After a year operating the “salmon route”, Smyril Line Cargo is putting sailings on hold.
It was roro vessel AKRANES that operated the route from Central Norway to the Netherlands since summer 2020.
AKRANES will now be servicing a new route between Thorlakshøfn, in Iceland´s West coast, Tórshavn, and Rotterdam.
The new route gives Icelandic and Faroese exporters new options with departures Wednesday evenings from Iceland and Thursday evenings from Tórshavn direct to Europe.
Facelift on Facebook
Some pictures of Smyril Line’s NORRÖNA (from their Facebook page)
The ferry is at the Fayard shipyard in Munkebo, for a serious facelift.
She will be back ‘home’ on 8 March 2021.
Since 15 September, Grimaldi Group has a daily departure on Livorno-Palermo, in both directions. A second ferry has been added.
The additional ship deployed on the route is ropax CRUISE SMERALDA (2,000 lane meters, 1,500 pax, 100 cars).
She joins ZEUS PALACE (2,000 lane meters, 1,700 pax, 100 cars).
From now on, Smyril Line’s roro AKRANES will arrive every Sunday in Vlaardingen, coming from Norway. DFDS will handle the discharging and loading of trailers, containers and machinery. Then the ship will sail back to Stavanger, Trondheim, Rørvik and Hitra.
To support the DFDS network, the departure from Vlaardingen to Felixstowe will be delayed with one hour to offer customers a connection from Norway to the UK.
“MISTRAL will start a new traffic in August.” That is what we wrote in Ferry Shipping News, week 28. Now it has become clear that the Godby roro vessel will be used by Smyril Line, for a new freight route between Rotterdam and Western Norway.
The route will initially be operated by the roro ferry AKRANES, until taken over by MISTRAL on August 12.
Route: Rotterdam – Stavanger – Trondheim – Rørvik – Hitra – Rotterdam.
Smyril Line’s New Service to Hirtshals Exhibits Growth after the First Six Months
In January, Smyril Line started a new service from Hirtshals to Torshavn on the Faroe Islands and Thorlakshöfn in Iceland. Thorlakshöfn is located 40 km south of the Icelandic capital Reykjavik. The service is operated by roro AKRANES, and after the first six month, the service is exhibiting a steady growth on the traffic between West Iceland and Hirtshals.
As Smyril Line expands its fleet and sailing routes, the Faroese company has approached Bore to acquire Bore Bank. The roro will be renamed Akranes.
She will be used to establish a new freight route between Þorlákshöfn in the western part of Iceland, Hirtshals (Denmark) and Tórshavn (Faroe Islands).
Smyril Line will register the vessel in FAS (Faroe Islands National & International ship register) and hire Faroese crew.
Smyril Line’s fleet consist of four (soon five) vessels, with weekly sailings between Iceland, Faroe Islands, Denmark, St. Petersburg and the Netherlands. The fifth ship will allow the roro container vessels to open a route to the UK.
Fleet:
As part of the fleet renewal process, Bore has placed an order for three newbuildings at the Wuhu Shipyard Ltd in China, due for delivery in year 2021.
