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sandra

Oct 05
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Increased traffic volumes in all revenue categories for Attica Group

By 2017 Newsletter week 40

On Friday September 29, Attica Group (Blue Star Ferries, Superfast Ferries) published its half-year results.

  • • During H1, Attica Group saw an increase in traffic volumes in all categories: Passengers +5.4% / Cars +9.9% / Freight +2.3% / Sailings +4.3%
  • Adriatic routes (Patras-Igoumenitsa-Ancona and Patras-Igoumenitsa-Bari (in joint service with ANEK): Passengers +16.8% / Cars +14.2% / Freight +3.5% / Sailings + 2.1%
  • Greek domestic routes (Piraeus-Cyclades, Piraeus-Dodekanese, Piraeus-  Crete (with ANEK), and Piraeus-Chios-Mytilene): Passengers +4.3% / Cars +9.2% / Freight +1.7% / Sailings +4.8%
  • Consolidated Revenue: EUR 112.04m (EUR 109.63m)
  • EBITDA: EUR 7.07m (EUR 21.66m)
  •  Consolidated losses after tax: EUR 22.26m (EUR 2.20m)
  •  Increase of bunker prices influenced Group’s results by over EUR 15m.

Other highlights:

  • On August 11, Attica acquired 50.30% of the share capital of Hellenic Seaways Maritime S.A.
  • On August 30, BLUE STAR PATMOS suffered grounding on shallow waters while approaching Ios. The impact is estimated to be limited due to the upcoming low season. The incident is fully covered by the existing insurance, and the vessel is actually being repaired at Elefsina shipyard.

Photo © Mike Louagie

Oct 05
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High-speed broadband on board Wasaline ferry WASA EXPRESS

By 2017 Newsletter week 40

Wasaline is the first shipping company in the Baltic Sea to provide its passengers with fast and reliable Internet access from Vaasa to Umeå, via advanced microwave technology from AecorLink. For the first time, passengers can now surf the web, use social media and streaming services the same way they do at home.
All conference guests will have free Wi-Fi during the entire journey; all other passengers will have free Wi-Fi for 30 minutes, to try out the service.
After 30 minutes a popup window tells the user to pay an amount of €3 per device for the rest of the 4,5-hour journey.
Instead of 4G, the technology is based on a microwave connection from shore to ship. It makes it possible to deliver very high data capacity, meeting the guest’s needs for streaming services, like Skype, YouTube, Netflix etc.
For Wasaline this is a game changer since the satellite connection only provided 0,5 mbps to the entire ship, now they have access to from 150 – 200 mbps during the entire crossing.

Photo © Incat / Virtu Ferries

Oct 05
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SAINT JOHN PAUL II selected as name for the new Virtu Ferries catamaran

By 2017 Newsletter week 40

Incat is building a 110m wave piercing catamaran for Virtu Ferries of Malta, with delivery planned for end 2018. This new unit will become the 15th fast ferry Virtu has acquired and it will be the largest high-speed catamaran in the Mediterranean. A crossing from Malta to Sicily will take 90 minutes, berth to berth.
This week it has been announced that the ferry will be named after Saint John Paul II. Pope John Paul II sailed with Virtu Ferries when visiting the island in 1990.
For Virtu Ferries this new vessel provides a significant increase in capacity offering 43% more truck capacity, 15% more pax capacity and 7% more car capacity.

Photo © Incat / Virtu Ferries

Oct 05
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The arrival of more bunker tankers solves the issue of the chicken or the egg

By 2017 Newsletter week 40 No Comments

Last week Shell officially presented its new LNG bunker tanker CARDISSA in the Port of Rotterdam. She was built at STX in Korea, and one other is under construction. Shell has three more ships in option.
Earlier, in September, Shell announced an agreement with the cruise ship group Carnival Corporation &PLC to be the supplier for the new LNG cruise ships under construction.
In June, bunkering vessel ENGIE ZEEBRUGGE performed in the nearby port of Zeebrugge its first deliveries of LNG to UECC’s ro-ro’s AUTO ECO and AUTO ENERGY. The LNG bunkering operations were conducted at the same time that the cargo operations were taking place.
CORALIUS is another LNG bunker vessel, built in Europe by Royal Bodewes, The Netherlands. She was developed by the shipowners Anthony Veder and Sirius Shipping in Sweden in close co-operation with Skangas.

Photo CARDISSA © Shell

Oct 05
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Channel Islands want an inter-island summer ferry service

By 2017 Newsletter week 40

The States of Channel Islands Jersey and Guernsey have agreed to provide financial support for an inter-island, passenger-only ferry service. The service, which would start in 2018, would provide a day trip service for island residents and tourists, operating from the beginning of May to the end of September.
Condor Ferries have revealed they want to bid for the contract. If successful they would likely offer sailings seven days a week during the summer season.

Photo Guernsey © Mike Louagie

Oct 05
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Five Million Tons of Freight Transported from Cuxhaven to Immingham

By 2017 Newsletter week 40

“RailRoCargo”, the joint product of Cuxport, DFDS Germany and TRANSA Spedition, is celebrating a milestone: in September 2017, the five millionth ton of cargo was transported to the Cuxport terminal in Cuxhaven for onward shipping to the UK.
At the Cuxport terminal, the goods are transferred from the rail wagons onto DFDS MAFI roll trailers in a covered area. These are subsequently shipped by ro-ro ferry to Immingham, where DFDS takes over the storage of the freight and its distribution to British consignees by truck.
There are five weekly DFDS ferry crossings in each direction.

Photo © CuxPort

Oct 05
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The opening of the Yalova Ro-Ro Terminal marks the end of a congestion nightmare

By 2017 Newsletter week 40

The Yalova Ro-Ro Terminal has seen the start of its operations on October 3.
This Turkish port, located on the Asian side of Turkey, some 100km southeast of Istanbul, is the first port investment made by logistics company Ekol.
The 500-trailer-capacity terminal has a surface of 70,000m2.
All freight operations at the Port of Haydarpaşa will be transferred to the Yalova Ro-Ro Terminal. The Haydarpaşa terminal is located just opposite Istanbul and has been suffering from severe congestion.
Ekol operates nine weekly shuttle services between Turkey (Haydarpaşa, Yalova, Alsancak) and Greece (Lavrio), Italy (Trieste) and France (Sète) with ro-ro vessels HATCHE, PAQIZE, QEZBAN, FADIQ, AYSHE, QUBRA and MELEQ.
President Erdogan and his Prime Minister will open the terminal in the coming days.

Photo © Yalova RoRo Terminal

Oct 05
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DFDS increases capacity on Rotterdam-Immingham with second new ro-ro

By 2017 Newsletter week 40

DFDS’s newest ro-ro ship TULIPA SEAWAYS has been delivered by Flensburg’s FSG yard and arrived in Vlaardingen, Rotterdam on Saturday September 30. She entered service on Monday, October 2.
Sister to the earlier delivered GARDENIA SEAWAYS, she too serves the Vlaardingen – Immingham route.
With more than 4,000 lane meters garage deck she can offer space to 262 trailers.
DFDS has an agreement with the owner –Siem Group– to bareboat-charter the two vessels for a five-year period, with a purchase option.

Photo © Karsten Seven, DFDS

Oct 05
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Grimaldi Group to order ten new ro-ro’s and to lengthen two ro-pax ferries.

By 2017 Newsletter week 40

Emanuele Grimaldi is going to practice what he has been preaching, by ordering ten environmental-friendly ro-ro ships. An order for six will have an option for four, and several Chinese yards are in the running. That is what he announced at the 21st EuroMed conference.
The ships will have underwater air lubrication technology, scrubbers and will be hybrid. Indeed, they will be equipped with lithium batteries, which will allow switching off the engines when in port.

In the last four years, the group already invested two billion euros in 25 new ships, and 300 million euros to make the existing fleet and operations greener. CO2 was reduced by 9% in six years, and sulfur emissions were reduced by 24%, said Grimaldi at the opening of the conference.

Additionally it was announced that capacity of CRUISE ROMA and CRUISE BARCELONA is going to be enhanced by lengthening. This will probably be done by Fincantieri in Palermo, a yard with a large experience in this field after the lengthening of four MSC cruise ships. The final details of the contract still need fine-tuning. The vessels will also receive a “lithium-upgrade”.
Passenger capacity will rise from 3,000 to 3,500.

Photo: CRUISE ROMA © Mike Louagie