Covid-19: Rules for Ferry Travel to the Greek Islands from the Mainland and Vice Versa
The Greek authorities recently updated the rules for ferry travel from the country’s islands to the mainland.
Read more (News GTP)
Gozo Channel figures confirm that the number of passengers travelling between the two islands remained practically unchanged – at just under 1.62 million.
In 2020, the bulk of passenger traffic took place in the first 3 months, before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic which led to a ban on non-essential travel between the two islands. While 1,038,142 passengers took the ferry between January and March of that year, the number dropped to just 907,453 between April and June.
This year, however, the number of Covid-19 cases peaked at the beginning of the year – leading to a fresh ban on non-essential travel in March. But numbers subsequently fell – before the latest surge – and the ban was lifted. Consequently, while 710,749 passengers took the Gozo Channel ferries between January and March, 907,453 used the ferries in the subsequent 3 months.
A total of 7,255 Gozo Channel ferry trips were made between April and June, a 36% increase when compared to 2020 figures.
The number of vehicles making the crossing increased by 45% to 409,569, translating to a ratio of around 2.2 passengers per vehicle.
Paris, Tuesday 20 July 2021
During a French press conference, Brittany Ferries announced the agreement with Stena RoRo for the construction of two new hybrid E-Flexers of a new generation.
- To be used on Channel routes from Saint-Malo (region Brittany) and Ouistreham (region Normandy) to Portsmouth.
- New generation of E-Flexers: shortened version (194m) because of port restrictions
- Hybrid: LNG + battery + Shore power
- Ten-year charter from Stena RoRo with purchase option after four years
- Strong financial involvement of regions Bretagne (SOMABRET) and Normandy (SOMANOR)
- To be delivered in 2024 and 2025
- They will replace the ferries NORMANDIE (1992) and BRETAGNE (1989)
Remark:
BARFLEUR (1992) will be replaced by COTENTIN, which will be rebuilt from roro to ropax (still a project, to be confirmed). COTENTIN is a near-sister of ARMORIQUE.
“One single cruise ship alone uses as much CO2 per day as 80,000 cars.”
Ursula von der Leyen
14 July. European Commission has put forward an extremely ambitious and drastic legislative package to slash the greenhouse gas emissions.
President Ursula von der Leyen explained how the Commission wants to reach the new target of a reduction of at least 55% of greenhouse gas emissions until 2030.
The tool: carbon pricing.
The Emissions Trading System will be applicable to shipping, as from 2023.
The “Fit for 55” measures will require approval by member states and the European Parliament, a process that could take two years.
The EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) puts a price on carbon and lowers the cap on emissions from certain economic sectors every year.
- The Commision proposes to include shipping emissions for the first time in the EU ETS.
- Shipowners will have to buy quotas, otherwise they cannot berth in EU ports.
- It is expected that the price of quotas will go up a lot.
- As from 2030 passenger ships (ferries if more than 2 hours in port) and container ships will need to connect to shore power in port. (read below link for details)
- The FuelEU Maritime Initiativewill stimulate the uptake of sustainable maritime fuels and zero-emission technologies by setting a maximum limit on the greenhouse gas content of energy used by ships calling at European ports.
As announced in week 9, Rederi AB Gotland is going ahead with a new ropax ferry route between Nynäshamn (Stockholm) – Rostock
- Name: Hansa Destinations
- Starts at the end of August.
- The new route provides logistics companies with an additional choice of transportation while reducing emissions by encouraging a modal shift from road to sea.
- Initially one vessel: DROTTEN
- Selected sailings will also call at Visby on the island of Gotland.
- Sailing time: 18 hours
- It was awarded government funding in its start-up phase under Sweden’s Eco-bonus scheme, as part of efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
- https://www.hansadestinations.com/
Spanish media revealed that Grimaldi Group will pay EUR 400 million to acquire from Naviera Armas:
- five ferries of Trasmediterranea (CIUDAD DE PALMA, CIUDAD DE GRANADA, CIUDAD DE MAHÓN, VOLCÁN DEL TEIDEand VOLCÁN DE TIJARAFE)
- two ropax terminals in Valencia and Barcelona
- the line with Ibiza and Palma de Mallorca.
The deal should have been closed last week but due to some troubles related with the money transfer it has been postponed to the current week.
Grandi Navi Veloci, the other Italian ferry company which debuted earlier this month on the routes linking Barcelona and Valencia with the Balearic Islands, said to local shipagents, transport companies and stakeholders, that the company’s target is to reach the 20% market share in the short to mid-term and then further increasing results and presence.
Both ROMANTIKA and VICTORIA I, chartered by Tanger MED Port Authority from Tallink Grupp, are being deployed on the Tanger Med – Tarragona – Sète route in order to offer a maritime bridge between Europa and Africa.
The operation, called ‘Paso del Estrecho’ and organized every summer by Morocco, should have called also an Italian port (Genoa) but this is not the case. GNV is remaining the only player active on that route.
Local media in Spain reported that Intershipping, the ferry company which is operating and selling the service, was trying to open a second link from Tanger Med to the Portuguese port of Portimão but also this route seems to be hard to be launched.
- +19.5% roro freight
- It reflects the recovery from the significant volume reductions in June 2020 caused by lockdowns related to Covid-19.
- Mediterranean’s volume increase was the highest in June 2021 as the volume recovery in 2020 in this region lagged Northern Europe due to a high share of automotive volumes.
- Trading between the EU and the UK continued to be robust.
- -4% passengers reflecting the continued tight travel restrictions.
- Baltic Sea’s passenger volumes were above 2020.
- The Oslo-Frederikshavn-Copenhagen route was reopened on 2 July 2021.
- Passenger volumes on The English Channel are expected to start to increase following the UK’s ‘reopening’ currently scheduled for 19 July 2021.
Both ROMANTIKA and VICTORIA I, chartered by Tanger MED Port Authority from Tallink Grupp, are being deployed on the Tanger Med – Tarragona – Sète route in order to offer a maritime bridge between Europa and Africa.
The operation, called ‘Paso del Estrecho’ and organized every summer by Morocco, should have called also an Italian port (Genoa) but this is not the case. GNV is remaining the only player active on that route.
Local media in Spain reported that Intershipping, the ferry company which is operating and selling the service, was trying to open a second link from Tanger Med to the Portuguese port of Portimão but also this route seems to be hard to be launched.
According to the Xinhua-Baltic International Shipping Center Development Index 2021, which was recently released by the Chinese news agency:
- The Port of Piraeus gets the 5th place as an international center for shipping services
- The shipping center of Athens/Piraeus maintains the eighth place as last year
The Xinhua-Baltic International Shipping Center Development Index, is an independent index that ranks the various regions of the world that offer shipping and port services in a list according to the size of the port, the cargo it serves, the companies it hosts and offered services (brokerage, legal, financial, insurance, procurement, construction, etc.) in the shipping industry, etc.