Our friends from NI Ferry Site have published the first onboard pictures of DFDS new ropax for the English Channel.
Click here to access the webpage of NI Ferry Site
https://www.niferry.co.uk/cote-dopale-first-details-emerge-of-dfds-new-ferry/
Stena Line’s Newest Ship Debuts on Rosslare-Cherbourg instead of Belfast-Liverpool
Stena Line’s brand-new STENA EMBLA will make its Irish Sea debut on the Rosslare-Cherbourg service. Originally scheduled for service on the Belfast-Liverpool route, due to the current Brexit related shift for direct routes and increasing customer demand, Stena Line has decided to temporarily deploy her on Rosslare-Cherbourg.
The first sailing will be from Rosslare on 14 January 2021.
STENA EMBLA will make three weekly return trips between Rosslare and Cherbourg, which alongside the STENA FORETELLER will see Stena Line operate 12 crossing per week between Ireland and the Continent.
Ferry Shipping News understands that route vessel STENA HORIZON needs maintenance. If she will return on the route is so far unclear.
DFDS’ preliminary, unaudited EBITDA before special items was raised to DKK 2.73bn for 2020 by UK stockbuilding ahead of Brexit that was more extensive than expected. The outlook range was DKK 2.5-2.7bn.
DFDS December volume report: Freight up 28% boosted by stockbuilding ahead of brexit
- Freight lane metres (,000):
- December 3,594 (2,810) = +28%
- Full year 40,886 (41,280)= -1.0%
- Passenger (,000):
- December 78 (370)= -79.0%
- Full year 1,498 (5,116)= -70.7%
North Sea volumes were boosted by stockbuilding ahead of Brexit, especially on the routes between Netherlands and the UK but also between Sweden and the UK.
Volumes on the English Channel were likewise boosted by the stockbuilding.
Baltic Sea volumes were above 2019 adjusted for the closure of the Paldiski-Hanko route.
Mediterranean volumes were above 2019 driven by higher volumes on all main corridors.
France-Ireland
As announced earlier, DFDS starts a new ferry service on 2 January 2021, between Rosslare and Dunkerque.
The ships will be:
- VISBY (chartered from Destination Gotland)
- KERRY (chartered from Stena RoRo)
- OPTIMA SEAWAYS (owned by DFDS, and currently operating on Karlshamn-Klaipeda, only for 1 month on new route)
In the Baltic:
- PATRIA SEAWAYS will move from the Paldiski-Kapellskär route to replace OPTIMA SEAWAYS on the Karlshamn-Klaipeda route. There will be no changes to crewing or flag.
- SIRENA SEAWAYS will be able to maintain the necessary capacity on Paldiski-Kapellskär for the expected volumes at the beginning of the new year.
- OPTIMA SEAWAYS is planned to return to the Karlshamn-Klaipeda route, and PATRIA SEAWAYS to the Paldiski-Kapellskär route, end of January.
Compared with November 2019
- +17% freight boosted by stockbuilding ahead of Brexit
- +25% volume growth for routes calling the UK (especially Rotterdam-UK)
- -80% passengers (especially on the two cruise ferry routes. Less impact in the Baltic Sea)
Compared with last twelve months 2019-18
- -3% freight lane metres
- -65% passengers
- ARK FUTURA will leave the Ark (*) cooperation during December 2020, and this has triggered a reshuffle in the fleet.
- MAGNOLIA SEAWAYS and FINLANDIA SEAWAYS will join the Ark fleet.
- FINLANDIA SEAWAYS will be reflagged from the Lithuanian flag to the Danish flag from January 2021.
- MAGNOLIA SEAWAYS will enter the Ark fleet in 2022.
- ARK FUTURA becomes FUTURA SEAWAYS
- The seven ships that will be part of the Ark cooperation are thus ARK DANIA, ARK GERMANIA, SUECIA SEAWAYS, MAGNOLIA SEAWAYS, BRITANNIA SEAWAYS, FINLANDIA SEAWAYS.
(*) The ARK Project is a Danish–German collaboration that ensures Danish and German military access to, and availability of, capacity for maritime transport in accordance with the nations’ own obligations to NATO.
From now on, cars from Volvo Cars in Ghent will get to their final destinations faster and more sustainably. At a new train terminal near Mercatordok in North Sea Port, cars are loaded onto and off ships and onto and off trains.
This collaboration between the Volvo Cars plant, DFDS and the Belgian rail freight operator Lineas efficiently brings together the different modes of transport (ship, train, truck). Thanks to the extensive use of rail transport, the throughput time from factory to final destination is now up to 30% faster.
DFDS and the Joint Movement and Transport Organisation (JMTO), which provides strategic transport for Danish military missions, have entered into a new 6-year agreement.
Seven freight ferries will be made available for the transport of military materiel and equipment in connection with NATO preparedness, participation in military exercises and operations, and humanitarian crises.
On a day-to-day basis, the ferries will be deployed on DFDS’ routes, and will be made available to the military when and to the extent requested by the Danish Defence.
The agreement is also linked to the ARK project, a Danish-German cooperation project, which ensures access to and availability of maritime transport capacity for Danish and German defences in accordance with the nations’ own obligations to NATO.
The ships are: ARK DANIA, ARK GERMANIA, SUECIA SEAWAYS, MAGNOLIA SEAWAYS, BRITANNIA SEAWAYS and FINLANDIA SEAWAYS. The last ship in the agreement will be one of several ships from the DFDS fleet, to be selected according to need.
On November 24, 2020, KNOSSOS PALACE of Minoan Lines is expected to depart for the port of Naples, in order to replace CRUISE BONARIA ex- EUROPA PALACE in the Italian service.
CRUISE BONARIA will be renamed KNOSSOS PALACE, sport the Minoan Lines livery and will be introduced on the Piraeus–Heraklion line. Her arrival in Greece is expected within the first ten days of December.
Almost ready is the Kerkyra Lines small ferry EVDOKIA. The ship was purchased in September 2019 from the Japanese Sakido Kisen Co and sailed to Greece (Amaliapolis) on January 12, 2020. Due to the covid-19 crisis, her conversion was delayed, however today she had her final sea trials at Chalkis Shipyards and she will depart for Corfu soon in order to be introduced on the Corfu – Igoumenitsa or Diapontia Islands line.
The Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom has made a decision to impose a service obligation on round trips between Mariehamn and Kapellskär (Viking Line), as well as Eckerö and Grisslehamn (Eckerö).
On November 10, the first of two 5,000 lane meter dual-fuel LNG ropax ferries for the German TT-Line was floated out at the China Merchants Nanjing Jinling Shipyard.
With their newbuild in service, Chilean Navimag have sold the former DUKE OF FLANDERS for scrap in India.
Rømø-Sylt Linie GmbH & Co. KG has decided to repaint the two FRS Syltfähre ferries in red.
Brittany Ferries COTENTIN is back in France after the Stena line charter. She will be used on Poole – Cherbourg from January, as per UK Government Brexit Contracts.
Naviera Armas keeps the public service contract for El Hierro – Tenerife. The total contract amounts to € 6,000,000 and lasts two years.
Suardiaz RoRo GALICIA has been sold to the Spanish MoD (foronaval).
