After a 40-year presence in the Adriatic service, the Minoan Lines branding on the ships will probably leave the Adriatic Sea following the recent Grimaldi Lines moves. CRUISE EUROPA and CRUISE OLYMPIA will be replaced by the smaller ZEUS PALACE and CRUISE OLBIA on the traditional Patras – Igoumenitsa – Ancona Line. In any case, Grimaldi seems to reduce its freight capacity (lane metres) on the Patras – Ancona line, fact that will probably affect fares as well.
On 1 February 2021, BLUE STAR DELOS performed her sea trials after her recent scrubber conversion. The “blue” ship went out of service on 4 November 2020 in order to undergo scheduled repairs, dry docking and scrubber conversion. She will return in service on February 8, 2021.
Photo: www.arxipelagos.com
On 4 February 2021, Seajets started a 30-day charter of Golden Star Ferries’ SUPERFERRY II. She replaces AQUA BLUE on the Lavrion – Agios Efstratios – Lemnos – Kavala line.
AQUA BLUE is having her annual refit and will resume service in March.
Viking Line’s new destinations for the summer of 2021 are Riga and Visby, with the ferry GABRIELLA, departing from Helsinki.
Mariehamn, which was a very popular destination last summer, is also included in this year’s cruise offer.
From 28 January and two weeks forward STENA VINGA will sail 25 departures on the Baltic Sea during the dry docking of Stena Spirit. STENA VINGA recently sailed on the Göteborg – Kiel route and before that 3 months on the Irish Sea.
La Méridionale’s PELAGOS has been withdrawn from the route Marseille – Morocco because of pandemic-related restrictions. She immediately found a job: she is now on charter to Corsica Linea, as replacement for the damaged PAGLIA ORBA (which hit the bottom in Bastia last week 25/1). She arrived in Ajaccio for the first time on 1 February.
Baleària resumes its passenger route between the United States and the Bahamas on 10 February. The shipping company has obtained approval from the Bahamas government to move passengers again, after several months of cargo-only services due to pandemic restrictions.
Fast ferry JAUME II will make four trips a week (3 to Bimini and 1 to Grand Bahama)
Baleària started replacing the engines of fast ferry AVEMAR DOS with more efficient and more powerful ones. The retrofit, which will take place until May at the Navantia shipyard in Cádiz, involves the replacement of the current engines with the latest version of the same model (MTU 1163 M84). These allow fuel consumption to be reduced by 8% thanks to the latest electronic injection management systems and an improvement in the components involved in combustion. This is the second remotorization carried out on this ship in six years.
