Aug 06
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Tallink July 2020 Statistics Show Recovery

By 2020 Newsletter week 32

Tallink transported a total of 617,206 passengers in July. That is half of last year’s July, but more than double of June 2020.

The number of cargo units transported on all the company’s vessels in July 2020 decreased by 2.9% and amounted to 29,108 cargo units.

The greatest reductions in the number of cargo units transported have been on the Latvia-Sweden and Estonia-Sweden routes.

On the Estonia-Finland and Finland-Sweden routes cargo transportation, however, actually increased in July compared to July 2019, 2.4% and 7.1% respectively.

The total number of passenger vehicles transported in July this year also decreased: 118,167 vehicles (155,297 in July 2019).

Normal route operations, comparable at least to some extent to previous years, continued only on Tallinn-Helsinki, Muuga-Vuosaari, Paldiski-Kapellskär and Turku-Stockholm routes.

Tallinn-Stockholm and Helsinki-Stockholm routes were and currently still are suspended completely and the Riga-Stockholm route only operated four limited capacity special trips during the month.

At the same time, the company operated a number of new temporary routes and several additional special cruises during the month, which helped recover passenger numbers at least to some extent. New temporary routes such as Helsinki-Riga, Turku-Tallinn, Stockholm-Visby, a number of special cruises from Tallinn via Helsinki to Aland and one special cruise from Helsinki to Saaremaa, all proved popular with the customers and have enabled travellers around the Baltic sea to travel safely close to home this summer.

Aug 06
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FERRY PORTS

By 2020 Newsletter week 32

Port of Tallinn Opened the New Terminal D

On Friday 31 July, the Port of Tallinn opened the new building of its Terminal D; the largest sea gate of Estonia, which welcomes six million passengers a year.

The terminal received a makeover of EUR 18.5 million and now boasts a new state-of-the-art look. The total area of the building –featuring a number of environmentally friendly solutions– nearly doubled, having reached 14,000m2.

“The building offers travellers much larger waiting and seating areas, a playground for children has been added, and there is more space for cafés and shops,” said Valdo Kalm, the chairman of the board at the Port of Tallinn. “Our other priority in addition to passenger comfort was sustainability: for instance, the energy needs of the building are partially covered by solar electricity, and indoor climate is automatically regulated depending on the temperature outside.”

The reconstruction of Terminal D is co-financed by the European Union within the Connecting Europe Facility project TWIN-PORT 2 no. 2014-EU-TM-0087-M.

Aug 06
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Port of Zeebrugge: Good Result in H1, Despite Pandemic

By 2020 Newsletter week 32

H1, 2020, the total traffic in Zeebrugge grows with 14.5% compared to the same period last year. In total, 25.1 million tonnes of cargo was handled. The sectors that show the most growth are liquid bulk (LNG: +148%), container traffics (+14%) and the solid bulk (+32%).

Although the port of Zeebrugge stayed 100% operational during the COVID-19 crisis, roro (-23%) and passengers experienced a decrease during this semester.

The decrease in roro is mainly due to the dramatic drop in the handling of new cars.

The COVID-19 crisis has a significant impact on the passenger movements in the port of Zeebrugge. Last cruise ship was on March 11.  On P&O Ferries’ Zeebrugge – Hull route, the transport of passengers halted almost completely.

Aug 06
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SHORT NEWS

By 2020 Newsletter week 32

New Images from the Ramp Installation on GOTHIA SEAWAYS

BELGIA SEAWAYS and GOTHIA SEAWAYS have both been sent to Remontowa for a ramp installation project.

Now the installation has been finalised on both vessels. The new ramps will function both as weathertight decks and as driving ramps between Decks 2 and 3, meaning that now all decks can be loaded via the normal aft ramp instead of via an external ramp for Deck 3.

Aug 06
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PHOTOS OF THE WEEK

By 2020 Newsletter week 32

Sea Trials for Second Electric Norled Ferry

SOLAVÅGEN is the second in a series of four electric passenger/vehicle ferries, built at Remontowa Shipbuilding SA for Norled. The ferry began sea trials on August, 1.

These battery-powered ferries will be sailing in the area of Norwegian fjords and will serve the connection between Festøya – Solavågen and Mannheller – Fodnes. At the end of June this year the first ferry was handed over to the shipowner, which entered the Festøya-Solavågen line in mid-July.

Photo Remontowa: Piotr Rudzki; Agnieszka Latarska, Maciej Bielesz / Portalmorski.Pl

Tallink Grupp’s New Shuttle Mystar Steel Sections Prepared in Poland Set Sail for Rauma Shipyard

Steel sections built at the former Gdanska Shipyard for Tallink Grupp’s new shuttle vessel MyStar, which will become the vessel’s food storage area in the future, set sail on August 1 on the barge KIKKA, towed by tugboat METEOR, towards the builder RMC´s Rauma shipyard in Finland.

Jul 30
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FERRY SHIPPING

By 2020 Newsletter week 31

Brittany Ferries: New Route and More Capacity on Ireland

  • New Rosslare – Cherbourg route to open in March 2021. Irish and French hauliers have asked Brittany Ferries to move the weekly French rotation from Roscoff to the transport hub of Cherbourg.
  • Earlier this year Brittany Ferries started Rosslare – Bilbao (instead of Cork – Santander) and Rosslare – Roscoff (instead of Cork – Roscoff).
  • Additional mid-week sailing added to Cork – Roscoff service (mainly tourist market)
  • The new sailings will also see the utilisation of the CONNEMARA (for Rosslare) and the ARMORIQUE (for Cork). The ARMORIQUE is new to Ireland. The PONT-AVEN will continue to serve the main Cork – Roscoff sailings at the weekend.
Jul 30
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With New Route Smyril Line Becomes Competitor for Sea Cargo

By 2020 Newsletter week 31

“MISTRAL will start a new traffic in August.” That is what we wrote in Ferry Shipping News, week 28. Now it has become clear that the Godby roro vessel will be used by Smyril Line, for a new freight route between Rotterdam and Western Norway.

The route will initially be operated by the roro ferry AKRANES, until taken over by MISTRAL on August 12.

Route: Rotterdam – Stavanger – Trondheim – Rørvik – Hitra – Rotterdam.

Jul 30
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FERRY FINANCE

By 2020 Newsletter week 31

Irish Continental Group H1: Strong Freight Performance Despite Pandemic

It is no surprise to see that the transportation of goods has kept ICG busy, while the passenger figures dropped considerably.

Volumes (Half Year 30 June 2020)

  • -65.0% Cars
  • -2.7% RoRo Freight
  • -11.7% Container Freight (teu)
  • -13.5% Terminal Lifts

H1 Finance (unaudited)

  • -21.6% Consolidated Group revenue €130.8 million
  • -33.3% Total revenues €61.6 million

The decrease was principally due to lower passenger volumes resulting from the travel restrictions introduced across the EU due to the Covid19 pandemic.

Jul 30
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Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft (FSG): Transfer Company and HONFLEUR Sold

By 2020 Newsletter week 31

Insolvent FSG will move the majority of its 700-people staff to a new ‘transfer’ company.

Currently the yard has no orders and no buyers.

Former owner SIEM has acquired the (unfinished) ferry that was under construction for Brittany Ferries (HONFLEUR), but which was cancelled recently. If and when the ship will be finished is so far unclear.

Investor Lars Windhorst has also announced the possible order for two ro-ro ships.

Jul 30
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FERRY PORTS

By 2020 Newsletter week 31

Grimaldi Group Interested in the Privatization of the Port of Igoumenitsa

Grimaldi Group revealed to Ferry Shipping News its interest to take over the Greek port of Igoumenitsa.

As of today, Grimaldi Lines and also Minoan Lines offer maritime links between this port and the Italian ports of Brindisi, Ancona and Venice.

The interest of the Italian group Grimaldi for the Port of Igoumenitsa was officially confirmed by the head of the group, Mr. Emanuele Grimaldi, during his recent visit in Athens, on the occasion of the introduction of KYDON PALACE on the Piraeus-Chania line.

Mr. Grimaldi had the opportunity to meet in person with the Minister of Shipping and Island Policy Mr. Giannis Plakiotakis, in whom he expressed his interest to participate in the international tender that will be announced soon by the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund (HRADF), since among the activities of the Italian group is also the port facility management.

The HRADF is expected to announce the tenders for the ports of Alexandroupolis, Kavala (Philip II pier) and Igoumenitsa in the near future. For the first two ports there has been a strong American interest, while for the port of Igoumenitsa there is a clear interest from the Grimaldi group as it connects Greece with Italy.

In a short-term period also the HRADF is expected to announce tender for the port of Heraklion, which is also the headquarters of Minoan Lines, a subsidiary of the Italian group.