- In 2018, the first conversion to battery operation of the ferries TYCHO BRAHE and AURORA to the world’s largest battery-powered ropax ferries was carried out.
- AURORA has sailed to 93% on electricity during the past year.
- During the year, TYCHO BRAHE has undergone a major upgrade process where all battery packs have now been replaced in order to store more energy and double the lifespan of the battery pack from 5 to 10 years.
- Battery capacity increase from 4,160 kWh to 6,400 kWh, without requiring additional space on board the vessel.
- ForSea has hereby completed yet another major project that means major environmental benefits for the entire Öresund region, including reduced CO2 emissions by over 70% per year (compared to the base year 2016) (a reduction of 26,000 tons of CO2/year).
- Zeebrugge’s berth 106 will be dedicated to the Finnlines Rosslare service (this is the roro berth behind the P&O Ferries building)
- As from week 45 Finnlines will have their own berth and marshalling area in Zeebrugge.
- Roro FINNSUN will be replaced by sistership FINNWAVE. The latter has been fitted with an additional pilot door to avoid delays previously experienced at Wandelaar Pilot Station, Zeebrugge. The new door allows the SWATH-pilot vessels to go alongside (instead of having to transfer the pilot from the SWATH by tender).
- New schedule as from week 45; depart 03:00 Monday instead of 16:00 from Rosslare, a sailing underutilised by the market. This is to facilitate departure at 23:59 every Tuesday from Zeebrugge with arrival 06:00 Thursday in Rosslare. All European production on Monday and Tuesday can therefore be delivered anywhere in Ireland on Thursday. Thursday & Saturday sailings are consistently heavily booked and advance planning is advised.
- From Easter 2023, a fast ferry will leave the Ystad-Bornholm route, as it will be replaced by newbuilding EXPRESS 5. This will allow a four-ferry operation on the Kattegat with more departures from both Aarhus and Ebeltoft.
- Four fast ferries the Kattegat has been Molslinjen’s plan since 2012, when the first large fast ferries were deployed. And from Easter 2023 the dream will come true.
- “Danes are increasingly staying at home and taking holidays domestically. Therefore, the private market is increasing right now, and we would like to support that growth by having four ferries in operation on the Kattegat”, says Molslinjen’s commercial director, Jesper Skovgaard.
- The new ferry on the Kattegat will either be EXPRESS 1 or the fast ferry MAX. The decision on which ferry will remain on Bornholm awaits the upcoming elections and a decision in the new Ministry of Transport.
- Ebeltoft departures will increase from 294 in 2022 to 656 in 2023 or 123% in the period March to October.
- At the same time, capacity is freed up to Aarhus, which will be expanded from 8,430 departures in 2022 to 8,628 departures in 2023, or an increase of 2.3%.
- That gives up to 32 daily departures between Jutland and Zealand.
- Corsica Linea and La Méridionale, the two candidates for the DSP 2023-2029 (Delegation of Public Service) cannot open the bookings for 2023, because the DSP has not been finalized yet
- The Government said it did not want to increase the budget of EUR 187 million.
- A big issue is the fuel compensation, which was EUR 21 million in 2021, and EUR 56 million in 2022.
- Another issue is the complaint of local freight forwarders, saying that up to 400 trucks a month have to stay on the quay because a lack of capacity.
- Although it is about a public service, several people complain about the fact that the decision-making process is not transparent.
- Snam, Italy’s leading gas utility company and manager of the regasification plant of Panigaglia, revealed more details about the new maritime bridge expected to be active from mid-2024 in the Gulf of La Spezia.
- A roro vessel will be used to transport 28 LNG tank trucks per day, to be directly connected to the national road network instead of using the local urban roads.
- The overall project (new port terminal and ship) is worth EUR 30 million and the vessel to be deployed will be a dual-fuel electric double-ender with less than 500 GT.
- 6 meters length, 13.89 meters beam and capacity for transporting four trucks per trip.
- The technical management of the Italian-flagged ship will be made by a third party.
- Echandia appointed Fredrik Hellström as new CEO. He joined Echandia as Deputy CEO in 2021. He has more than 10 years’ experience from leadership in naval design and large-scale project management. Fredrik holds a PhD in Fluid Mechanics and a MSc in Naval Architecture. (press release)
- On Monday, 24 October, the production of the first RoPax ferry newbuilding, shipyard number 101, for Polskie Promy, which will be operated by Unity Line, a company belonging to Polsteam, was launched at Remontowa Shiprepair Yard (Remontowa) in Gdańsk. (source: Poland at Sea)
- CONDOR Ferries has seen car passenger numbers increase by around a quarter compared to pre-pandemic levels for its services from Poole to the Channel Islands. (4,700 more cars, bringing 11,750 visitors to the islands).
