Damen Shipyards Group has entered into a share purchase agreement with Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) for the acquisition of its majority share in Daewoo Mangalia Heavy Industries, in Romania, on the Black Sea coast.
Damen already owns a shipyard in Romania, in Galati on the banks of the River Danube. It is currently the group’s largest shipyard.
The acquisition will provide Damen with capacity to cater for the largest maritime vessels and structures.
In its revised earnings forecast for the 2017 financial year, Viking Line’s assessment is that operating income for 2017 will decline, compared to operating income for 2016.
The reasons are:
Nordland Fylkeskommune (=county) has ordered two fuel-efficient high-speed catamarans from Brødrene Aa, a contract worth NOK 200 million.
The carbon-fibre passenger-only vessels will be used on Bodø-Svolvær (Lofoten) and Bodø-Sandnessjøen routes, currently operated by Torghatten Nord.
Ownership of the crafts will be in the hands of the local authorities. An operator will be chosen by a tender process.
First vessel to be delivered in December 2018.
Photo © Brøderne Aa / Polarkonsult
Scandlines Helsingborg-Helsingör saw continued growth in cargo traffic, which made the management to decide to increase capacity by expanding ferry HAMLET’s sailing schedule by five hours daily as from December. The expansion will make it possible to transport an additional 40,000 trucks per year.
Q3
In October, HH Ferries received the final authority approvals for TYCHO BRAHE’s charging stations. This ferry is already sailing in both battery and hybrid operations, while charging procedures are being adjusted.
The electrification of AURORA will follow before the turn of the year.
Photo © HH Ferries
Stena Line has published its “Freight Facts 2018”. In this edition of Freight Facts, customers can find all the necessary information about Stena Line: route network, information about ships, crossing times, conditions and contact details.
Some North Sea routes will see a redeployment of ships.
CAROLINE RUSS will leave the Rotterdam-Killingholme route in January, being replaced by MISANA and MISIDA (owned by Stena RoRo).
STENA FORERUNNER will sail together with STENA SCOTIA on Rotterdam-Harwich as from January.
Elb-Link Fährgesellschaft, the company which provided a ferry connection between Cuxhaven and Brunsbüttel, gave on its Facebook page an update on its state of affairs.
They wrote that, ” we are currently in intensive talks with politicians, banks and possible charterers with the aim of re-launching the service with a sustainable concept. The ferry service would resume before next spring. At this moment there are still some points that need to be discussed. Please give us some time, we will inform you in time.”
The company website says that, “The Elbe ferry does not currently operate due to a technical fault.”
Photo © Elb-Link
On 3 December 2015 the Panama registered pure car carrier CITY OF ROTTERDAM collided with the DFDS ro-ro PRIMULA SEAWAYS on the River Humber. Both vessels were damaged but made their way to Immingham without assistance.
Recently the captain and the pilot of the CITY OF ROTTERDAM have been sentenced to four months in prison.
The UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) concluded that the incident was due to the pilot’s loss of situational awareness and the bridge team’s failure to intervene, all exacerbated by an unusual bridge layout.
In a reaction, Don Cockrill, Secretary General at United Kingdom Maritime Pilots, has written an interesting article on LinkedIn where he explains why the legal process can overtake and compromise the advancement of maritime safety
A dispute between Stena Line and Doyle Shipping Group over the provision of services for ferries docking at Dublin port has come before the Commercial Court.
On August 31, Stena informed DSG it was ending the agreement. DSG argues the termination notice is in breach of an oral agreement negotiated with Stena in 2015 for provision of services at Dublin Port until 2022.
The French port of Toulon has again seen a significant rise in freight traffic from Turkish operator UN RoRo. The last twelve months have seen a rise of 9.7% of freight (= 66,345 units). The nine first months of 2017 have even been better, with an increase of 13% to 14%.
Ships sail almost full at 90% of their capacity, both inwards and outwards.
In the beginning of this year one the vessels –UN AKDENIZ– was reintroduced after lengthening. YouTube link
A second vessel will be lengthened soon.
Toulon is strongly associated with Corsica Sardinia Ferries, with here as well an excellent twelve months. The ferries transported more than 1.5 million passengers, an increase of 6.4%.
The new line to Sardinia was good for some 100,000 passengers. Next year Corsica Ferries will open a new route to Mallorca.
Moby Lines could return in 2019, for a link with Bastia (which will be operated out of Nice in 2018).
Freight to and from the island of Corsica has gone down, which can be explained by the competition of Corsica Linea from Marseille.
Photo © UN RoRo – Source: L’Antenne (in French)
