- Swedish battery specialist Echandia has secured new long-term funding from U.S.-based S2G Investments, raising its latest round to SEK 325 million (USD 34 million).
- The capital will support scale-up of production, U.S. market growth, and R&D from its new Marysville, Washington facility.
- Echandia’s LTO battery systems serve ferries, RoRo/RoPax vessels, tugs, and offshore ships, with clients including Molslinjen and WETA San Francisco.
- Revenue quadrupled in 2024 and is set to triple again in 2025 amid rising demand for zero-emission marine tech.
- Echandia will supply batteries for the San Francisco Bay Ferry’s REEF programme, with deliveries starting in 2026.
Source: Echandia
- The RoRo ship ML FREYJA has arrived in Cagliari from Zeebrugge.
- She will be renamed GRENDI STAR for a new long-term charter with Grendi Trasporti Marittimi.
- Grendi, controlled by the Musso family, operates services linking mainland Italy (Marina di Carrara, Tuscany) with Sardinia (Cagliari and Olbia).
- Built in 2017 by Cantiere Navale Visentini and owned by Visemar Levante (Visentini family), the ship offers:
- 2,700 lane metres
- Length: 191m
- Beam: 26m
- Draught: ~8m
- Speed: 22 knots
- Until recently, ML FREYJA was chartered by Mann Lines (now owned by Wallenius SOL) in Northern Europe, calling at Bremerhaven, Zeebrugge, Tilbury, Cuxhaven, Paldiski, and Turku.
- She has been replaced by the newly built SOUTH ENABLER, also delivered by Cantiere Navale Visentini.
Photo Mike Louagie
