India Agrees to Ratify IMO Ship Recycling Convention
The largest ship recycling nation has agreed to ratify the Hong Kong Convention on Ship Recycling which will push shipowners to take closer heed of how they dispose of tonnage.
- Ferry Shipping News understood that Grimaldi is now in advanced negotiation with Avic Weihai Shipyard for the imminent Finnlines order for the Super Star class ferries, Other shortlisted yards were GSI, Jinling, and Hyundai Mipo.
- The fast craft Adriatic Express, used by the new operator Split Express, is for sale.
- Moby reintroduced Moby Wonder and Moby Aki on their regular Livorno- Olbia crossings, after the cancelled deal with DFDS.
- Ro-ro ferry Eurocargo Trieste suffered an engine room fire after she left Livorno on 21 November. Fire was extinguished and she was towed into Livorno.
- Nanjing Jinling Shipyard started the construction of the second 7,800 lane metre ro-ro ship built for Grimaldi Group.
Support Strike for Postal Workers Paralyzed Finnish Shipping
The Finnish Seamen’s Union went on strike last Monday (25 November 2019) in support of a postal worker’s strike that had been underway for nearly two weeks in protest of the postal services unilaterally moving a segment of their workforce under a different collective agreement, which would have resulted in pay cuts of 30-40%.
All Finnish-flagged ships arriving in port after Monday morning were laid up; the strike hit Viking Line, Finnlines, Wasaline and Eckerö Line particularly badly, while Silja Line was also affected. The strike was resolved on Wednesday morning following negotiations led by the national conciliator Vuokko Piekkala, and shipping is expected to return to normal within a couple of days.
As a result of the strike, Viking Line’s CEO Jan Hanses issued a statement that the company were considering flagging the new Viking Glory to Sweden; currently all Viking Line ships sailing between Continental Finland and Sweden are Finnish-flagged and these services were thus entirely paralyzed as a result. Finnlines, meanwhile, attempted a creative solution: instead of leaving Travemünde for Helsinki, the Finnstar moved to the Travemünde-Malmö service – never arriving in a Finnish port and therefore not laid up for the strike – while the Swedish-flagged Europalink, normally sailing on the Malmö-Travemünde route was sent to Finland instead. In the end, the strike ended before the Europalink reached Finland.
Photo: Mariella, Gabriella and Silja Serenade all laid up at Helsinki on Monday 25 November
Condor Ferries CEO Welcomes the Expertise of the New Owners
See also our extra news flash from 14 November 2019.
Paul Luxon, Condor Ferries’ CEO, said in a statement that he is delighted with the agreement between the current shareholder, Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets, to sell its 100% interest in Condor Ferries to a consortium of Columbia Threadneedle Investments, the majority shareholder, and Brittany Ferries.
“The new shareholders wholeheartedly share our vision and strategy for maintaining and developing essential Channel Islands’ lifeline ferry services across the freight supply chain, Islander travel and tourism sectors. Having met with senior executives of CTI and BF on several occasions, the company welcomes such experience and expertise from the new shareholders and having introduced them to key stakeholders including politicians and senior civil servants, discussions on fleet replacement and future investment will continue.”
He added that Condor Ferries’ management and staff will continue to deliver the five-year business plan that is underway. “We will continue to focus on providing efficient and effective sea connectivity to support the Channel Islands’ economies”.
ROVDEHORN and SKOPPHORN are the 7th and 8th ferry built by Havyard for Fjord1. In total, 13 ships have been ordered. The hulls are built in Turkey, the outfitting is done in Norway.
The two ferries were built to enter service on 1 January 2020, on the route Magerholm – Sykkylven.
Regular crossings will be on battery, however, if needed there is a backup with biofuel.
The ferries are equipped with four engines from Norwegian Electric Systems, who also supplied power systems, switchboards etc.. The propulsion system comes from Kongsberg and the batteries are from Corvus and NES.
The preparatory work for the installation of the rotor sail on the hybrid ferry COPENHAGEN was successfully completed during the planned shipyard stay in autumn 2019.
A steel foundation and cables were laid to prepare the installation of the rotor sail, scheduled for the second quarter of 2020. In addition, a new mast was mounted, as the stern top light must be placed in front of the rotor sail.
The installation of the rotor sail will reduce Scandlines’ CO2 emissions from its ferry by four to five percent.
A new industry alliance has been forged to see if it is possible to supply the marine industry with liquid hydrogen on a large scale.
BKK now forms a consortium with Equinor, Air Liquide, Norled, Wilhelmsen and Viking Cruises. Havneeier Norsea group, the research foundation Norce and the maritime industry cluster NCE Maritime Cleantech are also included.
By 2024, liquid hydrogen for large ferries and speedboats could become an important part of BKK’s commitment to electrification.
NOK 88 million has been budgeted to bring the project to an investment decision. On 12 December 2019, the consortium will receive an answer regarding the request for a NOK 35 million financial injection from the Norwegian PILOT-E funding scheme.
The Ancona-based company Adria Ferries has presented the last entry in its fleet: the ropax AF CLAUDIA bought one year ago from Baja Ferries. She was operating as CALIFORNIA STAR in the Sea of Cortez. During summer she was chartered to Grimaldi Lines.
Here below some of the technical details of the ship, set to be deployed on the Italy-Albania route linking the ports of Ancona and Durres:
LOA 186.5m / 2,044 lane meters / 140 lorries and 75 cars in garage / 950 passengers / 76 cabins / 23 knots
The ship passenger capacity will be increased before 2021, in order to accommodate up to 1,800 pax. Number of cabins will be 200.
AF CLAUDIA, in order to be compliant with IMO Low Sulphur Cap 2020, has been fitted with scrubbers provided by the US-based supplier CR Ocean Engineering and installed at Viktor Lenac shipyard (part of Palumbo Group) in Rijeka, Croatia.
Adria Ferries today control a fleet of three ferries (AF CLAUDIA, AF MARINA and AF FRANCESCA) and a fourth unit is expected to be acquired in 2022.
Grimaldi Group’s l RoPax CRUISE OLBIA arrived at the Palumbo Shipyard in Messina on 15 November 2019 in order to undergo her annual scheduled repairs as well as to have scrubber units installed.
CRUISE OLBIA is the third ship of the Grimaldi’s Mediterranean fleet to undergo the specific conversion, after CRUISE BONARIA and CRUISE OLYMPIA which are currently in Malta for the same reason.
The other three vessels of the Italian Group are Minoan Lines’ large cruise ferries MYKONOS PALACE, KNOSSOS PALACE and FESTOS PALACE which underwent the same conversion a few months ago in Malta.
Moby Bondholders Ready to Support a Financial Restructuring of the Company
“The Bondholder Committee, which in recent months has agreed with Moby before the Court of Milan to ascertain the specific legal context and principles that today’s management of the group’s activities should comply with, once again underlines that business continuity, the safeguarding of maritime connections and territorial continuity, and the protection of existing jobs at what it hopes can continue to be a leading Italian shipping company, are essential in order to protect its corporate value. This is in the interests of all stakeholders – bondholders included.”
That’s the message being circulated by a group of investors (mainly private equity and hedge funds) who earlier this year bought (at a discounted price) a large part of the 300 million euro Senior Secured Notes due in 2023 and issued by Moby in 2016 with a 7.75% interest rate. This statement comes after many seafarers, worried about the ferry company’s future, took to Naples’ streets in protest during the weekend.
Presumably in order to calm their fears, the bondholders also added: “The Committee has expressed multiple times to Moby’s management and advisors its willingness to support appropriate restructuring of the group’s debts (even at the cost of renouncing part of their own operating profits), with the goal of being able to report a level of debt that is sustainable for the business”.
The statement concluded by saying: “The Committee has also expressed equal willingness when it comes to new investments, in the context of the hoped-for restructuring, which would allow the company to operate smoothly and with the goal of acquiring new market shares in the medium term.”