Shift Clean Energy announces approval of its Energy Storage System by Bureau Veritas

By 2022 Newsletter week 2

Shift Clean Energy has received its second major certification for its clean energy storage solution (ESS) by Bureau Veritas. This important certification further endorses Shift’s ESS solution as safe and effective, says the news release.

BV’s marine and offshore division has approved Shift’s lithium-ion battery-based ESS use in fully electric or hybrid vessels as well as on land uses. The batteries that have been certified include Kokam lithium cells.

Umoe Mandal and five other companies compete to design tomorrows zero emission high-speed vessel

By 2022 Newsletter week 2

The High-Speed Vessel of the Future competition was launched in October 2021 by the county municipalities of Trøndelag, Vestland, Nordland, and Troms and Finnmark.

The goal is not only to develop a vessel with zero emissions, but also to reduce energy consumption by a minimum of 30 percent compared to traditional vessels. The vessel must carry at least 150-180 passengers, cruise at 30-40 knots, and have a range of 40-80 nautical miles.

Over the next four months Umoe Mandal will continue to work on the concept. Together with Eker Design, ESNA, LMG Marin, SES-X, and Transportutvikling, Umoe Mandal is granted NOK 1.5 million to participate in the competition.

Brittany Ferries transports its first CMA CGM container from France to UK

By 2022 Newsletter week 2

The partnership between Brittany Ferries and the CMA CGM Group has taken a new major step forward with the first loading of CMA CGM containers.

Loaded on special chassis and transported aboard COTENTIN, they left Le Havre for Portsmouth on Wednesday 12 January.

Concluded in September 2021, the commercial partnership between CMA CGM and Brittany Ferries creates complementarities between the two companies, between the maritime transport of passengers and freight, and will allow, based on the respective expertise of the CMA CGM Group and Brittany Ferries, the development of cross-Channel maritime transport and consolidation of France’s place in this sector.

Tender for the Sea Speed Ferries’ OLYMPUS

By 2022 Newsletter week 2

On 26 January 2022, a tender concerns debt to the oil company Revoil. The former Japanese ferry (1976) was brought in Greece by Med Link Lines in 1998 for the Greece-Italy service. She also served for Maritime Way (2004-2006), Endeavor Lines (2006-2011) and Cretan Ferries (2012).

She was laid up at Perama when Cretan Ferries went out of business (2012). Sea Speed Lines purchased her at a tender in June 2018 for the Piraeus-Rethimnon line.

Seajets acquires another High-Speed Craft from Venezuela

By 2022 Newsletter week 2

Another High-Speed Craft might be added to the Seajets’ fleet.

The ship was purchased from the Venezuelan Golden Sun Petroleum S.A. and renamed SPEED JET. She left the port of El Guamache (Isla Margarita) where she was laid up and currently is seen at the port of Tembladora (Trinidad & Tobago) flying the flag of Cyprus. SPEED JET was built in Australia (Austal) in 1996 and served for Scandlines (1996-2000), Ferrymed (2000-2002), SNAV (2002-2015) and Conferry (2015).

Her carrying capacity is for 156 cars and 650 passengers. She is a sister ship to Seajets’ POWER JET.

Soon to be launched: public tender for building new ropax ships for Sicilian region )

By 2022 Newsletter week 2

Regione Siciliana started the process for a new tender aimed at selecting the shipyard for building a new ropax ship (1+1) to be deployed on the Trapani – Pantelleria and Porto Empedocle – Lampedusa maritime links.

The ‘tender price’ is EUR 100 million, of which 4.5 million are a fixed value related to safety equipment.

Some details of the project:

  • One ro-pax ship (+ option)
  • Tender price of EUR 100 million for the first unit
  • Based on the Naos Design P364 project
  • Dual-fuel diesel electric
  • 900 lane metres and 1,000 pax capacity, 105 cabins
  • Tender still to be officially launched

Video: Brittany Ferries 50th Anniversary (2 min)

By 2022 Newsletter week 2

50 years ago, a group of Breton farmers were faced with a challenge. They wanted to find a way to open up their region and transport their produce efficiently to England, sidestepping the established Eastern Channel ferry routes. The odds were against them, but they pushed for the building of a deep water port in Roscoff, and then obtained their first vessel, Kerisnel. Brittany Ferries was born…

MSC announced an order for four new ropax ferries for Grandi Navi Veloci in China

By 2022 Newsletter week 1

MSC Group announced a new order for four ropax vessels to be built in China at Guangzhou Shipyard International (GSI) and set to be delivered from late 2024 onwards.

The four newbuilds will have a 1,500 passenger and 3,100 lane metre capacity, with 303 cabins. The shipbuilding contract takes origin from the order with Fratelli Onorato Armatori, announced in 2019, but the project and several technical details are different.

These four new units will be 218m long, with a beam of 29.6m and a maximum speed of 25 knots.

Instead of dual fuel, the new ferries will have scrubbers and are likely to be deployed on the routes to Sardinia or Sicily, and to the Balearic Islands.