Apr 21
Love4

HSC CAT 1 of Magic Sea Ferries will be introduced at Sporades Islands on June 4th

By 2022 Newletter week 16

The newly established Magic Sea Ferries (Mr. Georgios Gialozoglou interests) announced that its fully renovated HSC CAT 1 (former ALKIONI – MarineTraffic) will be introduced on the Agios Konstantinos-Sporades Islands route as from June 4th.

The Japanese-built vessel (1994) was purchased in July 2019 and is currently undergoing an extensive refit to carry with safety 1,000 passengers and 200 cars.

According to her company, the modernized vessel will offer a fast daily service (30 knots), upgrading significantly the islands of the line.

Apr 21
Love4

Successful bid for Cyprus-Greece ferry link

By 2022 Newletter week 16

The deputy ministry of shipping announced on Monday that it had completed the evaluation of tenders for a ferry link between Cyprus and Greece, writes Cyprus Mail.

The winning company behind the successful bid has already been chosen, although not yet announced publicly.

A press conference where the successful bid will be announced is set to take place next week. During the conference, routes will also be unveiled as well as details concerning the fleet of ferries.

Apr 21
Love4

Successful year for Port of Ystad

By 2022 Newletter week 16

The Swedish port has seen a return of traffic after the pandemic.

January-December 2021

+17.5% Cargo (t) 3,376,365

+16.4% Trucks/trailers 263,918

+24.1% Buses 4,083

+15.4% Cars 734,256

+17.6% Passengers 2,373,960

+11.4% Calls 3.998

Swedish Minister for Infrastructure, Tomas Eneroth, will inaugurate the new berths on 16th of May.

Apr 21
Love4

Ambitious concept for green mobility of the FRS Elbe ferry Glückstadt Wischhafen

By 2022 Newletter week 16

Shortly before the state elections in Schleswig-Holstein and in Lower Saxony, FRS Elbfähre Glückstadt Wischhafen is presenting its ambitious concept for green mobility in northern Germany.

This key project for Germany envisages an expansion of the ferry line capacity to 600% and a reduction of the crossing time to 14 minutes in three steps – and this with completely emission-free traffic.

The concept of the FRS Elbe ferry offers a real alternative to the fixed A20 crossing through sustainable and environmentally friendly ferry traffic without waiting times.

For the implementation, however, the shipping company needs planning and investment security as well as political support.

1st step: building four zero-emission electric ferries: +300% capacity increase

  • larger capacity than the previous ferries
  • in cooperation with naval architects Technolog Services
  • double-ended
  • pier in Wischhafen will be relocated in the direction of the Elbe fairway and designed as a double pier. The simultaneous loading and unloading of two ferries in Wischhafen, together with the shortened route, ensures a higher frequency and number of departures
  • green electricity, which is obtained through a combined use of photovoltaic systems from open land areas and covered car storage areas as well as port operating areas. The first step brings an increase in capacity to 300%.

2nd step: pier in Glückstadt converted into a double pier: +400%

3rd step: two more zero-emission double-ended ferries can optionally be built to increase the total capacity to 600%.

Apr 21
Love4

DSV plans to build new warehouses in North Sea Port

By 2022 Newletter week 16

DSV already has a logistics centre in the Flemish part of North Sea Port for the storage and distribution of goods for, among others, the health sector and the chemical industry.

On a site of 18 hectares, 100,000 m2 of sheds will be built for the storage and distribution of goods for various customers, good for 250 extra jobs. This new investment will be realized at the Kluizendok (Ghent). From here, the goods can be transported to and from the European hinterland by road transport, by seagoing vessels, inland waterway vessels or by rail.

With the new building, DSV wants to improve and expand the possibilities of its Ghent health cluster, including in the field of activities with added value (Value Added Logistics) and process automation. The building will contain temperature-controlled storage areas in ambient temperature, 2-8°C, -20°C, -40°C and -80°C, with the division into standard sized compartments allowing flexibility in use. The extra capacity will also enable DSV to enable further growth in other target groups. DSV strives to realize the most sustainable DSV warehouse in the Benelux in terms of design, construction, layout and use. In addition, DSV will invest more in multimodality through a high-quality sustainability program, whereby DSV foresees a significant increase in the use of containers via the port.

Apr 21
Love4

North Sea Port and Port of Gothenburg: five-year partnership

By 2022 Newletter week 16

North Sea Port and the Port of Gothenburg have signed an agreement to work closely together. Setting up a network of medium-sized European ports and working on energy management in the ports are central to this.

The ports have things in common: the Volvo Car factories that are located in both ports, and the daily roro ships from DFDS, sailing between Gothenburg and Ghent.

The ports want

  • to strengthen their commercial interests and support the flow of goods between the two ports
  • to share knowledge in the field of energy management in the port. This concerns the introduction of renewable energy sources, environmental management and sustainable port management. To this end, research into further digitization will be carried out. In this context, the ports will exchange employees in the future.
  • to check whether they can jointly submit projects for European financing in the fields of sustainability, energy transition, digitization, and the European transport network.

The agreement was signed during a visit by North Sea Port to the Port of Gothenburg on Wednesday 20 April.

Apr 21
Love4

Caronte&Tourist fined by the antitrust authority in Italy for abuse of dominant position on the Strait of Messina

By 2022 Newletter week 16

The Italian antitrust authority sanctioned ferry company Caronte&Tourist with a fine valued EUR 3.7 million for abuse of dominant position on the maritime links in the Strait of Messina.

Last year,Italy’s Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato launched an investigation in order to ascertain whether the Messina-based company took an irregular advantage from a dominant position in the maritime transport of passengers with accompanying wheeled vehicles and commercial vehicles with driver.

Analysis carried out by the Authority revealed, in particular, that Caronte&Tourist applied prices which are significantly higher than those charged by other operators, moreover not parameterized with respect to the costs that would be expected in the performance of the service. Moreover, these prices appeared to be particularly discriminatory towards passengers with car travelling alone.

Apr 21
Love4

Tender from RFI for three new fast ferries: no participants

By 2022 Newletter week 16

Following the failure of the previous request of offers for building a roro vessel fit for transporting railcars, Rete Ferroviaria Italiana’s last call for shipyards interested at constructing three dual-fuel fast ferries due to be deployed on the Strait of Messina also attracted no participants.

The contract price was roughly EUR 52 million euros, of which approximately EUR 1.2 million for the project. RFI is now considering how to proceed; one option is to issue a new call for tenders.

Complexity of the procedure and rising costs of raw materials might be among the reasons for the failure according to some sources familiar with the matter.

Rete Ferroviaria Italiana, rail infrastructure network manager and company part of the Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane group, last summer made public its fleet renewal plan which consists of:

      • Refitting and hybridization of the 2013-built ferry MESSINA
      • Delivery of the new ship IGINIA which took place earlier this year
      • Purchase of a new ro-pax ship before 2025
      • Cold ironing system ashore in the ports on the two sides of the Strait of Messina

Project to buy three high-speed vessels dual-fuel LNG or Electric for passenger transport service

Apr 14
Love4

Stena Line to operate the long E-Flexers on Karlskrona-Gdnyia

By 2022 Newsletter week 15

As a response to increased customer demand in the Baltic Sea South region, Stena Line will launch its two new “long” E-Flexer ferries on the route between Karlskrona and Gdynia.

  • First in July 2022, second in November 2022
  • Both were originally planned to be deployed on the route between Nynäshamn (Sweden) and Ventspils (Latvia)
  • Length: 240 meters
  • Capacity: 1,200 passengers and 3,600 freight lane meters

The recently lengthened and modernised STENA SCANDIA and STENA BALTICA will continue to serve the route between Nynäshamn and Ventspils.

Current ships on Karlskrona-Gdynia: STENA GOTHICA, -VINGA, -VISION, -SPIRIT,

Click on the map to access the real-time route map