The Finnish Government plans to support ferry companies with a total of EUR 24.7 million.
The earlier support for lifeline freight services expires this week (week 25).
Finland has opened the borders for Norway and Estonia, but not for Sweden. That means that lines from Sweden to Helsinki, Marieham, Vasa and Turku will still suffer.
The new support will be administered by the FinnishTransport and Communications Agency Traficom.
The European Commission has approved under EU State aid rules the prolongation until end 2023 of various Italian support measures for maritime transport under Italy’s “International Registry” scheme. The scheme encourages shipping companies to register their ships in Europe and so ensure higher social, environmental and safety standards.
Italy has also committed to a number of changes to its scheme to avoid undue competition distortion as well as to prevent any discrimination between shipping companies and registries of different European Economic Area (EEA) States.
P&O Ferries Inform Freight Customers About Dover Wharfage Charge
In a letter, P&O Ferries tells its customers that Dover Harbour Board have served all shipping companies a notice of a £5 increase in wharfage charges across all freight unit types.
This increased charge applies to trucks, unaccompanied trailers or vans as from 19 July (ref the letter from Dover Harbour Board).
“We have little choice but to pass on this additional £5 (or €6) charge to our customers as from the same date,” writes P&O Ferries.
Cuts To Ferry Capacity Raise Fears For Arran Economy (Scotland)
The Arran Ferry Action Group said that moves to limit numbers threatened tourism on the island in the Firth of Clyde and could be catastrophic for the economy.
This article (in Swedish) summarises the shareholder uprising against the Mansén family in Rederi Ab Eckerö, lead by Businessman Johan Eklund.
The reason for the conflict is the corona crisis that caused bankers and the Ministry of Finance to demand a capital injection. Not because the equity is bad, the equity ratio is strong 50 percent. The Ministry of Finance and the banks want to see that there is also a determination among the owners to save the company.
Eklund is ready to guarantee a new share issue of EUR 10 million together with a handful of other shareholders, but only if the owner family Mansén waives the right to exercise their subscription rights.
Atlantic Seaways Restarts Italy-Libya Service
Libya-based company Atlantis Seaways Tripoli (Atlantis Maritime Transportation Co.) has restarted the roro service, connecting Venice to the Libyan port of Khoms.
The service, which started in February, was suspended during the Covid emergency.
Roro IVAN restarted the service. Another ship is expected in July.
Rendering Of The Week
STENA ELEKTRA is intended to operate on the route between Göteborg and Fredrikshavn, solely powered by electricity. “As of today, the concept is not yet profitable,” says Henrik Nordhammar at Stena Teknik, “but with the rapid increase of capacity and descending prices of batteries, it’s only a matter of time.”
The vessel is still in a concept stage, and there are several challenges to overcome before it can be realised, like how to recharge the batteries with 50 MWh of electricity during the 90 minutes in port.
NORD PAS-DE-CALAIS
SALLY STAR
PRIDE OF SANDWICH
Stena North Sea Ltd. and Rederi AB Gotland have been shortlisted to move to the Request for Proposals (RFP) stage for the procurement of a new vessel for the Marine Atlantic fleet.
