Brittany Ferries: On 23rd August the Etretat anchored in Poole Bay whilst en route Portsmouth-Santander whilst a fuel injection pump was replaced. The long delay also saw her in the bay when LD Lines’ rival ship Norman Asturias passed by on her round trip from Santander.

Egnatia Seaways: The former 14,458gt/1976 built Larkspur, now the Larks, has not had the best start to her service in Greece. The long voyage from Ostend clearly took its toll as she has been out of service with engine failure since 29th July.

IoMSPCo: The Isle of Man operator saw further growth in passenger numbers during the 2014 Isle of Man Festival of Motorcycling. Compared with the 2013 event, there was an 11% increase in the number of motorcycles brought to the Island during the Festival, from 3,324 to 3,697. Passenger numbers were also up, by 1,100 to 29,460, the highest number for this fortnight in more than a decade. There was also a small increase in the number of cars and vans carried. It continues a positive trend for passenger figures this summer, which included the busiest TT period since the Centenary in 2007 and a 6% increase in July passenger numbers compared with 2013.

Interislander ferry Kaitaki (pictured) (the former Pride of Cherbourg (III)/Isle of Innisfree) suffered mechanical problems on 26th August causing service disruption. Seven days later the 22,365gt/1995 built ship was out of service again with a generator coupling failure.

Seatruck has been voted Irish Sea Shipping Line of the Year, for the second year in succession at the annual Export & Freight Transport & Logistics.

Stena Line withdrew the Trelleborg as of 1st October from the Trelleborg-Sassnitz service. The 20,028gt/1982 built ship is expected to resume service in May 2015 but any adverse impact from the new sulphur regulations may yet spell her demise on cost grounds.

Tallink: The 59,912gt/1993 built Silja Europa departed from the Naantali Shipyard in Finland on 7th September 2014 after her refit to prepare her for the charter to Bridgemans Services Ltd. as an accommodation vessel in Australia. The initial period is for 14 months with an option to extend to up to 48 months. On 15th September the ship was due south of Weymouth in the English Channel at 1430 with the first stop being Algeciras in Spain. The Bridgemans legend is written in large red letters along her hull. In 2014 Tallink celebrates its 25th anniversary
with the company having gone from strength to strength during this time.

A subsidiary of AS Tallink Grupp, Baltic SF IX Limited and Marine Atlantic Inc., a Canadian state operated company, have concluded to extend the current charter agreement of the 30,285gt/2002 built Atlantic Vision (ex-Superfast IX) for one year, until November 2015. The vessel has been on the long-term bareboat charter since 14th November 2008.

UN Ro-Ro has been sold to Turkish investment firms Actera Group and Esas Holding. DFDS was in the running for the company but withdrew. The 26,469gt/2002 built UND Atilim made her debut at Portsmouth on 8th September on charter to Transfennica on their northbound Bilbao-Portsmouth-Zeebrugge service in place of the Stena
Forerunner.