August 2022 compared to August 2021 (and 2019)
+54.8% passengers 603,284 (1,017,565 in 2019)
+23.4% cargo units 35,530 (30,519 in 2019)
+14% passenger vehicles 89,105 (115,339 in 2019)
- On 3 September 2022, a ceremony was held to name the Stena Line E-Flexer STENA ESTELLE.
- Champagne was broken on the side of the Stena Estelle ferry by the Deputy Mayor of Gdynia for Economy, Katarzyna Gruszecka-Spychała, the ship’s godmother.
- The ropax serves the Gdynia-Karlskrona line.
- STENA ESTELLE is one of the largest ferries in the Baltic Sea. It is 240 metres long, offers space for 1,200 people and can accommodate up to 200 trucks on 3,600 metres of car decks.
- It is energy efficient thanks to its optimised design. It can be converted to run on gas, allowing fuel to be changed to methanol or LNG.
- During port calls, it can use shore power. A connection to the electric grid will enable future conversion to a battery hybrid system.
Godmother Katarzyna Gruszecka-Spychala and Captain Wojciech Jurgas
CEO Niclas Martensson hands over steering wheel to Captain Wojciech Jurgas
Stena Line, DFDS, Ørsted and Liquid Wind will form a partnership with the Port of Gothenburg to establish an electromethanol (e-fuels) hub.
- Dutch marine battery system supplier EST-Floattech has delivered 1092kWh of battery capacity for new, full-electric ferry WELLINGDORF in a contract with system integrator Holland Ship Electric
- The zero-emission vessel is the 5th in a series of 6 hybrid and full-electric vessels for Kiel-based tug and ferry operator SFK
- Designed and built by Holland Shipyards Group.
- The last (hybrid) vessel SCHILKSEE is expected to be delivered early 2026.
- Earlier this year Holland Shipyards Group, in collaboration with Holland Ship Electric and EST-Floattech, delivered the hybrid ferries FRIEDRICHSORT, GAARDEN and WIK.
- The series of six also includes the emission-free passenger ferry DÜRSTENBROOK and is part of SFK’s fleet renewal plan focusing on lower environmental impact and upgraded services. This plan is tied to the City of Kiel’s environmental goal of being CO2-neutral by 2050.
- SOLVAir Marine team facilitated the joint collaboration of three partners: Solvay, Andritz and La Méridionale.
- The result of this collaboration is the installation of the world’s first dry exhaust gas treatment system on the vessel PIANA.
- With its 30 years’ experience, Solvay brought technical support during the engineering, construction and operation phases, with a specific focus on the injection of dry sorbent; Solvay also supplied the sodium-based sorbent and safely managed the residues.
- Andritz designed, built, and delivered the equipment, integrated on the vessel under La Méridionale’s responsibility.
- PIANA is the first vessel running SOLVAir Marine Solution.
- SOLVAir Marine teams, Andritz representatives and La Méridionale have run a trial of 6 months to test the efficiency of the solution on vessels running on High Sulphur Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) engines.
- All-time passenger record on the Turku-Mariehamn-Stockholm route: 740,000 people travelled with VIKING GLORY and VIKING GRACE between June and August.
- New VIKING GLORY has attracted a larger share of younger adults, who in many cases are taking a ‘cruise’ for the first time.
- Younger adults are attracted by the food and the luxurious spa and massage treatments – which have also been fully booked on many departures.
- A total of nearly 2 million passengers sailed on all of Viking Line’s vessels during the three summer months.
- The destination cruises with VIKING CINDERELLA and GABRIELLA to Visby, Bornholm, Ystad and Sweden’s High Coast, among other places, were also popular this past summer, and a number of departures were fully booked.
- Service between Helsinki and Stockholm has also started to take off post-pandemic, with people showing a strong interest in experiencing the
From the beginning of summer 2023, Balearia will link Ibiza and Formentera with the first electric ferry in Spain with zero emissions during stays and approaches to port.
CAP DE BARBARIA will be launched September 28th at the Armón shipyard in Vigo and will have the athlete Andrea Romero, from Formentera, as godmother.
The new ferry will be able to transport 14 trucks and 350 passengers with a very tight energy consumption, without emitting polluting gases in port thanks to its electric propulsion.
- On September 9, 2022 an inauguration ceremony will take place at the port of Piraeus for the innovative newbuilding catamaran ferries (AERO 1,2,3) of Hellenic Seaways (Attica Group).
- The 3 modern vessels were built in Norway (Brødrene Aa) and will be officially presented to the public and the press.
- They made their maiden arrival at the port of Piraeus on August 3, 2022
- They were introduced on the Piraeus – Aigina – Agistri – Poros – Hydra – Spetses – Hermioni – Porto Heli line on August 8th with great success.
- 17 daily sailings
- Expected to increase passenger traffic in the Saronic Gulf by 25%.
- The FRS Baltic high-speed ferry SKÅNE JET has been operating between Sassnitz and Ystad since 2020.
- For the start of the 2023 season, Port of Ystad will be replaced by nearby Port of
- FRS Baltic will expand the range of day trips. In addition to Ystad, new excursions are planned to Lund, the “Cambridge of Sweden”, Copenhagen and Malmö.
- FRS says Trelleborg is excellently suited as a hub for the cargo business. The transport of small freight units and express general cargo will complement FRS Baltic’s service portfolio from the year 2023.
The maritime bridge launched at the end of July by Algerie Ferries, linking the port of Naples and Algeria, will not be stopped at the end of the summer season but extended for the full year.
The announcement was made from the Algerian ambassador in Italy during a ceremony held in Naples.
Michele Giromini, head of CNAN Italia, general agent of the ferry company in Italy, said to Ferry Shipping News that the link operated with the ropax vessel EL DJAZAIR II was successful. “During this initial test phase, the line has worked well both in terms of traffic and from an operational point of view. Therefore, the connection will go on until next January with two calls per month and afterwards it will be increased to four monthly calls at each port.”