April 15, 2021

Grimaldi Adds A Third Ship On Ravenna-Brindisi-Catania

The port authority of Brindisi announced that Grimaldi Group will add a third ship on the ro-ro cargo link connecting the Apulian port with Ravenna and Catania (as from next week).

Until the end of last year the route was partly subsidised by the Italian State in favour of Tirrenia Cin and jointly operated with Grimaldi.

In January the Moby-controlled group left the space to the competitor which rapidly increased deployment of tonnage and frequency.

The next new entry on the maritime link will be the ro-ro vessel EUROCARGO VALENCIA which offers 4,400 lane metres capacity. Service becomes daily.

CADENA 3 Back Home

Roro CADENA 3 is back home in Zeebrugge, after her charter as MASSIMO MURA with Tirrenia, and after a rather long layup in Leixoes.

According to Equasis, she is owned by Cadena RoRo SA, care of CLdN ro-ro SA.

The Flensburg-built vessel will be used on the CLdN routes.

CLdN’s MELEQ To DFDS?

MELEQ will be renamed ACACIA SEAWAYS, a name that indicates an imminent future with DFDS.

Sister vessels TULIPA SEAWAYS and GARDENIA SEAWAYS both operate on Vlaardingen-Felixstowe.

MELEQ was built in Flensburg in 2017.She has a lane metre capacity of 4,000.

Blue Cruises’ NISSOS CHRISSI is almost ready for service in Crete

The conversion of the Blue Cruise’s NISSOS CHRISI – ex- RUNGHOLT- has almost been finished and the small vessel is expected to leave Atsalaki Shipyard (Perama) for Crete within the week.

She was purchased in October 2019 from German operator W.D.R. and she will probably serve the Kasteli – Gramvoussa – Balo line.

Do You Recognise The Veteran Ferry?

RED STAR 1 has been towed by tug CHRISTOS XXVII, and arrived in Tuzla, Turkey.

She was built in Lübeck in 1965 (!) as VIKING III and had a very rich career. The ferry sailed for many companies, on an amazing number of ports. What’s going to happen now is not clear yet.

Photo courtesy Christos Chatzaras / Voyager Shipspotting

Progress On The BLUE STAR MYCONOS Scrubber Conversion

Fast progress on the scrubber conversion of the Blue Star Ferries’ BLUE STAR MYCONOS

which is out of service since March 13, 2021. Her funnel is seen enlarged while she is expected to return in her daily service (Kavala-Lemnos-Lesvos-Chios-Samos-Ikaria-Piraeus line) in June.