Africa Morocco Link announced that the charter of the 38,261gt/1992 built El Venizelos, from the Attica Group, concluded on 30th September with the ferry returning to Greece.

Bay Ferries, operator of the ferry service from Portland to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, concluded its first season with far fewer passengers than predecessor Nova Star Cruises. However, the company is in far better financial shape so is satisfied overall.

CalMac’s new £12.3m diesel-electric hybrid ferry was delivered on 20th September, six weeks early, for use on its Clyde and Hebridean routes. The 499gt and 150 passenger/ 23 car capacity Catriona was built at the Ferguson Marine shipyard in Port Glasgow. She was launched last year and had been undergoing sea trials. The ferry uses a low-carbon hybrid system that combines traditional diesel power with electric battery power. Her sisterships are the Hallaig and Lochinvar.

Condor Ferries announced the appointment of Jason Clark as Chief Financial Officer in late September. With over 15 years’ experience in finance and risk management roles in the UK and Europe, including high profile capital investment projects, Jason brings with him a wealth of expertise and knowledge. Prior to joining Condor, Jason was Group Financial Controller and subsequently Director of Finance for bluechip energy company RWE Npower Plc, covering its Power Stations and Retail divisions, based in the UK. Most recently, he was Head of Programme Finance and Controlling for an international health development organisation, The Global Fund, based in Geneva, Switzerland. He was responsible for the control and governance of over £12 billion of funds being distributed to projects in Africa and Asia, helping to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Originally from South Yorkshire, Jason studied Industrial Economics at the University of Nottingham and trained as a Chartered Accountant in Sheffield, before beginning his energy career with Yorkshire Electricity.

Eimskip of Reykjavik, Iceland, submitted an offer of around $80m in September to build and operate the new Westman Islands vehicle and passenger ferry. According to the public state tender, the new ferry should be delivered in mid-2018 and the company would then operate it until 2030. The offer was submitted under Part B of the tender. The company said that it did not participate in Part A of the tender, which only covers building a new ferry to sell to the state.

Fjord1’s two new Multi Maritime designed battery powered ferries ordered at Tersan Shipyard, Turkey will be fitted with propulsion systems supplied by Siemens. To be operated on the 2.4 km E39 Anda-Lote route on the west coast of Norway from January 2018, each all-electric ferry will have a cargo capacity of 120 cars, 12 trailers and 349 passengers. Siemens will install a complete integrated electric power and automation solution in each vessel. The electric propulsion solution BlueDrive PlusC includes lithium-ion batteries as energy storage and thruster and remote control for the propellers, an energy management system and an integrated alarm and monitoring system. The ship’s energy storage system is charged at each side of the crossing, with a shore connection to the local grid, and is monitored from the ferries based on WiFi communication. The company’s new 1,795gt ferry Hornelen was delivered in September to Norway from Ada shipyard in Turkey. Fjord1 contracted global ship delivery specialist Redwise Maritime Services to deliver both this and sister vessel Losna under their own power, on their maiden voyages from Turkey to Norway. The 74m long duo are powered by two Caterpillar C32 main engines and can carry 199 passengers, 60 cars and 5 trucks. The Hornelen will enter service on the Måløy-Oldeide link.

FRS launched its new passenger vessel service from Miami to Bimini, Bahamas, on 23rd September. The highspeed catamaran, part of the FRS Caribbean Fleet, can accommodate 427 passengers on two decks.

Incat has signed a contract to design and construct a 110m ferry to operate between Malta and Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea. Incat’s 89th vessel tops off a productive period for the shipbuilder which has resulted in a doubling of its workforce from 230 to more than 500 since June 2015. The shipyard has completed four Manly Fast Ferries and will deliver a further six to Sydney Transport for inner harbour services over the next year and is building its third large KatExpress vessel for operation in Denmark. Construction of the Virtu vessel will start early in 2017.

Golden Star Ferries’ 4,986gt/1974 built Superferry II (above), with 80 passengers aboard, suffered water ingress after colliding with the stone quay at the ferry terminal in Gavrio on the Island of Andros, Greece, upon arriving from Tinos. The Superferry II was detained in Gavrio for repairs and an inspection. The 122m ship was built for the Ostend-Dover service by Boelwerf Cockerill in Hoboken, Belgium.

The Isle of Man Steam Packet Company experienced issues at Heysham 23rd-26th September due to the failure of an agreed dredging programme to achieve and maintain promised dredged depths at the Lancashire port. A revised schedule for the 12,747gt/1998 built Ben-my-Chree was necessary due to tidal conditions. Access to Heysham Port has been disrupted in the past due to a build-up of silt at the harbour entrance needing to be cleared.

P&O Ferries has commented that it is having its best year for five years on the Irish Sea services, and more than 50% of passenger volumes from the scrapped loss-making Cairnryan/Troon to Larne fast ferry service have been retained on the conventional Cairnryan service. The company is also investing £500,000 in the 20,646gt/2000 built and 400 passenger capacity European Causeway and the 21,188gt/2002 built European Highlander to refresh their interiors. The kids play areas and shops were dealt with ahead of the summer season, along with the forward lounge area on the European Highlander. In addition, new seating has been installed on the top deck to make it more appealing on warm days. A second phase will be completed by the end of 2016 involving the redesign of reception areas and the addition of 20 seats. The third phase will be further upgrades in May 2017 when each ship will be dry docked for routine maintenance. P&O Ferries will also upgrade the interiors of the 31,785gt/1987 built Pride of York and 31,598gt/1987 built Pride of Bruges in early 2017 to extend their revenue earning lives by around five years.

Scandlines has celebrated a very good high season in 2016, largely thanks to the new hybrid ferry Berlin, which entered service in May 2016 on the Rostock-Gedser service. In July and August the Berlin succeeded in breaking her own record numerous times. Thus, the 22,319gt Berlin transported no less than 39,451 cars in June. The highest number of cars on one crossing was reached on 27th August 2016 at 1300 from Gedser, when 351 cars embarked onto the new hybrid ferry. On 14th September 550 lorries were carried, thus breaking the previous record of 427 lorries on 1st June 2016.

SNAV replaced the 33,336gt/1989 built SNAV Sardegna with the 33,057gt/1993 built Majestic on the TangerMed/Nador- Barcelona-Sete route following the former’s serious engine failure as reported in the previous issue. In turn, GNV chartered European Sealines’ 16,637gt/1976 built Bridge on the Bari-Durazzo service.

Seatruck Ferries added a 4th vessel to its fast growing Liverpool-Dublin freight service, week commencing 10th October. The 7,606gt/1998 built Clipper Ranger was the designated vessel, enhancing the busy midweek period with 4 departures each way per day. Seatruck’s Liverpool-Dublin route is the fastest growing freight service on the Irish Sea. The Clipper Ranger had transferred from the Heysham-Dublin service and was replaced there by the larger 14,759gt/2008 built Clipper Point.

Stena Line announced on 23rd September that, in response to demand on the routes from Rotterdam (Europoort and Hoek van Holland) to Killingholme, the company was adding additional capacity by introducing a second ship between Europoort and Killingholme The 10,488gt/1999 built Caroline Russ entered service on 31st October, operating thrice weekly from Europoort to Killingholme. The 102 trailer and 12 passenger capacity ship joins the 13,017gt/1996 built Stena Scotia on the route. The frequency increases to six departures per week in each direction. The Stena Scotia was introduced on the route in September 2014 to complement the two freight ships, the Stena Transit and Stena Transporter on the Hoek van Holland- Killingholme route. The Caroline Russ was refitted at Bremerhaven prior to her charter having previously operated briefly as Corsica Linea’s Corsica Linea Dui.

Tallink announced the mast stepping ceremony of the new 49,000gt LNG powered ship Megastar on 29th September at the Meyer Turku shipyard in Finland. The ceremony involves welding the coins used in the keel laying ceremony and released from under the keel after the launch of the vessel, into the mast step of a ship. It is seen as an important ceremonial occasion in a ship’s construction thought to bring good luck.

Toll Group, part of Japan Post, has placed AU$170m order at China’s CSC Jinling Shipyard, part of Sinotrans & CSC, for the construction of two 12,000dwt Ro-Ro ships to support trade between Victoria, Australia, and Tasmania. The new tonnage will be delivered in late 2018 and will replace the existing ships that are operating overnight services, six days per week. The new ferries will provide 40% more freight capacity, more opportunities to transport refrigerated freight for Tasmania’s growing chilled export market and more flexibility for customer deliveries.

TransEuropa Ferries’ 14,458gt/1976 built Larkspur, most recently known as the Lucky Star (above), has been sold for scrap in Turkey following a long period of inactivity.

Viking Line’s rejected newbuild Viking ADCC has reportedly been sold to Spanish operator Trasmediterranea for completion.

Cobelfret/CLdN commenced a new Rotterdam- Santander Ro-Ro service on 24th October offering two sailings per week.