Tallink’s STAR and MEGASTAR were awarded the Marine Stewardship Council’s (MSC) Chain of Custody certificate at the end of 2017 for providing sustainably sourced seafood on board.
Photo: The Chef’s Kitchen © Tallink Grupp
Rotterdam teams with IBM to build a connected, smart port of the future
Port of Rotterdam and IBM are going to collaborate on a digitisation initiative to transform the port’s operational environment using Internet of Things (IoT) technologies to benefit the port and its users.
The initiative will also prepare the Port of Rotterdam’s entire 42km site to host connected ships in the future.
It begins with the development of a centralised dashboard application that will collect and process real-time water (hydro), weather (meteo) sensor data and communications data, analysed through the IBM IoT platform.
This will enable a new wave of safer and more efficient traffic management at the port
Total loss for MESTRE SIMÃO
The Regional Government of the Azores said a new ferry would have to be built to replace the MESTRE SIMÃO, writes the Açoriano Oriental. This small ferry ran aground when approaching the port of Madalena, on January 6. She had a capacity of 8 cars and 344 passengers.
The Squamish Chief published an interesting article about how BC Ferries was looking at the future developments regarding self-driving cars.
Mark Collins, president of BC Ferries suggests that self-driving cars might deliver profound changes to ferry use. Some examples:
- A terminal would need more space for foot passengers, plus areas for self-driving vehicles to arrive and depart.
- Ferries could transport freight only, and no cars, because an autonomous vehicle on the other side could pick up the foot passengers. This would mean a different kind of garage deck.
- Ferries with flexible spaces, similar to hotels where flexible walls are used to create different sizes of meeting spaces.
Photo: BC Ferries
Electric vehicles create a new challenge for the ferry industry, writes www.tu.no.
Drivers of electric cars would like to leave the ferry with full batteries. So far nobody offers this service but in this article DFDS and Stena Line are reported to work on solutions.
The big issue is safety. A car battery took fire on a DFDS ship in 2010, and since then the ferry industry had a very reluctant approach. However, both DFDS and Stena confirmed they are working on solutions to serve the customers’ needs.
When the temperature in a battery cell rises above a certain level, an unstoppable heat production will occur. A battery fire can be extinguished with water, but more water is needed than another fire. Also, getting the water to the very source of the fire is not easy.
Jersey Evening Post wrote that Condor Ferries have withdrawn from new plans for a Channel Islands trial service for this year.
The two vessels they had planned to charter had now been deployed elsewhere. The company was also concerned that there is only a very short timeframe available to prepare and launch the new service.
Bachmann Group also pulled out following concerns over costs.
The article quotes Jersey Senator Farnham, who said that there were nine other operators in the bidding process.
Photo: Guernsey © Mike Louagie
Juan Carlos Diaz Lorenzo reveals in Puente de Mando (in Spanish) the new name for the ferry under construction at the Vulcan Shipyard in Vigo for Trasmediterranea. We’re talking about the ferry that was originally ordered by Viking Line as VIKING ADCC.
Her name will be VILLA DE TEROR. The town of Teror is a municipality in the province of Las Palmas, located north of Gran Canaria.
Photo: Juan Carlos Diaz Lorenzo
In 2015 Collectivité de Saint Pierre et Miquelon awarded the contract for two new ferries to operate between the two Islands and Fortune (Canada) to Damen Shipyards Group.
In close cooperation with the client, Damen designed the Fast RoPax 5510, 55 m long, with a capacity for 192 passengers and crew, 3 trucks or 18 cars.
The vessels named NORDET and SUROIT were heavy-lifted to Canada in November and have recently finished their local sea trials.
Photo: Rendering Damen
As reported last week, WIND SOLUTION has arrived in Greece and seems to have been bought by SeaJets. Apostolos Kaknis took this picture.
- Bridgemans Services Group LP (BSG) has reported that their ro-ro ferry CABO STAR will be available for charter as from July. The vessel is operating under a contract for Trinidad and Tobago’s Ministry of Works and Transport (MOWT).
- After a three-month charter in the Caribbean island of St Kitts the GNV ro-pax EXCELLENT is back in Italy. She has been serving as an educational facility for the Ross University School of Medicine in Dominica, after the island was severely damaged by Hurricane Maria in September.
- Kefalonian Lines has bought the MIRTIDIOTISSA from Aqua Ferries. Probably she will be deployed on the Patras – Ithaka – Sami – Kyllini route.
TNormally, one DFDS cruise ferry is in Oslo and one in Copenhagen. Exceptionally both CROWN SEAWAYS and PEARL SEAWAYS were in Copenhagen, after the first returned from drydock.