2019 Newsletter week 31

MOROCCO SUN Arrived In Morocco For Final Inspections Before Entering Service On The Strait

On July 27, 2019, Africa Morocco Link’s (AML) MOROCCO SUN (12.175gt/1980) eventually arrived in Morocco.

The ship left Genoa on July 25 –after an endless refurbishment- and she is expected to be inspected by the Moroccan and Spanish authorities before she will be introduced on the Algeciras-Tangier Med run.

This week she is in Spain, in order to be inspected by the Spanish authorities.

MOROCCO SUN will serve the strait for the next 5 years chartered to AML.

Gondán Shipyard To Build A Catamaran For The Canary Islands

Gondán Shipyards, based in Figueras (Asturia, Spain) has been asked to build a catamaran for maximum 364 passengers. She will operate on routes in the Canary Islands.

She’s the second unit to be built for Lineas Romero. This local company has a regular service of maritime lines between the islands of Fuerteventura, Lanzarote and La Graciosa.

In May Romero took delivery of DON JUAN, also a GRP catamaran built by Gondán.

Brittany Ferries And Repsol Extend Their Agreement For The Delivery Of LNG For Long-Haul Spanish Routes

Brittany Ferries and Repsol have extended their agreement signed last February for the supply of LNG to the ferry operator’s Spanish operations.

Repsol will build two LNG bunker terminals, at the ports of Bilbao and Santander.

The LNG bunker agreement between the two companies provides the basis for the long-term supply of LNG-fuel and key shoreside infrastructure to the new LNG-powered cruise-ferries SALAMANCA and SANTOÑA, which are scheduled to enter service from 2022.

PRINCE To Replace SMYRIL During Drydocking

Strandfaraskip Landsins (SSL) is a nationally owned transport company. The main objective for SSL is to provide transport to all corners of the Faroe Islands.

In September, the company will send its ro-pax SMYRIL to the drydock. A substitute ship has been found: PRINCE.

She will sail on the route to Suðuroy.

In its communication, SSL said that, “PRINCE has recently sailed as a hotel ship in the North Sea and in connection with this the hotel part of the ship was refurbished.”

Vulcan Shipyard Into Liquidation

Trasmediterranea finally got her VILLA DE TEROR. It took a while before Vulcan could finish it, mainly due to lack of money.

The management made deals with the workers and suppliers, who all accepted in one way or another to be paid upon delivery. All of them were paid but due to the lack of new orders the shipyard management decided to ask for its liquidation.

Incat Tasmania’s Newest 111m Ferry Has Been Handed Over To Naviera Armas

The ship, named VOLCAN DE TAGORO (Incat Hull 091) completed sea trials in the beginning of July, loaded fuel and supplies for the delivery voyage to Spain, and left Australia 16 July.

The delivery will be via Auckland, across the Pacific Ocean to Tahiti and the Panama Canal before crossing the Atlantic on her way to Spain.

Naviera Armas SA will operate the vessel on Spanish routes, including the Canary Islands.  The company has an extensive fleet of vessels, and VOLCAN DE TAGORO will be the fifth Incat vessel operating in the Armas fleet, however it is their first newbuild from Incat Tasmania.

VOLCAN DE TAGORO has capacity for 1,200 persons, including crew, and the expansive vehicle deck allows for almost 600 TLM (595 truck lane metres) plus 219 cars, or in car-only mode it can accommodate 401 cars.  Passenger spaces are divided into three classes, First Class, Business Class and Economy, each area offering bars and food service areas.  A gift shop and children’s play are also located on board.

The ship is powered by four MAN 20V diesel engines driving Wartsila waterjets. 091 achieved over 42 knots with 600 tonnes deadweight during speed trials, easily achieving her contract speed and the loaded service speed required for the Spanish routes.

Marine Atlantic Is Starting The Process To Acquire A New Vessel

Marine Atlantic announced the Corporation is moving forward with an open competitive process for the procurement of a new vessel for its fleet.

C-Job Naval Architects Expands With US Office

Dutch C-Job Naval Architects will expand its business to the United States by opening a dedicated branch office in Houston, Texas.

Financial Performance Finnlines Improved Despite Slowdown Finnish Economy in H1

Key figures for January – June 2019

+2% Revenue EUR 295.5 million
+10% Result EUR 46.7 million
+7% EBITDA EUR 83.5 million

The second quarter was again the best ever.

In his comments, CEO Emanuele Grimaldi puts a lot of emphasis on what has been done, and will be done to make ferry shipping the most sustainable way of transport. More ships will be ordered.

“We have invested in emission abatement technology covering almost all our vessels and also lengthened six of our vessels in order to benefit from economies of scale. These investments have contributed to our sustainable development and e.g. the fuel consumption per transported tonne has decreased considerably. Other efforts to reduce energy consumption and emissions include changing of propeller blades, timetable planning, route optimisations as well as optimising speed, load and trim.”

“We have reduced CO2 emission between 2008 and 2018 by approximately 30%. However, while our past record in emission reduction is superb, we are looking beyond the IMO requirements. With regulators stimulating the debate on low-carbon fuels, we pledge not to lose our focus on sustainability: we will continue to improve and are on the right path. This focus on sustainability requires further investments. We have recently ordered three new green ro-ros, which will be built to produce zero emission in ports and aimed at pushing beyond the green scores of ro-ro in the Baltic region. We are also about to further order two Superstar class ro-pax vessels, in order to strengthen our well developing passenger business growth. These vessels will be the most environmentally friendly units in their category, carrying 5,800 lane metres of cargo and close to 1,000 passengers.”

Tallinn’s Old City Harbour To Introduce Automated Mooring System

Port of Tallinn has signed contracts with maritime engineering companies Trelleborg and Cavotec for the instalment of automated mooring systems at quays 5, 12 and 13 of the Old City Harbour, which is used by passenger vessels serving the Tallinn-Helsinki route.The new automated mooring systems will be installed by the end of 2020. Each quay will be equipped with six vacuum pads that will moor, hold and release the vessel. As the first vessel, Viking Line’s Viking XPRS will start using the new system in spring 2020, while Tallink’s shuttle ships and Eckerö Line’s vessel can utilise the automated system by the end of the year. Similar automated vacuum mooring system is also installed at Helsinki West Harbour.

The new mooring systems are being installed in the framework of TWIN-PORT 3 project and are being co-financed by the EU Connecting Europe Facility (CEF). It is a collaboration project between ferry operators (Tallink, Viking Line and Eckerö Line), the ports of Tallinn and Helsinki and the City of Helsinki for the years 2018-2023 with a total budget of EUR 61.2 million. Port of Tallinn is investing a total of EUR 15.8 million within the project.