2020 Newsletter week 44

HySHIP Project Clinches EUR 8 Million Funding Award

Wilhelmsen and its partners received EUR 8 million in EU support to build TOPEKA, a coastal roro ship powered by liquid green hydrogen.

The revolutionary HySHIP project embraces 14 European partners collaborating on the design and construction of this new ro-ro demo vessel running on liquid green hydrogen (LH2), as well as the establishment of a viable LH2 supply chain and bunkering platform.

The ship will be operated by Norwegian maritime industry group Wilhelmsen and will distribute LH2 to hydrogen hubs along the Norwegian coast. It is slated to be operational from 2024.

Shipyard has not been decided yet.

Public Aid to Brittany Ferries Reaches EUR 258 million

• 75% of traffic lost
• Cherbourg, Saint-Malo, Roscoff and Le Havre have been closed
• Only 6 of 12 vessels in operation

Regional aid:

• Somanor (Normandie region, financing the ships chartered to Brittany Ferries) EUR 45m
• Somabret (Bretagne region, financing the ships chartered to Brittany Ferries) EUR 40m
• (Somanor+Somabret: five-year extension of the amortization period of the ships and a support for major repairs for five years)

State aid:

• Credit line EUR 117m with State guarantee of EUR 105.3m
• EUR 8.3m partial unemployment (until end of August)
• EUR 15m exemption of social contributions of seafarers (for 2021)
• Like all French shipping companies BF already enjoys the employer exemption for these social contributions. The State therefore adds a sum of EUR 44.6m for the period 2017-mid 2020.

Putting things in perspective:

• CMA CGM has secured a EUR 1.05 billion State Guaranteed Loan
• Air France has a EUR 4 billion loan.

ANEN LINES SA is officially the buyer of the HSC AEOLOS KENTERIS 1.

The company won the auction sale in November 2019. However, they didn’t manage to pay the full amount of money and the tender for the ship was about to be repeated in October 2020.

ANEN managed to pay the agreed amount just in time and the laid-up vessel was awarded to them.

ANEN has also acquired Nel lines’ THEOFILOS and MYTILENE in similar tenders. Both ships are laid up at Elefsis bay since many years.

STENA FORECASTER replaces MISIDA on P&O’s Liverpool – Dublin as from 2 November

In the last year, the Huelva-Canarias route operated jointly by Baleària and Fred. Olsen Express has presented a positive growth, despite the pandemic .

Both passenger and vehicle transport have increased by 25% compared to 2019 and in the case of cargo, the increase has been 30%.

Two years after the start of the route, both the president of Baleària, Adolfo Utor, and the CEO of Fred. Olsen, SA, Andrés Marín, coincide in pointing out that the degree of satisfaction with respect to the evolution of traffic on the route is very high.

The Canary Bridge Seaways (CBS) consortium has carried 40,000 passengers, 22,200 vehicles and 460,000 linear meters of freight since November 2018, when the route was inaugurated.

Due to the docking of Tallink Grupp’s shuttle vessel STAR for technical works between 29 October and 3 November 2020, Tallink Grupp is making changes to the schedule of the Tallinn-Helsinki route.

BALTIC QUEEN and VICTORIA I will replace STAR and will operate on the Tallinn-Helsinki route.

STAR will return to its normal operating schedule in the afternoon of Wednesday, 4 November.

Color Group AS has exercised an option for another 6 months of general deferment of installments, with liquidity effect of approx. NOK 200 mill. (Oslo Stock Exchange)

In addition of last week’s news about Fjord Line

After 27 of October, until further notice, Fjord Line will be operating with one ship at a time – sailing between Kristiansand and Hirtshals.

In addition, Fjord Line will continue sailing Wednesday and Sunday from Stavanger.

Timetable here.