See previous summary on Ferry Shipping News.
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Attica Holdings S.A. acquired roro CLEMENTINE from CldN Ferries NV.
Price: EUR 13.4 million
Built: 1997
Capacity: 2,307 lane meters or 160 trailers + 458 cars
Delivery: summer 2023
| The 6 “Kawasaki’s” | built | Owned by |
| CELESTINE | 1996 | CLdN |
| CLEMENTINE | 1997 | CLdN > Attica |
| MELUSINE | 1999 | CLdN |
| VALENTINE | 1999 | CLdN > KiwiRail 2022 |
| VICTORINE | 2000 | CLdN |
| CELANDINE | 2000 | CLdN |
CLdN has announced a major expansion of their Zeebrugge – England operation
- New Zeebrugge – Teesport route – 3 roundtrips per week.
- New Zeebrugge – Rotterdam route – 1 roundtrip per week.
- Zeebrugge – Purfleet – 3 additional roundtrips per week, offering up to 3 sailings in each direction on peak days.
- Customers will be able to place their cargo in a single terminal hub in Zeebrugge and choose to ship to any one of CLdN’s terminals on the East coast of England: Purfleet, Killingholme (Humberside) and Teesport.
The changes begin on 18 March.
CLdN’s new services to Teesport are said to be driven by customer demand to have direct and reliable access for freight units to the North East of England, thereby bringing cargo closer to its final destination, avoiding road mileage and unnecessary CO2 emissions.
A long-term agreement with PD Ports, the owners of Teesport, has been signed. Teesport has an onsite intermodal rail terminal enabling direct access to the UK’s national rail network, including two train departures to Scotland per day.
The new Tees service will be priced in such a way as to “assist customers in developing new cargo flows”.
Photo: CLdN
DELPHINE has become the first vessel in the CLdN fleet to receive a rotor sail wind propulsion system.
Improving the ship’s fuel efficiency and reducing carbon emissions, the ship returns to service from Zeebrugge on 27 February.
DELPHINE has a freight capacity of over 8,000 lane metres and was already very fuel efficient. With two 35m x 5m rotor sails, current emissions of 28 grammes of CO2 emitted per tonne of cargo shipped per km travelled will be reduced by 10%.
The rotor sails, which can be installed on new vessels or retrofitted on existing ships, incorporate a modernised version of the Flettner rotor, a spinning cylinder that uses the Magnus effect to harness wind power to add forward thrust to a ship. The solution is fully automated and detects whenever the wind is strong enough to deliver fuel and emission savings, at which point the sails start automatically. The sails are also tiltable, allowing the vessel to pass under bridges and maintaining operational flexibility.
CLdN will work with the Maritime Technology Division at Ghent University to study the performance of the sails on the DELPHINE in the coming months. The results of the project will determine roll out on existing and newbuild vessels.
Photo: CLdN
CLdN has announced a further increase of capacity for customers on its North Sea routes to and from eastern England. The additional capacity will be provided by the charter of the TUNDRALAND, a modern ro-ro vessel with a cargo capacity of 2,800 lane metres.
The vessel will be introduced into the CLdN network on 13th February 2023, allowing increased tonnage to be redeployed onto the Zeebrugge & Rotterdam / UK routes.
In response to increasing customer demand for unaccompanied freight services to and from the UK, CLdN will also provide a service delivering cargo from Zeebrugge to the Port of Tilbury. (remark: P&O Ferries have a service between Zeebrugge and Tilbury, with 9 departures a week from each port – check the P&O Freight website)
As announced in December 2022, CLdN started its upgraded service from Santander to Dublin and Liverpool
The new twice-weekly schedule from Santander to Dublin doubles capacity on this service in response to growing demand. The increased frequency means quicker turnaround times for customers and the ability to deliver cargo more flexibly throughout the week.
The upgrade has been facilitated by CLdN company Seatruck Ferries starting operations from its new premises within Dublin Port on 23 January, adjacent to CLdN. Spanish cargo for the UK market is now trans-shipped in Dublin onto the Seatruck Ferries regular shuttle service to Liverpool, into their dedicated terminal.
- In January 2023 a new twice weekly schedule from Santander to Dublin will double capacity on this service, in line with the growing demand.
- From this date Spanish cargo for the UK market will be transhipped in Dublin onto the Seatruck Ferries regular shuttle service to Liverpool.
- To enable these transhipments but also to accommodate growing market demand, Seatruck Ferries are at the same time deploying an extra vessel, SEATRUCK PENNANT, onto their successful Dublin – Liverpool route.
- “This change will benefit customers using both services with increased capacity, simplified customs procedures and logical through shipment options. Thanks to the very low carbon footprint of the combined unaccompanied RoRo fleet (~37 g/ton_km in 2021), shipping with CLdN and Seatruck Ferries is a much greener solution compared with landbridge or road transport,” says the CLdN press release. “As end customers demand more sustainable shipping solutions the importance of longer sea crossings which reduce road mileage will become ever more important.”
On November 10, CLdN completed the agreement to acquire all Seatruck Ferries Holding Ltd shares from Clipper Group of Denmark.
This follows the approval of the proposed merger given by the Irish competition authority on 28 October 2022.
CLdN CEO, Florent Maes, says: “We are excited to welcome the Seatruck colleagues into the CLdN family. By combining and leveraging each other’s strengths, we will continue improving the service for both Seatruck and CLdN customers.”
“Through Seatruck’s long-term presence in the ports of Heysham and Warrenpoint and in our key hubs of Dublin and Liverpool, we expand the group’s network and are determined to invest and add capacity to our shipping lanes which serve these ports.”
“Seatruck’s imminent move to a terminal adjacent to ours in Dublin will offer our customers seamless transhipment opportunities from the start of 2023, allowing direct access to the group’s Iberian, Irish, UK and continental European markets.”
- CLdN to acquire all shares in Seatruck Ferries Holding Ltd. from Clipper Group.
- After approval from the Irish competition authorities, expected before end of year.
- With 8 purpose-built vessels, Seatruck Ferries is the leading RoRo operator on the Irish Sea, transporting close to 20% of the region’s seaborne cargo volumes.
- The parties have agreed not to disclose the transaction price.
- The divestment of Seatruck Ferries allows Denmark-based Clipper Group to devote all financial and managerial resources to further strengthening its global dry cargo business.
- After closing, the Seatruck operation will continue to run under the Seatruck Ferries brand with the existing management team lead by Alistair Eagles.
- Joint impacts of COVID-19, Brexit and driver shortages are expected to accelerate growth in the unaccompanied trailer sector.
Wärtsilä and CLdN have jointly developed an innovative hybrid design for the two new roro vessels under construction at Hyundai Mipo Dockyards in Korea.
The propulsion arrangement is such that the ships can operate as gas/diesel-mechanical vessel now, or in the future as gas/diesel-electric vessel.