Smyril Line has taken delivery of its new RoRo freight vessel SKIPANES from the CIMC Raffles shipyard in Yantai, China.
SKIPANES is the first of two new RoRo vessels ordered as part of a major investment in the company’s fleet and future freight services.
“This marks a milestone in the company’s history and an important step in the development of our fleet,” said Smyril Line CEO Jens Meinhard Rasmussen.
SKIPANES will now begin its delivery voyage from China to Europe.
https://www.smyrilline.fo/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Annual-Report-2025.pdf
Smyril Line has signed a contract with the CIMC Raffles shipyard in China to build two new RoRo ships.
The identical twins will be 190m long and have a 3,300 lane metre capacity.
The new cargo ships will join Smyril Line’s current network, and they are planned to start sailing in 2026. The ships are designed for optimal year-round seaworthiness in the North Atlantic with great emphasis on crew comfort.
The ships are being designed in close cooperation with KNUD E. HANSEN, naval architects, who, together with the extensive experience of Smyril Line in the North Atlantic, will ensure that the ships are built for the special route between Europe, the Faroe Islands, and Iceland.
The ships will be modern and environmentally friendly, meeting all international emission standards. Compared to the company’s existing fleet, they will emit significantly less per transported ton. At the same time, the ships will be equipped with a battery system and the possibility of shore power.
The ships will also be prepared to sail on e-methanol, considered the best future choice for green energy at Smyril Line.
Source: Knud E. Hansen
Smyril Line has purchased Ro-Ro SEAGARD (1999) from Bore Ltd.
The vessel will be delivered to Smyril Line first week of January 2024 and will be renamed GLYVURSNES.
She will replace time chartered vessel MISTRAL (Godby Shipping) and will go into regular service between Tórshavn, Faroe Islands, Þórlakshöfn in Iceland and Hirtshals in Denmark.
When GLYVURSNES enters service, Smyril Line will own all 6 vessels in its fleet:
Ro-Pax NORRÖNA and Ro-Ro/Multi-Purpose vessels MYKINES, AKRANES, HVÍTANES, EYSTNES and GLYVURSNES.
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.
