The sharp increase in bunker prices has forced ferry companies operating in the Adriatic and Ionian routes to increase the freight fares. More specifically:

Superfast Ferries’s surcharge for a 16.5-meter-long truck is formed as follows:

• For the Bari line 50 euros
• For the Ancona line 115 euros
• For the Venice line 107 euros

The surcharge until today was 3 euros per meter for Bari, 7 euros for Ancona and 6,5 euros for the port of Venice.

Finally, the Grimaldi group increased the fare for the ports of the North to 60 euros and the ports of the South to 40 euros.

La Méridionale made a 12.7 million negative operating result in the first half of 2021, better than the 15.9 million negative in the first half of 2020.

La Méridionale is bringing the whole STEF group (specialised in temperature-controlled transport and logistics services for food products) into a loss.

• Health restrictions on passenger and freight transport continue to weigh on all of La Méridionale’s activities.
• However, La Méridionale has recorded a positive change in turnover through its service to the main port of Ajaccio and the departmental port of Propriano as part of a 22-month public-service delegation between Corsica and the continent, which began on 1st March 2021.
• Despite market interest, the new Marseille-Tangier (Morocco) maritime line has experienced erratic swings in activity due to the pandemic.

Tallink Grupp has recently signed a charter agreement for its ropax ROMANTIKA, which has also been hired to provide accommodation at the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26), taking place in Glasgow on 31 October – 12 November this year.

The company announced only a few weeks ago that it signed a charter agreement for its Tallinn-Helsinki route cruise vessel SILJA EUROPA to provide accommodation services at the global climate conference in Glasgow during the period 21 October to 14 November 2021.

ROMANTIKA has been chartered for the period 15 October – 15 November 2021 and will provide accommodation and catering services to the charterer’s personnel and guests. The vessel has been chartered via specialist company Landry & Kling Global Cruise Services with full technical and service crew from Tallink Grupp for the duration of the charter.

At the 24th edition of the annual Grimaldi Group EuroMed Convention held in Valencia, CEO Emanuele Grimaldi gave the traditional overview of the company’s numbers and business trends. The key issue of the event was ‘energy efficiency’.

Ferry – freight: Total volumes in September 2021 were 1.9% below 2020. Net adjustments for structural route changes reduced growth 1.7 ppt to -3.6%.

• Med: well above 2020
• Baltic: on level with 2020
• North Sea: below last year due to headwind from lower automotive volumes and truck driver shortage in the UK.
• Channel: slowdown continued driven by the UK truck driver shortage and other supply chain bottlenecks. DFDS’ Channel volumes were below 2020, including the Dunkirk-Rosslare route opened at the beginning of 2021.
• Volumes for all business units, except for Channel, were above 2019.

Ferry – freight: Total volumes in September 2021 were 1.9% below 2020. Net adjustments for structural route changes reduced growth 1.7 ppt to -3.6%.

• Revenue (£m) 865.7 (1,071.0)
• Gross Profit (£m): 22.7 (106.4)
• Operating Loss/Profit (£m): -97.7 (12.8)
• Loss After Tax (£m): -105.3 (-1.9)
• EBITDA (£m): -25.6 (84.4)

2020 was a year of uncertainty and disruption across the business, caused by the Covid-19 virus and resulting global pandemic. This led to a decrease in revenue in all areas of the business. Costs outside of exceptional items, have reduced in the year as a result of the limited trade.

• Freight units: 1,952,000 (2,106,000)
• Tourist vehicles: 401,000 (1,430,000)
• Passengers: 2,727,000 (7,795,000)
• Ferrymasters total units transported: 535,000 (553,000)

On Friday 8 October, Hyundai Mipo Dockyard delivered FAUSTINE to CldN.

-First LNG-powered ro-ro ship built in Korea

-First LNG vessel for CLdN

-337m3 LNG fuel tank in 9% nickel steel, which can maintain excellent strength and impact toughness even at a cryogenic temperature of -163°C

-Shaft generator

-Four thrusters

-Length 217m | Width 32.2m | Speed of 17.6 knots

A study commissioned by trade association Interferry has revealed startling statistics on the far-reaching extent of the global ferry industry’s value to the world economy.

Research into the latest pre-Covid full-year figures found that, in 2019, ferries carried 4.27 billion passengers – on a par with aviation – and 373 million vehicles across a worldwide fleet of 15,400 vessels.   Among other findings, the industry provided 1.1 million jobs, contributed $60 billion to the world GDP and represented approximately 20% of shipping’s economic value to the European Union.

On October 6, the Board of Directors of Kalymnos Shipping Company (ANEK) completed all the necessary investigation procedures about the shipyard that will build its new “high-speed” craft vessel. The order was given to the OCEAN Shipyard of the Symian shipbuilder Mr Michael Moschatou.

The ship will be 27,30 meters long with a carrying capacity for 200 passengers and a service speed of 25 knots. The construction time will be 9 months.