Acciona’s chartered 21,473gt/1981 built Isabella 1 has been renamed as the Almariya for her continued charter to Acciona. She was overhauled at Gibdock in Gibraltar in January. The ship was built as the Olau Hollandia and was the Nordlandia prior to her Mediterranean career. Her former Olau sistership Olau Britannia is also in the Mediterranean now as Moby Line’s Moby Zaza.

Akdeniz RoRo Ltd. has announced a new service to Israel. The service will comprise of two Ro-Ro vessels, one operating between Burgas (Bulgaria) and Mersin (Israel) with a 10 day frequency, plus a Mersin-Haifa service every 5 days. UN Ro-Ro will also offer a Treiste-Haifa link with a transit time of 6 days.

Bimini Superfast ceased its ferry operations from Port Miami on 10th January following sweeping changes to the resort’s transportation strategy. When introduced, the Bimini SuperFast was hailed a success as the island of Bimini suffered from a lack of commercial flight services, but this has now changed so the ferry service is not the preferred method of transport. The 32,728gt/2001 built former Superfast VI has since been linked with Irish Ferries and Brittany Ferries but no credible information had arisen at the time of writing.

C-Bed is offering the 13,136gt/1974 built accommodation ship Wind Ambition (formerly DFDS Seaways’ King of Scandinavia) and 8,909gt/1969 built Wind Solution (ex-Lion Prince/Palau) for sale whilst the 59,912gt/1993 built Silja Europa returned to Tallinn in early February (and resumed Tallinn-Helsinki sailings) from her accommodation ship charter. C-Bed has already sold the 21,699gt/1982 built Wind Perfection, now named Moby Zaza qv.

Corsica Linea’s 21,171gt/built 2004 Stena Carrier was finally permitted to dock in Marseille on 11th January. As a result the SNCM and CMN services also resumed. The Corsica Linea Dui (ex Caroline Russ), which will be operated by Corsica Linea between Corsica and Marseille, arrived at Marseille on 4th February.

DFDS’ “new” Dover-Calais ships Côte des Flandres and Côte des Dunes (above) have been simultaneously refurbished by UK based interior refit firm Trimline. Drawing on a 2015 project where the company concurrently refitted two ferries for Australian operator Spirit of Tasmania, Trimline co-ordinated the installation of 5,500m2 of Amtico flooring, 4,500m2 of carpet and 1,000m2 of tiling. The team also fitted 21,300m of electrical and data cables, around 2,470 chairs and sofas, and 790 dining and coffee tables. Trimline also enlisted the services of UK Company SMC Design to ensure it could offer a full design and build package to DFDS Seaways. The 33,796gt/2001 built Cotes des Dunes was expected in service on the afternoon of 8th February but the inauguration was deferred. The debut of the 33,800gt/2005 built Cotes des Flandres is scheduled for 22nd February.

Grimaldi Line’s 29,303gt/1998 built Eurocargo Istanbul collided with the anchored general cargo ship BBC Bahrain at Livorno outer anchorage in Italy at the end of January. The Ro-Ro vessel experienced engine failure en route from Cagliari to Livorno close to the scene of the collision and had requested tug assistance for berthing at the port. The tug was dispatched, but due to bad weather the tow line broke and the errant 195m long ship came into contact with the 6,309gt/2012 BBC Bahrain. The Eurocargo Istanbul was built in 1993 by Cantieri Navali Visentini in Porto Viro, Italy and is managed by Valiant Shipping. The 128m long BBC Bahrain is owned and operated by the German company Briese Schiffahrts GmbH.

Intershipping has chartered the ousted 27,744gt/2014 built Nova Star (of Nova Star Cruises 2014/15) for service from Algeciras to TangierMed, reportedly to replace the 27,414gt/2007 built Norman Asturias that has been chartered by ANEK for the Patras- Igoumenitsa-Venice route (renamed Asterion), replacing the Forza. Meanwhile Bay Ferries is still seeking a replacement for the Nova Star for the Yarmouth (Nova Scotia)-Portland (Maine) service. The latest attempt to secure a vessel has involved a redundant highspeed vessel owned by the US Navy.

Labrador ferry Veteran (4,459gt/2015 built) suffered a fire on board on 19th January that saw her off service until 22nd January. The brand new ferry had not long been in service following delivery from the Damen Group in Europe. The fire appeared to have started in the emergency generator compartment, located to one side of the car deck. The $50- million ferry entered service in December but also suffered a bow thruster failure within days. The vessel was a subject of a Newbuild of the Month feature.

P&O Ferries confirmed on 14th January that it was closing the loss-making Larne-Troon route with immediate effect. The seasonal route had operated with a fast craft since 2003 but dropping demand and spiralling costs were its downfall. Negotiations from September 2015 onwards failed to secure a low cost alternative to the previous fast craft.

P&O Ferries stressed that the closure would not result in any redundancies, adding that all permanent staff are to be found alternative roles within the company. The company also confirmed that the full Larne-Cairnryan operation will continue, plus the European Highlander and European Causeway will be undergoing a £500,000 facelift 2016-2018.

Scandlines’s newbuild Berlin has successfully had her deadweight reduced by 1,100 tonnes at the Fayard shipyard in Odense, Denmark. Sistership Copenhagen is having the same treatment. This work now means that the draught, load capacity and stability are now back to the level indicated in the specifications for the shipyard P+S Werften in Stralsund, Germany when the ships were first ordered. It is hoped that the remodelled Berlin will enter service before Easter.

Spirit of Tasmania’s 29,338gt/1998 built Spirit of Tasmania II broke free from her moorings at Melbourne’s Station Pier on 13th January during a freak storm. Nine of the 10 ropes used to moor the ship snapped during the 100km/h gusts of wind, about an hour before the ferry was due to sail. This caused considerable damage to the linkspan and the vessel’s embarkation ramp. A tug was scrambled to assist the drifting ferry as she got within 80m of the beach. The Spirit of Tasmania I operated a double sailing schedule to cover the absence of the Spirit of Tasmania II whilst repairs were made. The latter returned to service on 17th January.

Stena Line continued its tradition of supporting the local maritime industry by placing a £4.4m contract with Harland and Wolff for the refit of its Irish Sea ferry fleet in January. From January to March seven Stena Line vessels visited the shipyard on a carefully sequenced timetable to facilitate a range of specialist works including annual inspections, passenger facility upgrade work as well as ongoing technical enhancements. Stena Line recently celebrated 20 years of its operations in Belfast. In 2015, the company transported 1.4 million passengers, 318,000 cars and almost 500,000 freight units on its Belfast services to Cairnryan, Liverpool and Heysham. Refit cover on the Cairnryan services was provided by the Stena Superfast X whilst the Stena Flavia covered other Irish Sea routes as required. The year 2015 also saw continued growth on Stena Line’s Harwich-Hook of Holland route, building on the figures recorded in previous years. The ferry operator transported 158,000 cars in 2015, 26,000 more than 2014 and an increase of 20% year on year. The company carried an additional 97,000 passengers in 2015 on the Harwich-Hook of Holland route with a total of 698,000 passengers being transported, compared to 601,000 the previous year.

Storm Imogen caused considerable disruption to ferry services in the Irish Sea, English Channel and Dover Straits. Numerous services were cancelled and the Port of Dover was closed for a time as storm force winds swept through 7th-8th February. The Commodore Clipper could not berth in Jersey on the evening of 7th February so returned to Guernsey where she remained until the following evening prior to sailing direct to Portsmouth instead of back to Jersey. The Condor Liberation was at A&P Falmouth 13th January-10th February, longer than planned due to additional repairs, so missed the tempestuous weather.

Irish Ferries’ Epsilon had to shelter in Bideford Bay after leaving Cherbourg bound for Dublin on 7th February whilst Stena Line’s Stena Flavia took shelter in Exmouth Bay whilst en-route Cherbourg-Rosslare.

TransEuropa Ferries’ and P&O Ferries’ stalwart Gardenia (8,097gt/built 1978), now Star Fighter, has been chartered by Arab Bridge Maritime to operate Nuweiba-Aqaba.

TT Lines’ 36,468gt/2001 built Nils Holgersson returned to service on 11th January after a four-week stay at Öresund Drydock in Landskrona to be retrofitted with hybrid scrubbers. The ship serves the Travemünde-Trelleborg route.

UECC’s 11,591gt/1997 built Autopremier arrived in Ramsgate on 19th January from Zeebrugge to commence a new contract shipping trade cars to/from the port in favour of Sheerness. The Ivan, operated by Suardiaz, usually operates this service but was in dry dock at Gijon.

Viking Line’s 34,384gt/1988 built Amorella was withdrawn from service on 8th January for a short time after a crack was detected on the helicopter deck. The cause was the extreme cold weather experienced in Sweden at the time.

Wasa Line enjoyed a record year in 2015, carrying more than 168,500 passengers between Umeå and Vaasa aboard the 17,053gt/1981 built Wasa Express (ex-Sally Star). Passenger numbers increased by 4.2 percent compared with 2014. The route also transported more than 14,100 freight units, representing an increase of 4.2 percent compared with 2014.