Austal Australia and JR Kyushu Jet Ferry have signed a letter of intent to develop a new high-speed trimaran passenger ferry concept for JR Kyushu Jet Ferry’s South Korea to Japan route.
The design of the 80m high-speed craft will be based on Austal’s trimaran hull form, with the interior to be developed by Japanese designer, Mr Eiji Mitooka of Don Design.
The contract will be signed in early 2018.
Rendering Austal
TT-Line Company Pty Ltd, operators of Spirit of Tasmania, will order two brand new purpose-built ships to replace the current fleet by 2021.
These two new ships will have a substantially larger capacity:
The order will be placed in the first half of next year. So far the yard has not been chosen yet.
Since 2009 DFDS has been hosting a Christmas lunch for homeless people on board PEARL SEAWAYS, while the ship is docked in Copenhagen.
Every year about 250-300 guests are boarding the ship to enjoy the grand Christmas buffet with beer, snaps and coffee. The crew is taking a day off to serve the guests. Before the guests leave the ship they get a gift bag and a pair of socks or gloves, knitted by a group of volunteers, something that is welcome on a cold winter day.
The event is made in close cooperation with We Shelter, an organization that has been doing social work for homeless and other vulnerable groups for more than 120 years.
DFDS reported a volume record on the Göteborg/Brevik – Ghent route, which was achieved during week 47, the last full week in November. But obviously, it didn’t take long to beat that.
Another record of cargo was shipped during week 48: exactly 55,001 lane meters were carried, which is 1,467 lane meters more than the week before.
Photo: North Sea Port
Port of Ghent (Belgium) and Zeeland Seaports (The Netherlands) merged into North Sea Port.
The merger agreement between Zeeland Seaports and Ghent Port Company was signed on Friday 8 December. All eight shareholders of both ports agreed with the merger in recent weeks. The signing took place on a ship that symbolically sailed from Ghent across the Dutch border in the direction of Terneuzen. The name of the cross-border merger port will be North Sea Port. This merger port represents the 60-kilometre-long cross-border port area of Flushing (Vlissingen), Borsele and Terneuzen in the Netherlands up to Ghent in Belgium.
Photo: Mike Louagie
Dutch construction and engineering company Ballast Nedam has replaced the existing quay and built two new berths at the Stena Line freight terminal in Europoort, Rotterdam. This was needed because of the intention to introduce larger ships, and because the quay was getting too old.
Initially only one berth would be replaced, but the booming North Sea business made Stena ask during the works Port of Rotterdam to invest in a second berth. Ballast Nedam was able to change the plans and realised successfully a new 2-berth terminal.
Photo: Ballast Nedam
Tallink loses fairway dues dispute in Finnish court
On December 8, the Finnish Supreme Court has made a judgment on AS Tallink Grupp and its group company AS Hansatee Cargo appeal to the Helsinki Court of Appeal 8 August 2016 judgment on fairway dues dispute against Finnish state.
Pursuant to the Supreme Court judgement the appeal was not granted to refund to the shipowners the fairway dues, charged in excessive extent in the years 2001-2004, with interests.
Photo: AS Tallink Grupp / Meyer Turku / Helfoto Oy
GNV, an Aponte-owned (MSC) company, carried more than 175,000 passengers during operation ‘Marhaba 2017’.
Each year many Moroccan expats travel to their home country during summer. Known as operation ‘Marhaba 2017’ this migration sees a huge peak in ferry travel across the Mediterranean.
At a press conference in Casablanca, GNV said it saw an increase of 32.5% compared to last year.
Some GNV figures for Marhaba 2017:
Photo: GNV
First of three new Fjord1 ferries launched
On December 9, Cemre Shipyard launched Newbuilding 54 (HST132), to be named HUSAVIK. She is the first of three 66m ferries to be built in cooperation with Cemre Shipyard (Turkey) and Havyard (Norway).
Photo: Cemre Shipyard
The 2,500 lane meter ro-ro ordered by one of the Visentini companies in China was launched on December 5. She’s being built by AVIC Weihai, and once ready, will be chartered by Italian logistics company Grendi.
There is an option for a second unit.
