Acciona’s Ro-Pax vessel Murillo is now the Drujba and operates on the Black Sea between Burgas (Bulgaria) and Poti (Georgia).

Brittany Ferries is reportedly to receive €4 million from the Breton region towards the costs of exhaust scrubbers for the Pont Aven and Armorique. The former Brittany Ferries Ro-Ro ship Breizh-Izel arrived at Aliaga as the Ches (ex-Duchess M) at the start of December.

Color Line: On 17th November a shore power system was installed at Kristiansand. Climate and Environment Tine Sundtoft conducted the official opening of the facility that will enable the Color Superspeed ferries to dispense of their auxiliary engines whilst berthed, thereby reducing CO2 emissions by 2,300 tons per year.

DFDS Seaways was awarded the prestigious accolade of ‘World’s Leading Ferry Operator’ at the 2014 World Travel Awards Gala in Anguilla, in the Caribbean on 7th December for the fourth year in a row. Following the incident that saw DFDS Seaways’ Dover Seaways collide with the harbour wall at Dover on 9th November the ship proceeded to Damen Shiprepair at Schiedam, Rotterdam for repairs to her bulbous bow etc. The vessel was back ready for service on 21st November. The ship’s place at Rotterdam was taken on 22nd November by P&O Ferries’ Spirit of France requiring urgent repairs to one of her propeller hubs at a time when the Pride of Canterbury was still receiving attention at Dunkirk. DFDS’s new Ark Dania (above) arrived at Immingham on 11th November on her first voyage from Esbjerg. The vessel was originally ordered from P+S Werften at Stralsund in 2010. The order was cancelled in 2012 but the ship eventually moved to the Fayard facility on Odense for completion for DFDS.

Grimaldi Line’s Audacia has been sold to Chinese interests and was handed over at Genoa as the Rizhao Orient.

Stena Line’s HSS Stena Explorer will not now operate Holyhead-Dun Laoghaire over the festive period and her 2015 services are also in doubt. A formal decision on the future of this pioneering craft will be made imminently. The Stena Superfast VI and VII will be dry docked at Belfast in March, being relieved by the Stena Nordica. The Stena Hibernia celebrated a year on the Birkenhead-Belfast route in November as third vessel. The Stena Feronia returned to old haunts at Birkenhead/Belfast on 20th November acting as refit cover for the Stena Mersey that went to A&P Falmouth for refit. The Stena Feronia’s former fleet mate Stena Flavia was involved in a collision at Travemunde on 11th November when the incoming Pulpca made contact with the moored Stena ship.