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2019 Newsletter week 37

Sep 12
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TOP STORY

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OSK-Shiptech To Design Two New Ferries For Kiwirail, New Zealand

Danish naval architects OSK-ShipTech A/S have signed a newbuilding contract with state-owned KiwiRail for the design and development of the next generation rail-enabled ferries for the busy Cook Strait route between New Zealand’s North and South Islands.

The new ferries will strengthen and enhance the vital transport link between capitol Wellington on the North Island and Picton on the South Island. Currently, operating company Interislander is operating a fleet of three ferries – two ro-pax ferries and one train ferry.

“As part of the project, new terminals tailored to the vessels will also be developed in order to optimise the infrastructure and fully benefit of the new designs. We are of course very excited to be part of this holistic project and the continued development for KiwiRail in the region,” says Anders Ørgård, Chief Commercial Officer of OSK-ShipTech.

The new train ferries are targeted for delivery in 2024.

Sep 12
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FERRY SHIPPING

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P&O Ferries Confirm Opening Calais – Tilbury Route And Announce Ship

The 1,600 lane meter CAROLINE RUSS (MarineTraffic) is the ro-ro that will be used for the new Calais – Tilbury P&O route.
CAROLINE RUSS is owned by a company within the Ernst Russ group.

There will be two sailings every weekday and one each on Saturday and Sunday. The eight-hour sailing will have capacity for 100 units of freight, with a total of 50,000 expected to be carried in the first 12 months. It is expected that time-sensitive supermarket goods including fresh fruit and vegetables will be transported on the route.

The new river berth at the Port of Tilbury is scheduled to open in April next year, enabling P&O Ferries to treble volumes on its existing Zeebrugge-Tilbury services to 600,000 loads of freight a year. An onward rail connection to Daventry is also expected to be operational in 2020, mirroring the rail connections linking the Port of Calais with Le Boulou, Turin and Orbassano on the Continent.

Technical Data CAROLINE RUSS
Sep 12
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Two Stena Ro-Pax Ferries To Be Lengthened

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Turkish Sedef Shipbuilding Inc. announced on its website that it will lengthen STENA LAGAN and STENA MERSEY, the ferries that currently operate on Belfast – Liverpool.
Both vessels are owned by Stena Ropax Ltd, UK, and managed by Stena Line Ltd.
STENA LAGAN is planned for April 2020. This conversion will take four months.
STENA MERSEY will arrive at the yard six weeks after the first ship.

The vessels have been built in 2005 by Visentini.

Sep 12
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Moby’s Ferries Swap Respect The Company’s 2018-2023 Plan

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The ferries swap announced last Friday by DFDS and Moby represents the last chapter of the 2018/2023 business plan of the Milan-based group launched last year and related to the reverse merger into Compagnia Italiana di Navigazione.

In the first nine months of the current year the company controlled by Vincenzo Onorato and headed by his sons Achille and Alessandro sold four ro-pax vessels:

  • AURELIA and HARTMUTT PUSCHMANN before the summer.
  • MOBY AKI and MOBY WONDER next autumn.

In the 2018/2023 business plan was written that Moby would sell five unidentified ro-pax ships generating EUR 305 million revenues and roughly EUR 145 million of capital gains.
Two smaller and older vessels were set for dismissal in 2019, further two modern units in 2019 and the last two ferries respectively in 2020 and 2021.

For the next few years Moby was expected to charter-in some modern and higher capacity ro-pax units (most of them from Onorato Armatori), to be deployed on the routes linking Italy mainland to Sardinia and Sicily.
Two units built in Flensburg have already been delivered and further two units will be built in China by Guangzhou Shipyard International with delivery scheduled from 2021 onwards.

Sep 12
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NEL Lines Ferries Will Be Auctioned On December 11

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The auction of the collapsed NEL LINES ferries is postponed until December 11, 2019 following an interim decision.

All these vessels are laid up at Elefsis bay and Ambelakia (Salamis) since a very long time.

Their auction was initially set on September 11 with a starting price of EUR 120,000 apart from the last fast ferry whose starting price was set to EUR 1 million, because of her better overall condition.
Moreover, in the relevant document all vessels are described to be in a very poor condition.

(links open in Fakta om Fartyg)
MYTILENE (9.124gt/1973)
THEOFILOS (13.572gt/1975)
TAXIARCHIS (5.033gt/1976)
AEOLOS KENTERIS I (6.177gt/2000)
AEOLOS KENTERIS II (5.361/2001)

Sep 12
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Levante Ferries’ SMYRNA (Ex-KOPERNIK) Is Being Converted

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The conversion on the Levante Ferries’ new acquisition SMYRNA (14,216gt/1977) -ex-KOPERNIK- is in progress. According to the company’s official site, the conversion involves extensive repairs to the engine room, the creation of a new ramp in the garage as well as the complete refurbishment of the public spaces in order to comply with Levante Ferries standards and specifications.

This means that we are going to experience yet another excellent refurbish and conversion. The Norwegian-built vessel will be introduced on the much wanted Thessaloniki-Izmir line, fully renovated, in a few months.

Sep 12
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FINANCE

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Milan-based Moby has just published its H1-2019 financial report for the six months ended June 30, 2019.
Some highlights:

  • Total revenue amounted to EUR 253.6 million, an increase of 20.2 million, mainly due to the increase in freight transport, chartering and port operations.
  • Total revenues for the three months of Q2, amounted to EUR 151.4 million, an increase of EUR7.2 million driven by the ferries unit, mainly related to passenger and vehicle transport and chartering, and port operations.
  • Excluding the impact of the IFRS 16 application, the six months registered a loss of EUR 27.9 millions (the red was EUR 60.208 millio in the first half 2018) while the result for Q2 resulted in a loss of EUR 11.6 million.

As for the capital gains, Moby specified that they are attributable to:

  • The sale of AURELIA in February by CIN, obtaining a capital gain, net of the costs of sale, of EUR 4.7 million
  • The sale of PUSCHMANN in March by CIN, obtaining a capital gain, net of the costs to sale, of EUR 9.9 million
  • The sale of the San Cataldo tugboat BARLETTA in March, incurring a loss, net of costs of sale, of EUR 26,000
  • On July 16, 2019 the subsidiary CIN finalised the sale of the vessel BARBARA KRAHULIK for EUR 12,650.
Sep 12
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FERRY PORTS

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Project To Move Away Ferry Traffic From The Old Harbour In Genoa

Francesco Maresca, the newly elected council member for the Genoa municipality and in charge for the port business development, launched the idea to move away all the ferry traffic from the old harbour in the heart of the town to the Voltri-Prà area, close to the Voltri Terminal Europa container terminal.

All the ferries and cruise vessels calling at the port of Genoa today are moored at the quays operated by Stazioni Marittime, company controlled by MSC Group. The idea launched by Maresca intends to leave more space to the cruise industry but is fiercely opposed by local committees in Voltri – Prà which are worried by a potential increase of traffics and emissions in the area.

In Voltri there are still today two quays available for ro-ro which were used until 2011 by T-link Lines and before by Stradeblu.

Sep 12
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Wallenius SOL Connects Wärtsilä In Port Of Vaasa To Continental Europe

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As from November 2019, Wallenius SOL will include Port of Vaasa in its regular liner network.

With weekly calls, it will connect Vaasa with the ports of Antwerp and Zeebrugge. This is made possible through a long-term co-operation with technology company Wärtsilä, who will have its state-of-the-art production facility on site. The facility, called the Smart Technology Hub, will be located in direct connection with Port of Vaasa from 2021 onwards. All inbound deliveries from Central Europe to Vaasa will be routed via a consolidation point in Antwerp with the weekly sailings offered by Wallenius SOL.

Furthermore, Wallenius SOL will ship the ready-made engines southbound from Wärtsilä to its customers worldwide, also with Antwerp as hub.