Basto Fosen’s new 142m long vehicle ferry Basto IV was launched in late July, becoming one of the longest double ended ferries in the world. The ship was built at the Sefine Shipyard in Turkey and will serve the Horten- Moss route in Norway from 1st January 2017.

BC Ferries announced on 28th July that the elderly 4,903gt/1965 built Queen of Burnaby (above) would be back on the Comox-Powell River the next day following the required repairs to her propeller hub. This released the Island Sky back to the Saltery Bay-Earls Cove route whilst the North Island Princess resumed her Texada Island-Powell River route with a modified schedule. The Queen of Burnaby is in the twilight of her career and will be replaced by the first of the three new LNG fuelled vessels, the Salish Orca, early in 2017.

Brixham Express: The long-awaited Brixham Express catamaran (above) finally carried her first passengers across Torbay on 24th July. The £1.5million ferry, which was custom-built from an existing hull in Ireland, arrived in Torbay on 18th June, which was 19 months after the company began to operate crossings. Once crew familiarisation was complete the craft took over from the stand-in vessel Brixham Vitesse. The Brixham Express is able to cross the bay in 15 minutes and accommodate 40 passengers in winter and 100 in summer. The company has received £543,939.80 so far in subsidy payments from the Department for Transport via Torbay Council. No subsidy has been paid since the end of March last year as the vessel used did not comply with the seating capacity and on-board toilet requirements in the contract. However, subsidy payments will resume now that a suitable vessel is being used.

CalMac’s newest ferry, the 499gt Catriona, emerged from Ferguson’s Shipyard during the week commencing 18th July to conduct sea trials on the Firth of Clyde. The trials included sailing the Skelmorlie measured mile and conducting ramp and loading trials at Largs. The trials were expected to continue into August prior to the vessel entering service. At the end of July the cargo vessel 498gt/1970 built Red Princess was brought in to ease disruption to CalMac’s Islay route. The route had suffered since the 3,040gt/1985 built Hebridean Isles came in to contact with Kennacraig Pier and had to go for repairs that took around a week. The Red Princess could not carry passengers but transported cars between Kennacraig and Islay to ease congestion. Extra capacity was also provided to support the Colonsay route which is also served by the Hebridean Isles.

Condor Ferries’ fast ferry Condor Liberation continues to be a liability for her operator. The vessel again suffered from technical problems on 31st July so her Guernsey-Jersey leg of the round trip was cancelled to avoid missing the tide at St. Helier, Jersey. Problems persisted during the first half of August requiring further calls at Guernsey or Jersey to be missed as the vessel had to travel at reduced power therefore risked missing tides at St. Helier. Day trippers ended up on a round trip again, on one occasion, whilst services were cancelled on 9th August due to a fuel pump failure on one of the three engines.

Corsica Linea has sold the 27,918gt/1994 built Paglia Orba and 22,070gt/1991 built Monte D ‘ Oro to the Region Corsica for the sum of €10 million. The transfer of ships took place on 30th September, the date on which the charter of the Monte D ‘ Oro ends.

European Seaways has purchased the 10,553gt/1979 built Adriatica I from lay up in Porto Empedocle. The vessel is to be renamed Galaxy for service between Italy and Albania.

Grand Navi Veloci’s (GNV) chartered 24,206gt/2000 built Stena Nordica (ex-Malo Seaways) entered service between Genova and Palermo for GNV on 10th July and as of 18th August she commenced a tri-weekly Termini Imerese-Genoa link.

Hovertravel Ltd. has been linked with ambitious plans to create a hovercraft service between Portsmouth and Southampton. The company is reportedly working on a business plan for the Solent Local Enterprise Partnership in the hope it will be able to secure government funding for the project to become a reality.

IMTC’s redundant ferry Le Rif (above) was towed into Malaga from lay up in Tangier on 23rd July having been sold to a company known as World Detroit. The 12,175gt/1980 built ship began life as Sealink’s Galloway Princess, becoming Stena Galloway prior to sale to IMTC in 2002. IMTC went out of business in 2013 and the ship was simply abandoned. The ship went to the Mario Lopez Shipyard for assessment pending a firm decision on her future.

Med Star Shipping’s 81m long and 1,786gt/1976 built ro-ro passenger ferry Med Star caught fire on 9th August while berthed in Tripoli, Lebanon. The Med Star was preparing to depart for Turkey when fire was spotted by the crew. The fire quickly engulfed the ferry as the crew and local fire brigade attempted to extinguish it. Reports state the fire swept through the superstructure before it was brought under control. No reports of injuries, but the Med Star sustained significant damage. The source of the fire was not yet known. The ship was perhaps better known as the Panagia Tinou when serving the Greek Islands for AK Ventouris/NEL Lines. She was built for Nomicos Lines as the Lemnos.

Mersey Ferries’ 9,159gt/1971 built Royal Iris of the Mersey (above) had to be evacuated on 10th July when she ran aground and suffered water ingress on the approaches to the Manchester Ship Canal during a cruise. There were 69 passengers aboard and all were evacuated after the grounding. The incident occurred just off Eastham Lock and the 1,512gt/1978 built dredger Deo Gloria came to the vessel’s aid. She took off the passengers and also assisted in pumping out water.

Moby Lines’ 22,161gt/1982 built Moby Zaza suffered an engine room fire whilst alongside in Nice on 14th August. Passengers were evacuated but the blaze took several hours to extinguish. The ship had not long been in service with Moby Lines having been purchased from C-Bed III BV as their Wind Perfection and was built as Olau Line’s Olau Britannia. Nice- Bastia sailings are cancelled indefinitely.

The 27,362gt Caribbean Fantasy caught fire off Puerto Rico on 17th August. 512 passengers were safely evacuated from the burning vessel. The fire started in the engine room and spread to the rest of the ship. The Caribbean Fantasy operates a service between San Juan and the Dominican Republic.

Tilbury & Gravesend Ferry Duchess M had a rather close encounter with the cruise ship Magellan on 3rd August after the latter was caught by a gust of wind as she departed from the shared quayside at the London International Cruise Terminal, Tilbury. The ship came into light contact with the Duchess M with just paint being exchanged between the vessels. The Thurrock Council-operated passenger ferry service was suspended until safety checks were carried out.

Wightlink: A new ferry being built at Cemre shipyard in Turkey for Isle of Wight ferry operator Wightlink will be the first ferry to use Wärtsilä hybrid battery technology to improve efficiency, reduce exhaust emissions and lower noise. The contract includes four 6-cylinder Wärtsilä 20 generating sets, electrical and automation (E&A) systems, and a sanitary discharge system. Among the E&A systems to be supplied are an integrated automation system, a power and energy management system, and a 690 volt main switchboard. The specification for the order was agreed in September 2015, and a contract was signed with Cemre shipyard in June 2016. Delivery of the Wärtsilä equipment is scheduled in spring 2017, and the vessel will enter service in 2018. The ferry will feature two fixed vehicle decks to hold the equivalent of 178 cars, and will accommodate over 1,000 passengers.

Alderney Shipping trialled the former Scoot 2 on 17th/18th August with a view to using her on an inter-Island service. She arrived in Alderney at 1100 on the 17th (above) and then went to Guernsey and back under her former name of Gardian 14. On 18th August the craft travelled Alderney-Jersey and then back to Cowes where she is based. The vessel, built by AliCat Workboats as the Gardian 14 and then used on the short-lived Scoot Ferries Cowes-Portsmouth service in November/December 2015, is part of the South Boats IoW Charters fleet.

The Hovercraft Museum announced on 15th August that the former Hoverspeed SRN4 Hovercraft The Princess Anne (below) had been secured by the Museum in preservation. The craft had arrived outside of the Museum hangars at HMS Daedalus in December 2000 under her own power from Dover for storage after withdrawal by Hoverpseed. She has been there ever since in the company of sister The Princess Margaret that arrived later in December 2000. Ownership has changed over the years and the craft were open for viewing during Hovershows when conditions permitted. However, both were threatened with scrapping earlier in 2016.

A campaign to save the “Anne” saw the Museum working very closely with its landlord, the Homes & Communities Agency, to land an initial 3 year lease (at peppercorn rent) with the intention of the HCA to hand the craft over completely to the Museum Trust at the end of the 3 years. This time period allows obligations to be fulfilled in making the craft safe and of smart appearance. The Museum thanked the team at HCA, the 23,000 signatories to the “Save The Princess Anne” petition and the support of the Museum’s local MP Caroline Dineage in reaching this milestone. A Save the SRN4 Facebook group also massively raised the Museum’s profile.

It was intended to partially open the craft during Hovershow 2016 on 20th/21st August. A fundraising page has also been set up at www.gofundme.com/srn4hovercraft for donations for the upkeep and restoration of the hovercraft. Sister craft The Princess Margaret will act as a source of spares and will most likely be broken up on site at a later date.