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2019 Newsletter week 41

Oct 10
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FERRY SHIPPING

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Good News For Moby: Court Rejects Insolvency Petition

The Court of Milan has completely rejected the insolvency petition presented by certain bondholders against Moby S.p.A.

By an order filed on Wednesday 9 October, the Court of Milan, composed of three judges and upholding the defence by Moby S.p.A., dismissed the insolvency petition presented by certain bondholders and awarded costs against them.

Under the order in question, not only did the Court of Milan find the allegations of a current state of insolvency groundless, in as much as the company is not burdened by any tax or social security liabilities, is not subject to any enforcement or provisional action and does not appear, in its current state, to be unable to pay its debts as they fall due, but the Court also held that there are no extraneous circumstances at present that show the subsistence of a prospective state of insolvency.

Moby is therefore evaluating the possibility of making a claim against speculative funds who filed the petition with a view to recovering damages for loss caused by their groundless action. (source: note on Luxemburg Stock Exchange)

This good news for Moby is also good news for DFDS. An insolvency could have jeopardised the agreement about the sale of the ferries to DFDS.

Oct 10
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Hyundai Mipo, China Merchants Group And GSI Shortlisted For Finnlines’ New Order

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For the first time in its history, the Grimaldi Group will build ropax ferries in Asia. The order for the new ‘Super Star’ class for Finnlines seems to be very close, according to what Emanuele Grimaldi stated at the EuroMed Convention. “We are now discussing with only three shipyards. The deal can be done in one month.”

The new ice-class vessels are an evolution of the Fincantieri-built Star-Class vessels. They will have a capacity of some 5,000 lanemetres and 350 cabins. They will also have the biggest battery pack ever mounted on a ship.

Some sources revealed to Ferry Shipping News that the builders shortlisted are Hyundai Mipo in South-Korea, Avic, Jinling (both part of the China Merchants group) and Guangzhou Shipyard International in China. All the European shipyards has been left out since the price were in some cases twice as high. Chinese yards seem to have an advantage over the South Korean competitor.

In the near future Grimaldi Group will also order a new series of ‘Supercruise vessels’ for the Mediterranean network, designed “to halve consumption while doubling capacity”.

Oct 10
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CLdN Added 37 km Of RoRo Capacity In Two Years Next Step: LNG And More Ships

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HERMINE is yet another newbuilding for CLdN. She started to operate last week from Zeebrugge to the UK. She’s the last unit of a 5,400 lane meter quartet of Hyundai Mipo built roro ships, including LAURELINE, YSALINE and SIXTINE. Before, two larger 8,000 lane meter roro’s were delivered, the CELINE and DELPHINE.

Previously, the order for two vessels at the Uljanik Yard have been cancelled because of the financial problems of the yard.

Instead, in July 2019 CLdN placed an order for an additional two roro’s at Hyundai Mipo. The major difference will be the fact that they will use LNG as fuel.

The two roro’s will have a 320m3 capacity C-type fuel tank, located under the main deck.

The 4+2 delivered roro ships are LNG-ready.

Four more ships will be ordered, as part of a twelve-ship expansion plan.

Oct 10
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STENA EUROPE Returns To Scheduled Services On Rosslare – Fishguard

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Following an extensive refit programme at shipyards in Turkey and Liverpool, the STENA EUROPE has resumed its scheduled sailing services on the Rosslare – Fishguard route.

The upgrade programme took longer than had been anticipated but as Stena Line’s Trade Director (Irish Sea South) Ian Davies said, the upgraded vessel will now offer a significant improvement in customer care, Ian Davies said: “I know there has been a certain amount of frustration with the delayed return of the Stena Europe, a very popular vessel with both our freight and travel customers. We had planned for a number of improvements and additions throughout the ship both of a technical and customer-facing nature, but we did encounter a number of challenges which impacted on our works delivery schedule for which I’d like to apologies to our customers. “

“Apart from a number of technical upgrades our freight customers will be particularly pleased to hear that we have altered our deck height to be able to accommodate the increasing trend for high sided trailers and for our travel customers we have also added a new Hygge Lounge which offers luxury reclining seats set in a private, ultra-stylish but cosy surrounding, an upgraded Retail Shop and a refurbished Happy children’s play area to name a few changes.”

Oct 10
8

Ventouris Ferries’ RIGEL VII Is Under Conversion At Perama

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Ventouris Ferries’ ropax RIGEL VII is being rebuilt at the Diamantis Shipyard in Kynousoura, since September 13. The Japanese build vessel will undergo a serious facelift before its introduction on the Italy – Albania route next summer season.

The ship was purchased from Japan (Shikoku Kaihatsu Ferry) in December 2018 and arrived in the port of Aigion (Greece) on March 3, 2019.

She was built at Imabari in 1994. She is 9.917gt (3.155 dwt), 164m long, 25,6m wide and 5,5m draught. Her carrying capacity is for 730 passengers (312 beds), 122 trucks and 278 cars (1,251 lane meters), but that is going to change. She has two Pielstick main engines (27,000 b.h.p.) and her service speed is 22 knots.

Oct 10
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Grimaldi Group Intends To Charter La Meridionale’s Ropax GIROLATA

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Unconfirmed information claims that Grimaldi Lines intends to charter the ropax GIROLATA of the French company La Méridionale. The former Minoan Line’s ARETOUSA, has left the Marseilles – Corsica route after the French company was not chosen to operate the public service.

She might return to the Adriatic Sea in order to replace the Grimaldi Group’s ships that will have exhaust gas cleaning systems units installed.

The charter period is likely to begin in November, until spring 2020. To be confirmed.

Oct 10
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FERRY FINANCE

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AS Tallink Grupp Statistics For September 2019 And Q3

Traffic trends for September

  • -1.7% passengers
  • -0.1% cars
  • -2.7% freight units

Traffic trends for Q3 (July-September)

  • +0.9% passengers = 2 974 790
  • +0.4% cars = 353 725
  • -1.7% freight units = 93 329
Oct 10
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FERRY PORTS

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Grimaldi, GNV And Tirrenia Competing For The New Ropax Terminal In Civitavecchia

The president of the Civitavecchia port authority, Francesco Maria di Majo, recently confirmed that a public tender is expected to be launched soon, in order to put on the market the new Darsena Traghetti terminal. Three industry players expressed their interest.

Ferry Shipping News understood from sources familiar with the matter that the three companies soon to bid for the new infrastructure are Grimaldi Group, MSC-controlled Grandi Navi Veloci, and Tirrenia, part of Moby group.

The Darsena Traghetti is a new terminal, currently still under construction. Once completed, the terminal will offer six 240m berths for ropax vessels.

The preferred bidder, according to what di Majo explained, will have to maximise not only passengers but also roro and automotive traffic in the port.