At Least Three Groups of Companies Tendering for Local Maritime Transport in Venice

By 2020 Newsletter week 10
  1. Caronte&Tourist in joint venture with Venezia City Sightseeing
  2. Alilauro, through the joint venture Alivenice created with Granturismo Venezia
  3. Bluferries

are the three group of companies which participated at the tender launched by the Municipality of Venice for a part of the maritime transport services in the lagoon.

This tender was launched some years ago and has been pending until now. A final decision is expected for April. The 9-year public contract is worth €178m and regards a 10% of the local public maritime transport services not managed by the Municipality-controlled ferry company Actv.

INDUSTRY ASSOCIATIONS

By 2020 Newsletter week 10

Submit Your Project for the ESPO Award 2020

The ESPO Award on Social Integration of Ports is entering its 12th edition. The theme of this year is “Enhancing the port-city relationship by encouraging innovators and local start-ups to be part of the port ecosystem”.

Project submissions have to reach the ESPO Secretariat by Friday 26 June 2020 at the latest. The application form and the terms of reference are available on the ESPO Website.

SHORT NEWS

By 2020 Newsletter week 10

Kerkyra Seaways’ HERMES Arrived in Greece

On March 3, 2020 Kerkyra Seaways’s latest acquisition HERMES arrived in Piraeus, from Japan. She was purchased from the Japanese Nankai Awaji Ferry in October 2019 and delivered to the Greek ferry operator on January 24, 2020. HERMES is expected to be converted soon and she will be probably introduced on the Igoumenitsa-Corfu-Paxoi line.

SUPERFAST XI at Alexandroupolis, Serving as a Floating Hotel

By 2020 Newsletter week 10

On March 1, 2020 Attica Group’s ropax SUPERFAST XI arrived in Alexandroupolis. She is being used as a hotel for the police forces that are currently operating on the northern borders of Greece (Evros), in the turmoil with the refugees.

The large ferry will be at the Hellenic Government’s disposal until Saturday 7 March and then she will be probably replaced by EL. VENIZELOS and BLUE STAR 1. After that she will undergo repairs and dry docking while she is expected to return back in her Adriatic service in mid-April 2020.

PHOTOS OF THE WEEK

By 2020 Newsletter week 10

Hold Your Breath! Calais got the Dragon

La Compagnie du Dragon started operations in Calais. Passengers are ferried across the Calais seafront, on the back of a mechanic monster dragon.
Thank you Julien Carpentier for the great capture.

Captain Leaves the Ship Last

Probably the most significant maritime photo of this week is this one. It shows the Captain of cruise vessel DIAMOND PRINCESS, leaving the ship, “as last one”, after the corona-crisis in Japan.

We all have this image of a captain staying until the last, when the ship is sinking, after having been hit by a monster storm. Nobody would ever have imagined this alternative scenario: a ship hit by something as small as a virus.

Damen and BC Ferries Celebrate

By 2020 Newsletter week 10

On 19 February 2020, BC Ferries held a naming ceremony for the first of its two Island Class Ferries at Victoria’s Point Hope Maritime. At the event, the names of the vessels – ISLAND DISCOVERY and ISLAND AURORA – were revealed for the first time. The two ferries, based on the Damen Road Ferry 8117E3 design and built at Damen Shipyards Galati in Romania, will enter service mid-2020, serving the Powell River-Texada Island and Port McNeill-Albert Bay-Sointula routes respectively.

BREAKING NEWS

By 2020 Newsletter week 9

The New TT-Line Ferries Will Be Built in Finland instead of Germany

From ‘down under’ Ferry Shipping News received the information that the contract between Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft mbH & Co. KG. (FSG) and TT-Line Tasmania has been cancelled.

Two ferries had been ordered for Tasmania’s Bass Strait. However, several projects at FSG are delayed, such as Irish Ferries’ and Brittany Ferries’ new ropax units.

Now FSG and TT-Line mutually agreed to cancel the contract.

TT-Line signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Rauma Marine Constructions in Finland. The new delivery dates are 2022/2023.

The Tasmanian minister of transport said that “the majority of the work undertaken to date on the new vessels by TT-Line and their expert consultants is transferrable and can be utilised in the detailed design phase and contract negotiations with the new shipbuilder.”

In 2019, the Global investment company Tennor Holding B.V. became the sole owner of the German shipyard FSG after the acquisition of all remaining shares in FSG from the former owners, Siem Europe Sarl.

FERRY SHIPPING

By 2020 Newsletter week 9

Highly Anticipated New Stena Line Ferry Arrives in Northern Ireland for Final Trials

The next generation of ferry travel proudly sailed into Belfast Harbour on Wednesday, with STENA EDDA undertaking important final trials before it welcomes passengers on the Belfast to Liverpool route in the coming weeks.

Welcomed by a flotilla of boats, STENA EDDA arrived at dawn after a four-week voyage from China. She is the second ropax in the series of ‘E-Flexers’.

The new vessel took part in successful berthing trials at Belfast Harbour’s VT2 Terminal. A new access ramp has been specially built to accommodate the multi-million-pound ferry in Belfast.

With 40% more deck capacity, 40% more cabins and 30% more fuel efficiency than current vessels on the route, it will accommodate up to 1,000 passengers, 120 cars in its dedicated garage deck and 3,100 lane metres of freight.

STENA EDDA is part of a nine-figure investment by Stena Line in three new vessels and port upgrades, redefining ferry travel in the Irish Sea. STENA EDDA is the first of two new ferries that will run on the popular Belfast to Liverpool route.

Grendi Welcomed Chartered RoRo SEVERINE for the Carrara – Cagliari – Porto Torres Link

By 2020 Newsletter week 9

The Italian shipping company Grendi Trasporti Marittimi welcomed yesterday (25 Feb 2020) in Porto Torres, Sardinia, the roro SEVERINE, second ship long-time chartered and deployed on the maritime bridge between Italy mainland and Sardinia island.

A few weeks ago, Antonio Musso revealed to Ferry Shipping News that the vessel was chartered-in from CLdN for one year, in order to increase frequency and capacity of the regular service up to now operated between the ports of Cagliari and Marina di Carrara.

Thanks to the new tonnage deployed, the Genoa-based Grendi Group will be able to add a third port of call (Porto Torres) thus offering the following rotation: Marina di Carrara – Porto Torres – Cagliari – Marina di Carrara – Porto Torres – Marina di Carrara.

SEVERINE was built in 2012 and has capacity for 1,760 lane metres and 12 passengers.

Antonio Musso, CEO of Grendi Trasporti Marittimi, highlighted that “this line is a real motorway of the seas between north and south of Sardinia and with Italy mainland”. Musso also added: “Our line saw a significant increase of volumes since when the terminal container in Cagliari closed down last year and all the international shipping lines started using our line for the import/export of containers and trailers from and to Sardinia”.