TECHNOLOGY

By 2019 Newsletter week 38

P&O Ferries Launches New Freight App

P&O Ferries is promising its freight customers a simplified way of moving goods between Britain and Europe thanks to its new freight app.

For the first time, freight customers are able to buy tickets to Europe using a credit card, are able to see live updates on departures and can board their sailing just by quoting their reference number.

Henrik Pedersen, Director of Freight Sales at P&O Ferries, said: “We understand that our customers are looking for a service which is punctual, reliable and cost efficient. In a world of growing complexity, this app helps to simplify their journey with us by providing what is in effect a self-service offering.”

“Freight customers travelling between Dover and Calais can now just pay and go without having to set-up an account. They are able to book and pay online, using a debit card or credit card, and have access to the app 24 hours a day. We believe that this is a market-leading offer which creates clear blue water between us and the competition.”

TOP STORY

By 2019 Newsletter week 37

OSK-Shiptech To Design Two New Ferries For Kiwirail, New Zealand

Danish naval architects OSK-ShipTech A/S have signed a newbuilding contract with state-owned KiwiRail for the design and development of the next generation rail-enabled ferries for the busy Cook Strait route between New Zealand’s North and South Islands.

The new ferries will strengthen and enhance the vital transport link between capitol Wellington on the North Island and Picton on the South Island. Currently, operating company Interislander is operating a fleet of three ferries – two ro-pax ferries and one train ferry.

“As part of the project, new terminals tailored to the vessels will also be developed in order to optimise the infrastructure and fully benefit of the new designs. We are of course very excited to be part of this holistic project and the continued development for KiwiRail in the region,” says Anders Ørgård, Chief Commercial Officer of OSK-ShipTech.

The new train ferries are targeted for delivery in 2024.

FERRY SHIPPING

By 2019 Newsletter week 37

P&O Ferries Confirm Opening Calais – Tilbury Route And Announce Ship

The 1,600 lane meter CAROLINE RUSS (MarineTraffic) is the ro-ro that will be used for the new Calais – Tilbury P&O route.
CAROLINE RUSS is owned by a company within the Ernst Russ group.

There will be two sailings every weekday and one each on Saturday and Sunday. The eight-hour sailing will have capacity for 100 units of freight, with a total of 50,000 expected to be carried in the first 12 months. It is expected that time-sensitive supermarket goods including fresh fruit and vegetables will be transported on the route.

The new river berth at the Port of Tilbury is scheduled to open in April next year, enabling P&O Ferries to treble volumes on its existing Zeebrugge-Tilbury services to 600,000 loads of freight a year. An onward rail connection to Daventry is also expected to be operational in 2020, mirroring the rail connections linking the Port of Calais with Le Boulou, Turin and Orbassano on the Continent.

Two Stena Ro-Pax Ferries To Be Lengthened

By 2019 Newsletter week 37

Turkish Sedef Shipbuilding Inc. announced on its website that it will lengthen STENA LAGAN and STENA MERSEY, the ferries that currently operate on Belfast – Liverpool.
Both vessels are owned by Stena Ropax Ltd, UK, and managed by Stena Line Ltd.
STENA LAGAN is planned for April 2020. This conversion will take four months.
STENA MERSEY will arrive at the yard six weeks after the first ship.

The vessels have been built in 2005 by Visentini.

Moby’s Ferries Swap Respect The Company’s 2018-2023 Plan

By 2019 Newsletter week 37

The ferries swap announced last Friday by DFDS and Moby represents the last chapter of the 2018/2023 business plan of the Milan-based group launched last year and related to the reverse merger into Compagnia Italiana di Navigazione.

In the first nine months of the current year the company controlled by Vincenzo Onorato and headed by his sons Achille and Alessandro sold four ro-pax vessels:

  • AURELIA and HARTMUTT PUSCHMANN before the summer.
  • MOBY AKI and MOBY WONDER next autumn.

In the 2018/2023 business plan was written that Moby would sell five unidentified ro-pax ships generating EUR 305 million revenues and roughly EUR 145 million of capital gains.
Two smaller and older vessels were set for dismissal in 2019, further two modern units in 2019 and the last two ferries respectively in 2020 and 2021.

For the next few years Moby was expected to charter-in some modern and higher capacity ro-pax units (most of them from Onorato Armatori), to be deployed on the routes linking Italy mainland to Sardinia and Sicily.
Two units built in Flensburg have already been delivered and further two units will be built in China by Guangzhou Shipyard International with delivery scheduled from 2021 onwards.