Name swap at Destination Gotland

By 2021 Newsletter week 46

From week 47 to week 49, the LNG RoPax VISBORG will embark on a planned shipyard visit in Landskrona.

In connection with this, the ship will also change its name to VISBY. (Destination Gotland’s newest ships are always named VISBY and GOTLAND.

The older VISBY will have its new name in January 2022: VISBORG. She is actually on a charter to DFDS for the France-Ireland service.

Seajets’s Aqua Star will enter service from February 2022

By 2021 Newsletter week 46

Towards a new career within the Hellenic Coastal Shipping is heading the Seajets’ AQUA STAR (former AZORES EXPRESS).

The ship is currently at Chalkis Shipyards undergoing some interior refit and she is expected to connect the port of Volos with Skiathos-Skopelos-Alonissos at the end of February 2022.

Seajets is investing in that line following its success on the Thessaloniki-Sporades-Evia line with HSC SUPERRUNNER JET last summer.

photo: Kostas Papadopoulos

Ignazio Messina’s deep-sea RoRo network now includes Koper in the North Adriatic

By 2021 Newsletter week 46

Ignazio Messina & c. added the Slovenian port of Koper to its network of routes between Mediterranean basin, Africa and Middle East.

“We are excited to announce that Ignazio Messina & C. has set up a new weekly service, which will connect Koper with East and South Africa, Persian Gulf and India. Vessels can accept various roro and project cargoes” is written in a statement from the Slovenian port authority.

The local agent in Koper is Neptune International Shipping d.o.o.

More specifically Ferry Shipping News understands that Neptune’s vessel will transport cargo from and to Koper for Messina. The cargo will be transshipped in the Egyptian port of Alexandria for further sailing to and from the Indian Ocean

New train/ropax ferry IGINIA delivered to RFI for the Strait of Messina

By 2021 Newsletter week 46

The new ropax ferry ordered by Rete Ferroviaria Italia (RFI) and built in Genoa at San Giorgio del Porto and T. Mariotti shipyards has been successfully delivered in the port of Messina.

The ferry, suitable for the transportation of railway carriages, wagons, passengers, and vehicles, will soon enter service in the Strait of Messina.

The hull of the new unit (equipped with engines, generators, propulsion machinery and systems) was built in Porto Nogaro by Cimar shipyard and then towed to Genoa.

This new ship is LNG-ready.

A tender for the construction of a sister unit was launched last August and is expected to be awarded before the end of this year.

Scandlines orders zero-emission freight ferry for the Puttgarden-Rødby route

By 2021 Newsletter week 45

An emission-free freight ferry will be built for Scandlines

  • Design and builders: LMG Marin and Cemre Shipyard
  • The ferry will enter service in 2024
  • Route Puttgarden-Rødby
  • Capacity: 66 freight units (+23% compared to the ships it will replace, HOLGER DANSKE and KRONPRINS FREDERIK).
  • Crossing time 1 hour, if fully electric
  • Crossing time 45 min. if hybrid
  • The ferry can also be used as backup ferry for one the four current double-ended ferries
  • Berth 3 in Rødby and Berth 1 in Puttgarden must be rebuilt to also load lorries on the upper deck.
  • A new lorry storage area will be established in the terminal of Puttgarden.
  • The ferry will initially exclusively charge in Rødby. Already in 2019, Scandlines invested in a 50 kV / 25 MW power cable to Færgevej in Rødbyhavn. This cable will now be extended to the ferry berths, where a transformer and charging station will be installed. In the longer run, the plan is to also be able to charge in Puttgarden when a good solution has been found for the purchase of green energy.
  • The modular construction of the vessel makes it possible to later adjust the vessel in order to also carry cars.
  • Length: 147.4 m
  • number of passengers: 140
  • Service speed: 18 knots

Finnlines’ financial review January–September 2021: result on the upturn during Q3

By 2021 Newsletter week 45

January–September 2021

+17% Revenue EUR 425.9 million (EUR 363.1 million in 2020).

+27% Result EUR 69.0 million (EUR 54.2 million)

EBITDA EUR 121.2 (107.2) million

Cargo units 583,000 (536,000 in 2020)

Cars 124,000 (102,000)

Tons of freight not possible to measure in units 1,041,000 (811,000)

Passengers and truck drivers 439,000 (390,000)

  • An upward trend continued during Q3 when cargo volumes increased nearly on all routes.
  • The automotive industry suffered from shortage of components and the summer stoppage was longer than anticipated. However, as the Finnlines fleet consists of vessels in different sizes, capacity could be moved from routes with temporarily declining demand to others where larger capacity was needed.
  • When travel restrictions were gradually eased, recreational travel recovered although passenger numbers remained far below the normal level.
  • To reach the ambitious goal of becoming carbon neutral, it may be necessary to modify existing ships with new tanks and engines so that they can run on new types of fuel. However, at current rates of production, zero-carbon fuels are not commercially available at the scale needed for the global fleet. Today, Finnlines concentrates on new battery technology, hydrodynamic design in vessels, air lubrication systems and solar panels on its newbuilds. Several existing ships will be equipped to use onshore power where available. Moreover, gradual transition to carbon-free and renewable fuels is being investigated.
  • The construction of three hybrid ro-ro vessels and two state-of-the-art ro-pax vessels is proceeding.
  • Energy efficiency is the best way to reduce the emissions and reach immediate results.

Adria Ferries welcomes Eurizon as new minority shareholders

By 2021 Newsletter week 45

Ancona-based Adria Ferries has welcomed Eurizon as new shareholder.

Stake is 33.3%, with and an option to grow to 43.3% before 31 December 2023.

Formally, the new minority shareholders of the company founded and controlled by Alberto Rossi, will be two investment funds: Eurizon Iter and Eurizon Iter Eltif.

They will be managed by Iter Capital Partners, a company founded by Vito Gamberale.

Adria Ferries is active in the Adriatic Sea on two routes linking Ancona and Bari with Durrës.

The fleet consist of three ro-pax ships AF CLAUDIA, AF MARINA and AF FRANCESCA.

In 2020 the company’s revenue was EUR 36 million, EBITDA 9 million and net financial position 21.4 million.

Moby’s new flagship launched at GSI shipyard

By 2021 Newsletter week 45

The new ropax MOBY FANTASY has been launched at the GSI shipyard in Guangzhou, on Saturday 7 November.

She is the first of two new generation vessels set to enter service from 2023.

The ferries have been designed by OSK Shiptech.

MOBY FANTASY:

237m | gross tonnage 69,500 | 2,500 passengers | 550 cabins |

3,800 lane metres for 1,300 cars or 300 trucks |

speed 23.5 to maximum 25 knots | LNG-ready |

They were ordered by Fratelli Onorato Armatori, they are controlled by LCBC Leasing and will be sub-chartered to Moby for the Livorno – Olbia link.