Color Line not allowed to change to NIS flag

FINNCARRIER, soon to be renamed COLOR CARRIER © Finnlines

Norwegian Kristelig Folkeparti (KrF), stopped Color Line’s plans of changing flag from the NOR to NIS register, meaning that the entire existing Color Line fleet will remain in the NOR register in 2019. The recently acquired FINNCARRIER (to be renamed COLOR CARRIER) will, however, be NIS registered when joining the Color Line fleet in January to serve a dedicated freight service between Oslo and Kiel.

READ THE FULL STORY

Greek ferries a lifeline in more ways than one

Greece’s coastal shipping sector is expected to exceed 18 million passengers in 2018 © Philippe Holthof

According to Greece’s Association of Passenger Shipping Companies (SEEN), the country’s coastal shipping, directly or indirectly, contributes EUR 12.9 billion, or 7.3%, to the country’s GDP; employs 350,000 people and accounts for 50% of all jobs on the islands.

READ THE FULL STORY

Sea Cloud Cruises to introduce third tall ship in 2020

SEA CLOUD SPIRIT will join fleet mates SEA CLOUD and SEA CLOUD II in summer 2020 © Sea Cloud Cruises

SEA CLOUD SPIRIT is the name chosen for a five-deck, 136-guest tall ship Hamburg-based niche cruise operator Sea Cloud Cruises has ordered at MetalShips & Docks S.A.U. in Vigo, Spain.

READ THE FULL STORY

Brittany Ferries unveils new house style and logo

PONT-AVEN (illustrated) and ARMORIQUE will be the first ships to display the new logo and lettering © Brittany Ferries

Fifteen years after having ‘softened’ its logo and brand name lettering with the introduction of MONT ST MICHEL, Brittany Ferries has unveiled a new house style and logo. The shades of orange and blue – the brand colours of Brittany Ferries first introduced on PENN-AR-BED in 1974 – have been retained, yet a touch of green has been added.

READ THE FULL STORY

Dead fish to power Hurtigruten’s cruise vessels

Hurtigruten is poised to become the greenest cruise line © Søren Lund Hviid

Hurtigruten’s latest move in the area of environmental ship operations is to use dead fish to power at least six of its ships by 2021 as the company becomes more and more environmentally friendly.

READ THE FULL STORY

NAPOLES’ LNG retrofit started

The Visentini-built NAPOLES will re-emerge as an LNG-powered ship following her retrofit © Kai Ortel

The retrofit of the first of six ro-paxes owned and operated by Spanish ferry company Baleària, has now started at Gibraltar’s Gibdock. NAPOLES will see its current MAN 9L48/60A main engines converted to dual fuel MAN 9L51/60DF engines with 9,450kW output.

READ THE FULL STORY

ALF POLLAK to enter service on the Genoa-Livorno-Catania-Valletta service in December

ALF POLLAK got a scrubber installed at Fayard © Peter Therkildsen

Tirrenia’s new 4,076-lanemetre freight ro-ro ALF POLLAK, due for delivery anytime now, will enter service on the Italian operator’s MoS service in December between Genoa, Livorno, Catania and Valletta, confirmed Achille Onorato, CEO of Onorato Armatori Group, owners of Tirrenia, in Milan on 17 November. Sister ship MARIA GRAZIA ONORATO will also operate on this run when delivered in early 2019.

READ THE FULL STORY

New start for Elbe ferry?

Elb-Link filed for bankruptcy in late November 2017 © Christian Eckardt

A new initiative is under way to re-open the ferry route between Cuxhaven and Brunsbüttel across the outer Elbe river in spring 2019.

READ THE FULL STORY

AIDAnova misses maiden voyage

The first voyages of AIDAnova have been cancelled © Frank Behling

Meyer Werft has informed Aida Cruises and the public that in order to finish all remaining works and tests successfully, the completion of the AIDAnova has to be put back until 30 November.

READ THE FULL STORY

DFDS in 60% freight capacity increase at its Vlaardingen terminal in Rotterdam

DFDS's Vlaardingen terminal; the new area for 650 trailers is shown within the red border © DFDS

What Brexit! After two years of negotiations DFDS signed a sale and purchase agreement with the Port of Rotterdam for the acquisition of the 92,000m² capacity Rotterdam Bulk Terminal in Vlaardingen, Rotterdam – thereby increasing the trailer marshalling space by 60% from May 2020.

READ THE FULL STORY

Financials

BC Ferries released its second quarter results

Revenues were CAD 315.8 million in the quarter, which was a CAD 5.8 million increase compared to the same period in the prior year, primarily as a result of increased traffic and the increase in ferry service fees related to the 1 April 2018 fare initiatives. The company’s net earnings for the second quarter of fiscal 2019 were CAD 90.9 million, compared to net earnings of CAD 98.4 million for the same quarter of the previous year. The decrease in net earnings is primarily due to initiatives that reduced fares as well as the addition of more sailings to meet customer demand at popular sailing times which increased operating expenses.

Strong third quarter for Fjord1

In the quarter, Fjord1’s revenue reached NOK 824.5 million, an 8% growth from the NOK 761.7 million in the same quarter last year. EBITDA grew by 18% compared to the same quarter last year, ending at NOK 355 million. During the quarter, Fjord1 carried 6.9 million passengers and 3.1 million vehicles on its 70 vessels.

Press Releases

Corvus Energy Moves Forward to Increase Production Capacity at Maritime Battery Factories

In Spring 2018, Corvus Energy revealed the plans for a new fully automated factory for maritime batteries in Bergen, Norway. We are proud to announce that contracts for the factory location and the production equipment were finalized and signed this week. The new factory will be located at Midtun in Bergen, about a mile south of the city center. The supplier chosen for the production equipment is Intek Engineering AS of Raufoss, Norway and the factory will be fully operational in Q3 2019.

Me Production establishes joint venture with Guangzhou Shipyard International and Torm

Me Production has established a joint venture with TORM and Guangzhou Shipyard International Co., Ltd. ME Production, China, that will manufacture and install scrubbers in China and deliver them to a range of maritime industry customers for both newbuildings and retrofitted vessels.

Leclanché selected by KONGSBERG to power the fast growing electric and hybrid marine industry with energy storage solutions

Global maritime technology company Kongsberg Maritime has selected Leclanché, one of the world’s leading storage solutions companies, as its battery partner and supplier of customised marine energy storage solutions. The partnership contributes to KONGSBERG’s new generation of hybrid power solutions, which are set to deliver game-changing efficiencies and reduce the environmental impact of transportation with cutting-edge autonomous and crewed vessel newbuilds.

Viking LifeCraft™ passes toughest ever test at sea

Rough seas with wave heights up to 50% above the stipulated heavy weather testing requirements proved no obstacle for VIKING’s innovative LifeCraft™ system, paving the way for cruise ship operators worldwide to benefit from all the advantages that this new hybrid - intended to replace lifeboats/liferafts - has to offer.

A Strategic Partnership for C-Job and Glosten

Two leading naval architecture firms, Glosten and C-Job Naval Architects, announce a strategic partnership to create more value for their respective clients. Executives from the two firms met recently at Glosten’s newly opened East Coast office to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) defining the firms’ shared goals and objectives.

Grimaldi Lines awarded as Ro-Ro Line of the Year

Grimaldi Lines was awarded as Ro-Ro Line of the Year last 15th November during the 2018 Global Freight Awards, held at the Royal Lancaster London Hotel.

StormGeo Launches Navigator Solutions Portfolio

StormGeo, provider of ship weather routing and fleet performance systems, announced the launch of the Navigator Solutions Portfolio. Delivered by a single vendor, the portfolio is an integrated, navigational and route optimization platform connecting onboard solutions to shore-based decision support. The key advantages of a single-vendor connected system include sharing internal information and utilizing the full benefit of digitalization to improve performance and reduce costs.

Hogia wins business in Tunisia

Hogia Ferry Systems has signed an agreement with the Tunisian ferry operator Compagnie Tunisienne de Navigation (CTN) to deliver the reservation and ticketing system BOOKIT.

Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines’ Managing Director Mike Rodwell to retire after over 30 years

Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines’ Managing Director, Mike Rodwell, has announced that he is to retire at the end of August 2019, following 15 years in the role and 31 years with the Fred. Olsen companies. 

V.Ships Leisure awarded technical management contract for newbuilding expedition vessel MAGELLAN EXPLORER

V.Ships Leisure, part of V.Group, the leading global marine and offshore vessel management and support services provider, has been awarded a contract by Antarctica21 for the technical management of the expedition vessel, MAGELLAN EXPLORER. 

Color Group AS - Successful placement of new bond issue

Color Group AS has successfully completed a new unsecured bond issue of NOK 900 million with maturity date in November 2023. The bond issue was substantially oversubscribed. The net proceeds from the new bond issue will be used for refinancing and general corporate purposes.

Viking Line: New CEO's replacement appointed

Because the Deputy CEO and the CEO’s replacement, Andreas Remmer, resigned from his position, the Board of Directors has decided 
to name Deputy CEO Peter Hellgren as the CEO’s replacement. The process to replace Andreas Remmer continues.

Norsepower raises €3.6M in new equity funding round to accelerate expansion and growth

Norsepower Oy Ltd., the leading provider of low maintenance, software operated, and data verified auxiliary wind propulsion systems, today announced that it has concluded its equity financing round, raising €3.6million in funding to drive the company’s expansion and growth plans.

HATECKE GmbH receives from RINA the Type Approval Certificate for the biggest lifeboat ever

HATECKE, manufacturer of lifeboats for cruise ship newbuildings, has just received from RINA, the classification, certification, inspection, testing and consulting multinational, the Type Approval Certificate for its PEL14 lifeboat, the biggest and most space saving lifeboat ever built.

WE Tech R&D Enhances Its Capabilities on Two Fronts

WE Tech has been developing state-of-art Shaft Generator Solutions and their Dedicated Power Management Systems (DPMS) for years. The functionalities our customers require from the DPMS are getting more and more advanced and WE Tech R&D is leading the trend to ensure the customers get what they want. For this WE Tech R&D is taking two huge steps forward to ensure that WE Tech is capable of developing solutions, sometimes such that no other supplier is even capable of, for its customers far in to the future.