FERRY SHIPPING

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Kvarken Link And RMC Have Signed A Construction Agreement For A New Ferry

One week ago, Kvarken Link and Rauma Marine Constructions signed a letter of intent concerning the new building of the Kvarken ferry. On Monday 21 January, both parties have signed the actual construction agreement.

The vessel order is approximately €120 million. The ferry will accommodate approximately 800 passengers and will have a freight capacity of 1,500 lane meters for lorries. The vessel will be designed to be environmentally friendly, with machinery running on a dual fuel solution: besides liquefied natural gas it can also be operated using biogas. The ferry has an ice class of 1A Super, in order to guarantee that the vessel can navigate as independently as possible in the challenging ice conditions that are a feature of the Kvarken region.

Grimaldi’s CRUISE ROMA Lengthening Started At Fincantieri Shipyard In Palermo

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Everything is ready for the lengthening of Grimaldi’s ferry CRUISE ROMA in Palermo. “At the end of the lengthening project, to be carried out by Fincantieri’s ship repair and conversion, part of the Services division, the ship will be about 254m long, having a gross tonnage of about 63,000 and being able to transport 3,500 passengers, with a 3,000m2 car deck and over 3,700 lane meters for trucks” the Italian shipyard said.

Both CRUISE ROMA and the sister ship CRUISE BARCELONA, built by Fincantieri in 2007 and 2008 respectively, will be stretched by 29m. (this includes 600 additional freight lane meters, together with 80 sleeping accommodations in new passenger cabins and two new public spaces.

The ships will also be fitted with a scrubber system, as well as a system to power the ship during the turnaround time in ports, based on mega-lithium batteries.

Brexit-Proof Roro Shipping Route

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 A time-limited ferry service will start on 30 March, but only if a ‘no deal’ Brexit occurs. The service ends on 30 September.  The freight ferry service is being advertised via the website www.freight-market.co.uk, and has the Dutch port of Moerdijk (south of Rotterdam) as continental base.

 Twice daily return trips are planned between Moerdijk and the Ipswich region. A spokesman of the company said that the UK destination ports are split between three locations, but all within a 4.5-hour crossing. 

He added that the voyages are pre-booking only, so as to allow for designated queues at both the port and for customs. The company charges per vehicle, capped at a 17mx2m articulated vehicle. The unknown ships can carry 70 vehicles per crossing. The ships are leased from “a well-known US owner.”

Salamis Buys Baltic Ro-Ro Vessel

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Salamis Tours (Holdings) Public Ltd has signed an agreement to acquire a ro-ro vessel, “with a gross tonnage of 20,831.” This vessel is VIKINGLAND from SOL Continent Line.

The agreement is expected to be completed in April 2019 with the delivery of the ship.

The vessel will be used on the Greece-Cyprus-Israel line, together with ro-ro ALEXO and container feeder ALASA.

A Prison Cell And A Restaurant Onboard Trinidad & Tobago’s New Incat

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Incat Tasmania will build a new vessel for the Government of Trinidad and Tobago. The new fast ro-pax will have capacity for 1000 persons and 239 cars.

As with the previous two Incat ferries that operated between the islands, the new vessel will incorporate a range of catering facilities. The vessel will also include a prisoner holding cell for transfers between Trinidad and Tobago.

She will be built at the shipyard in Hobart Tasmania.

Confitarma Proposes A New Model Of Public Subsidies For Ferry Services Between Italy And Sardinia

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Italy’s transport minister Danilo Toninelli said in Cagliari that the public subsidies (€72million) paid every year to Tirrenia CIN in exchange for the maritime links offered during the winter season between Sardinia and mainland Italy will be not renewed at the expiration date in July 2020.

“My staff is already working in order to prepare a new tender due to be launched in the near future” Toninelli said.

As of today, there are four active ferry companies on Italy – Sardinia: Moby & Tirrenia, Grandi Navi Veloci, Corsica Ferries and Grendi Trasporti Marittimi.

Italian shipowners association Confitarma (supported by Grimaldi Group), asked the Italian Transport Minister to adopt a new scheme of subsidies based on the Spanish model where public money goes directly to the final user (either passenger or road haulier), who is free to choose a company for the maritime transport. Then the ticket will be entirely or partially reimbursed by the State.

New Construction Of The Stena E-Flexer Continues In China With Keel Laying And Launching

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Between 2016 and 2018, Stena RoRo placed orders for eight Stena E-Flexer class vessels with the Chinese AVIC Weihai Shipyard. Construction is continuing according to plan and on 16 January, two ceremonies took place in the shipyard – the launching of the first E-Flexer (STENA ESTRID) and the keel laying of the third vessel in the series. Guests from near and far gathered in a chilly but sunny Weihai in order to witness these solemn ceremonies.

Read this report from Per Westling, Managing Director at Stena RoRo, with more information about the 8 vessels.

FERRY PORTS

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Ro-Ro, Port Of Zeebrugge’s Success Factor In 2018

In total, the port of Zeebrugge handled over 40 million tonnes of goods in 2018, a rise of 8 percent. This increase is mostly due to the volumes in ro-ro traffics and liquid natural gas, two very important sectors for the port of Zeebrugge. The container volumes are status quo, but the prospects in that sector for 2019 are very positive.

The ro-ro traffic rises 6.4% to a total volume of nearly 16 million tonnes. Growth occurs on the following destinations: UK (+5.7%), Ireland (+16.8%) and Spain (+21.4%). The increase in traffic on Spain is due to Cobelfret’s new connection to Santander and Finnlines’ scaling up of the ships on the Bilbao route. Deepsea roro-traffic also rises 10%.

The discontinuation of the service on Rosyth (-500,000 tonnes) was compensated by the growth on Teesport (+200,000 tonnes) and Hull (LoLo & Roro: + 250.000 tonnes). Zeebrugge handled 2,8 million new vehicles, which is the same result as in 2017.

Ferry Traffic Stable, Cruise Market Increased At The Stazioni Marittime In Genoa

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Stazioni Maritime of Genoa, one of the most important ro-pax terminals of Italy, closed the past year with a total throughput of 3,091,845 passengers (+2.9%), of which 1,011,398 from cruise vessels (+9.3%) and 2,080,447 from ferries (+0.1%).

As for the ferry market, the traffic to and from Sardinia and North Africa slowed down (respectively -67,000 and -15,000 pax), while it increased on the routes to Sicily (+15,000) and Corsica (+70,500 pax).

The cargo flows improved, with 1,879,951 lane metres handled in 2018.

Genoa ferry passenger numbers in detail:

  • Tirrenia CIN 559,877
  • Moby 509,004
  • Grandi Navi Veloci 892,922
  • Algerie Ferries 5,621.
  • Cotunav 113,023

The traffic forecasts for 2019 are stable for ferries, while cruise passengers are expected to increase to 1,350,000 units.