilities with their escort.

At the same time, it was decided the mandatory use of face mask –from August 4 to August 18, 2020- inside and outside the ferries.

The passenger protocol in the high-speed crafts will be also increased to 80% only if they have High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters and their installation and operation is certified according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

The shipowner, the operator and the ferry masters are responsible for the preparation of the aircraft-type seats coverage plan for each ship. Passengers, masters and crew members are required to comply with COVID-19 outbreak prevention and control measures before boarding, during boarding and when disembarking on passenger – car ferries that perform domestic trips.

For any violation of the provisions and measures the fines imposed are:

  • to passengers, naval agents and crew members the administrative fine is 150 euros
  • to ship-owners, operators and ship masters the administrative fine is 1.000 euros.
Aug 06
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FERRY FINANCE

By 2020 Newsletter week 32

Finnlines: Essential Lifeline for Finland – Challenging Q2

 H1 2020

  • -20% Revenue EUR 236.4 million (295.5)
  • -20% EBITDA EUR 66.4 million (83.5)
  • -32% Result EUR 31.7 million (46.7)

Q2 2020

  • -33% Revenue EUR 105.8 million (157.9)
  • -43% EBITDA EUR 28.2 million (49.4)
  • -64% Result EUR million 11.0 (30.4)

Especially Q2 was extremely challenging, with almost no passenger traffic and the slowdown in global trade caused by the global pandemic.

Finnline is essential for the supply of island-like Finland. The company says that it transports more than one third of the roughly one million trucks moving over the three main sea bridges, Finland–Estonia, Finland–Sweden and Finland–Germany, which are connecting Finland to the rest of Europe.

During H1, Finnlines operated on average 19 vessels in its own traffic. The cargo volumes totalled approximately 357k (386k) cargo units, 60k (88k) cars (not including passengers’ cars) and 522k (581k) tons of freight not possible to measure in units.

In addition, some 227k (310k) private and commercial passengers were transported.

Finnlines has been following closely all the emergency measures to shipping companies, and aims for fair conditions of competition.

Aug 06
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Eckerö’s H1 Result also Marked by Pandemic

By 2020 Newsletter week 32
  • Ferry ECKERÖ and cruise vessel BIRKA STOCKHOLM were out of service as of March 15. ECKERÖ resumed operations June 26.
  • 7 million passengers traveled with the Eckerö Group’s vessels (1.5 million last year)
  • Turnover EUR 52.8 million (EUR 102.0 million)
  • Operating profit EUR -21.8 million (EUR -7.6 million)
  • Profit including unrealized changes in market value of bunker hedges, EUR -22.2 million (EUR -5.5 million)
  • Interest-bearing liabilities EUR 99.2 million (EUR 91.8 million)
  • Net debt EUR 89.0 million (EUR 65.8 million)
  • On July 3, the Group’s intention to close down the Birka Cruises business area was announced
Aug 06
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Tallink July 2020 Statistics Show Recovery

By 2020 Newsletter week 32

Tallink transported a total of 617,206 passengers in July. That is half of last year’s July, but more than double of June 2020.

The number of cargo units transported on all the company’s vessels in July 2020 decreased by 2.9% and amounted to 29,108 cargo units.

The greatest reductions in the number of cargo units transported have been on the Latvia-Sweden and Estonia-Sweden routes.

On the Estonia-Finland and Finland-Sweden routes cargo transportation, however, actually increased in July compared to July 2019, 2.4% and 7.1% respectively.

The total number of passenger vehicles transported in July this year also decreased: 118,167 vehicles (155,297 in July 2019).

Normal route operations, comparable at least to some extent to previous years, continued only on Tallinn-Helsinki, Muuga-Vuosaari, Paldiski-Kapellskär and Turku-Stockholm routes.

Tallinn-Stockholm and Helsinki-Stockholm routes were and currently still are suspended completely and the Riga-Stockholm route only operated four limited capacity special trips during the month.

At the same time, the company operated a number of new temporary routes and several additional special cruises during the month, which helped recover passenger numbers at least to some extent. New temporary routes such as Helsinki-Riga, Turku-Tallinn, Stockholm-Visby, a number of special cruises from Tallinn via Helsinki to Aland and one special cruise from Helsinki to Saaremaa, all proved popular with the customers and have enabled travellers around the Baltic sea to travel safely close to home this summer.

Aug 06
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FERRY PORTS

By 2020 Newsletter week 32

Port of Tallinn Opened the New Terminal D

On Friday 31 July, the Port of Tallinn opened the new building of its Terminal D; the largest sea gate of Estonia, which welcomes six million passengers a year.

The terminal received a makeover of EUR 18.5 million and now boasts a new state-of-the-art look. The total area of the building –featuring a number of environmentally friendly solutions– nearly doubled, having reached 14,000m2.

“The building offers travellers much larger waiting and seating areas, a playground for children has been added, and there is more space for cafés and shops,” said Valdo Kalm, the chairman of the board at the Port of Tallinn. “Our other priority in addition to passenger comfort was sustainability: for instance, the energy needs of the building are partially covered by solar electricity, and indoor climate is automatically regulated depending on the temperature outside.”

The reconstruction of Terminal D is co-financed by the European Union within the Connecting Europe Facility project TWIN-PORT 2 no. 2014-EU-TM-0087-M.

Aug 06
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Port of Zeebrugge: Good Result in H1, Despite Pandemic

By 2020 Newsletter week 32

H1, 2020, the total traffic in Zeebrugge grows with 14.5% compared to the same period last year. In total, 25.1 million tonnes of cargo was handled. The sectors that show the most growth are liquid bulk (LNG: +148%), container traffics (+14%) and the solid bulk (+32%).

Although the port of Zeebrugge stayed 100% operational during the COVID-19 crisis, roro (-23%) and passengers experienced a decrease during this semester.

The decrease in roro is mainly due to the dramatic drop in the handling of new cars.

The COVID-19 crisis has a significant impact on the passenger movements in the port of Zeebrugge. Last cruise ship was on March 11.  On P&O Ferries’ Zeebrugge – Hull route, the transport of passengers halted almost completely.

Aug 06
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SHORT NEWS

By 2020 Newsletter week 32

New Images from the Ramp Installation on GOTHIA SEAWAYS

BELGIA SEAWAYS and GOTHIA SEAWAYS have both been sent to Remontowa for a ramp installation project.

Now the installation has been finalised on both vessels. The new ramps will function both as weathertight decks and as driving ramps between Decks 2 and 3, meaning that now all decks can be loaded via the normal aft ramp instead of via an external ramp for Deck 3.

Aug 06
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PHOTOS OF THE WEEK

By 2020 Newsletter week 32

Sea Trials for Second Electric Norled Ferry

SOLAVÅGEN is the second in a series of four electric passenger/vehicle ferries, built at Remontowa Shipbuilding SA for Norled. The ferry began sea trials on August, 1.

These battery-powered ferries will be sailing in the area of Norwegian fjords and will serve the connection between Festøya – Solavågen and Mannheller – Fodnes. At the end of June this year the first ferry was handed over to the shipowner, which entered the Festøya-Solavågen line in mid-July.

Photo Remontowa: Piotr Rudzki; Agnieszka Latarska, Maciej Bielesz / Portalmorski.Pl

Tallink Grupp’s New Shuttle Mystar Steel Sections Prepared in Poland Set Sail for Rauma Shipyard

Steel sections built at the former Gdanska Shipyard for Tallink Grupp’s new shuttle vessel MyStar, which will become the vessel’s food storage area in the future, set sail on August 1 on the barge KIKKA, towed by tugboat METEOR, towards the builder RMC´s Rauma shipyard in Finland.

Jul 30
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FERRY SHIPPING

By 2020 Newsletter week 31

Brittany Ferries: New Route and More Capacity on Ireland

  • New Rosslare – Cherbourg route to open in March 2021. Irish and French hauliers have asked Brittany Ferries to move the weekly French rotation from Roscoff to the transport hub of Cherbourg.
  • Earlier this year Brittany Ferries started Rosslare – Bilbao (instead of Cork – Santander) and Rosslare – Roscoff (instead of Cork – Roscoff).
  • Additional mid-week sailing added to Cork – Roscoff service (mainly tourist market)
  • The new sailings will also see the utilisation of the CONNEMARA (for Rosslare) and the ARMORIQUE (for Cork). The ARMORIQUE is new to Ireland. The PONT-AVEN will continue to serve the main Cork – Roscoff sailings at the weekend.
Jul 30
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With New Route Smyril Line Becomes Competitor for Sea Cargo

By 2020 Newsletter week 31

“MISTRAL will start a new traffic in August.” That is what we wrote in Ferry Shipping News, week 28. Now it has become clear that the Godby roro vessel will be used by Smyril Line, for a new freight route between Rotterdam and Western Norway.

The route will initially be operated by the roro ferry AKRANES, until taken over by MISTRAL on August 12.

Route: Rotterdam – Stavanger – Trondheim – Rørvik – Hitra – Rotterdam.