The new DSP (delegation of public services) has been voted on 27 July. After a period of analysing it has been decided to organise the DSP differently.
Some snapshots taken during my cruise in the Irish Sea:
The sunset picture of STENA SUPERFAST X has been taken in Holyhead. The early morning “blue hour” picture was taken the day after in Dublin. Good to see ULYSSES is back in service.
Mangalia Shipyard Will Give Damen Shipyard Group The Possibility To Build Large Ferries
It is a major thing for the Dutch shipyard group Damen: the Mangalia shipyard, formerly known as Daewoo Mangalia Heavy Industries (DMHI) will be operated as a joint venture with the Romanian Government. Damen will assume operational control. The yard, located on the Black Sea coast, will be renamed Damen Shipyards Mangalia. This move represents a strategic complement to Damen’s current shipyard portfolio, with the possibility for the construction and conversion of large and complex ferries, There are three drydocks with a total length of 982m and 1.6km of berthing space.
LMG Marin has been awarded the design of two battery-plug-in ferries for the Festøya-Solavågen connection (Ålesund), operated by Norled. The contract with Remontowa Shipyard and Norled was signed on 11 July.
The new ferries will be equipped with an innovative Diesel Electric Hybrid system.
The LMG 120-DEH design is also characterized by an innovative vehicle deck and accommodation arrangement: the passenger lounge is below the car deck.
The president of Baleària, Adolfo Utor, and his colleague of Marítima Peregar, Joaquín Pérez-Muñoz Prados, presented a new joint service on 18 July.
Both shipping companies have set up a Compañía Marítima Alborán (50/50), which has begun daily regular traffic between Melilla and Málaga.
Six connections a week are ro-pax services, one per week is for ro-ro freight only.
In addition, Compañía Marítima Alborán will operate other regular traffic with Ceuta and Tangier Med, with Malaga as homeport. This service was already operated by Peregar.
The new company uses two vessels:
DFDS’ first Jinling vessel (6,700 lane meter) was launched into the Yangtze River on 16 July.
Photo: Jeppe Halkjær Pedersen / DFDS
Scandlines’ BERLIN, operating with sister vessel COPENHAGEN on the Gedser-Rostock route, had to be taken out of service to solve technical issues with the thruster. Unusual noises had been heard.
BERLIN was sent to the Fayard drydock in Odense. A spare thruster was delivered immediately from the Rolls Royce warehouse in Norway.
The subsequent investigation confirmed that the replaced thruster was damaged, and that these were actually the cause of the abnormal noises.
She was out of service from 16 to 19 July, missing a few dozens of crossings in one of the busiest periods of the year.
Photo: Siemens/ Ulrich WIrrwa
Now it is final: Stena Line will move from Varberg to Halmstad at the end of 2019. It revives the memory of the former Lion Ferry operation, acquired by Stena Line in 1985. The reason for the move is that the city of Varberg plans to urbanize the district of Västerport where Stena Line is berthing today.
“We expect the new ferry terminal to be ready for traffic by the end of 2019,” says Björn Alvengrip, CEO HallandsHamnar. HallandsHamnar is the company managing both ports.
Photo: STENA NAUTICA in Varberg, shortly before her departure to Grenaa in Denmark.
Kvarken Link AB has invited four shipyards to provide binding offers for the building of a new ro-pax ferry. Three shipyards are European, one is Asian.
The deadline for the offers is 31 August 2018. A contract should be signed at the end of this year, latest beginning of next year. Delivery if planned for April 2021.
The Finnish Government will support the project with €25 million, and the EIB (European Investment Bank) will grant the applied loan when the contract is signed.
The Swedish Government is not interested.
The route Umeå (Sweden) and Vasa (Finland) is currently operated by Wasaline. The route is halfway the Gulf of Bothnia.
