Acciona Trasmediterranea has chartered the SNAV Adriatico (built as the Koningin Beatrix) to operate Barcelona to Mahon from 22nd June in place of the burned out ferry Sorrento.

Adria Ferries’ Francesca was disabled by fire shortly after she left the Italian port of Bari on 12th May bound for the Albanian port of Durrës. The fire broke out at 0100 local time in the engine room when seven miles out and was extinguished by crew members. There were 260 passengers and crew aboard and the ship had to be towed back into Bari.

Baleària has chartered the former gardenia/European Endeavour, renamed Star Fighter since leaving Ostend, to sail between Denia and Ibiza.

CalMac’s next generation of ferries has produced a rendering (above) from the Remontowa Shipyard in Gdansk, Poland, for a pair of 100m long, 1,000 passenger/130 car/15 truck capacity ships with a service speed of 14.5 knots. Remontowa also built 3 ferries for CalMac between 2007 and 2011, the latest being the Finlaggan. The tender results are expected by September with delivery in 2017 and early 2018. CalMac Ferries Limited and Serco Caledonian Ferries Limited have been invited to take part in the next stage of the tender for the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services (CHFS) contract. The two operators have both passed the pre-qualification stage of the process and will be invited to submit tenders for the next CHFS contract, which will run from 1st October 2016 for up to eight years. The invitation for both operators to submit a final tender is scheduled for December, with a view to awarding the contract in May 2016.

Condor Ferries’ Condor Liberation continues to suffer from technical issues, poor timekeeping, equally poor seakeeping and reports suggest that a great deal of booked passengers have transferred to the e Commodore Clipper instead. Islanders are demanding answers and something needs to happen soon to reverse the fortunes of the highspeed service since 27th March.

Corsica Ferries has purchased the Silja Festival from Tallink and upon arrival at Vado Ligure in Italy she was renamed Mega Andrea. The Silja Festival had previously been chartered to Bridgeman’s Services for a stint at Kitimat, B.C., Canada where she served as a floating hotel to house up to 600 construction workers.

Norled’s MF Ampere (above), the world’s first electric car and passenger ferry powered by batteries, has entered full service in Norway. The ferry is employed on a route across Sognefjord between Lavik and Oppedal. The fully electric ferry travels six kilometres across the fjord 34 times a day, with each trip taking around 20 minutes. The 80m long and 20m beam vessel is driven by two electric motors, each with an output of 450 kilowatts. She is made exclusively of light aluminium, which makes her only half as heavy as a conventional ferry, despite the ten tonne batteries and a capacity for 360 passengers and 120 vehicles. Built in conjunction with shipbuilder Fjellstrand, Siemens installed the complete electric propulsion system and put up charging stations with lithium-ion batteries which are charged from hydro power. With the switch to battery, Norled is reducing the cost of fuel by up to 60 percent, according to Siemens. The ampere ferry will use around two million kWh per year, whereas a traditional diesel ferry burns at least one million litres of diesel a year and emits 570 tons of carbon dioxide and 15 metric tons of nitrogen oxides, according to Siemens. A DNV GL zero emission ferry concept has also been designed for the Cuxhaven-Brunsbüttel route on the river Elbe using the same technology installed in the ampere.

European Seaways ’ 7,707gt/1971 built ferry Horizon became the scene of one crewman’s death and the suspected poisoning of three other s (two life threatening) from fumes encountered whilst cleaning the vessel’s tanks prior to her arrival at a shipyard in Bijela, Montenegro, for routine work.

Fjord Line now has its first LNG bunkering station courtesy of Skangas. The facility is in Risavika and will bunker the company’s two LNG powered cruise ferries.

The Isle of Man Steam Packet Company’s 0845 crossing from Douglas to Heysham, operated by the Ben-My-Chree, suffered a suspected fire in the funnel exhaust lagging on 16th May Engineers contained the situation and allowed the vessel to continue to Hey sham. No passengers or crew were injured, and there was no significant damage to the vessel.

Marine Atlantic announced on 26th May that it had acquired the 28,460gt/2006 built ferries Blue Puttees and Highlanders that had previously been on charter from Stena Line. The ships continue to serve Port aux Basques and North Sydney. The purchase of the ships was part of an investment of $375 million in the company’s operations as announced in the 2015 budget. The former Ro-Ro ships were converted for their charter in 2011 at Bremerhaven.

P&O Ferries ’ seasonal Larne – Cairnryan/Troon highspeed service operated by the Express looks set to be axed as the craft’s charter will not be renewed after the 2015 season. The 5,902gt/1998 built Incat vessel began life as the Catalonia and has served P&O Portsmouth (2000-2005) and P&O Irish Sea (2005-present).

DFDS Seaways increased capacity on the Rotterdam to Felixstowe freight service with an extra departure in both directions as of 3rd July. The extra departures will leave on Fridays from Rotterdam at 0900 and from Felixstowe at 2000 hours. T hi s growth underlines the improved performance within the DFDS group’s transport network, with revenue rising by 3% to 393m Euro for the quarter ended 31st March 2015.

Seajet’s Champion Jet 1 entered service from Iraklio in the Cyclades Islands on 26th May 2015. This was the former Condor Vitesse. The Champion Jet 2 (Condor Express) departed Weymouth for Greece on 18th May, ending an era at the Dorset ferryport.

Strait Shipping‘s new vessel, the 21,856gt/1997 built and 186m long Strait Feronia (above), arrived at Wellington on 31st May upon completion of a 45 day delivery voyage from Sweden where she had been refitted at Landskrona. The main passenger area of the 2,150 lane metres and 400 passenger capacity ship was completely refurbished, including a new servery and flooring. The ship joined another former Baltic vessel, Straitsman, and replaced the 14,588gt/1985 built Santa Regina in June.

Texels Eigen Stoomboot’s Den Helder-Texel ferry Schulpengat suffered an engine room fire off Den Helder, The Netherlands, on 29th May. The vessel was en route from Texel to Den Helder when thick smoke billowed from the engine room. The ferry was able to berth at Den Helder port, where all the crew and passengers were evacuated. The port fire service quickly found and extinguished the fire without any injuries. The engine room of the 110m long, 8,311grt/1990 built Schulpengat is seriously damaged and she is now out of service for repairs.