Acciona Trasmediterranea’s 22,940gt/1993 built Juan J. Sister (above) will operate in the Balearen this summer having become redundant from her Malaga-Melilla service. Instead she will serve Barcelona- Mahon/Ibiza.

The preserved passenger vessel Balmoral has been dry docked again at Sharpness and sailed back as far as Avonmouth before reaching Bristol on 28th April. This is all in preparation for her maiden voyage under new ownership on 19th June.

Condor Ferries’ Condor Liberation (above) succumbed to unseasonably high winds during the week commencing 4th May with at least two days of sailings lost. Problems with the bow thrusters forced the Guernsey call to be missed on one occasion plus running on reduced power was again necessary on 7th May. Poor weather on the vessel’s namesake occasion, Liberation Day, on 9th May also saw the first round trip of the day cancelled. Overall timekeeping remains a problem.

Corsica Ferries has purchased the 34,414gt/1986 built Silja Festival (above), to be renamed Mega Andrea, from Tallink. The ship had been serving as an accommodation vessel in Kitimac BC, Canada. She will join her previous sistership, the Mega Smeralda, and will serve the Livorno-Golfo Aranci route from 16th July alongside the Mega Express Three. The 29,858gt/2000 built Blue Star 1 was also purchased from Superfast/Blue Star Ferries and will be deployed on the France-Corsica link under the name Mega Express Six.

Cuba Ferries: This year has seen the conditional approval for passenger ferry services to commence between the U.S.A (Florida) and Cuba. Operators have rushed to buy into this new market with proposed services including Havana Ferry Partners LLC (a small high-speed ferry), Airline Brokers Co., CubaCat (fast ferry), America Cruise Ferries (an existing freight operator), International Port Corp., and United Caribbean Lines.

DFDS Seaways’ 18,332gt/1991 built Patria Seaways is to be used as a floating hotel in Esbjerg until the winter, replacing the 19,321gt/1978 built Moby Corse, former DFDS Dana Anglia. The latter was expected to leave Esbjerg on 12th May ready to take over the Genoa-Bastia service from the Moby Drea on Thursday 28th May.

Green Ferry Vision: The European Union has decided to appoint €16 million to an e-Ferry project that is jointly run by Norway, Greece and Denmark. The e-Ferry consortium will be constructing the first ever mid-size 100% electrically powered ferry in order to establish a link between the Aero island and the mainland in Denmark. The vessel will employ a wind sourced power system and will have the capability of carrying 130 passengers along with 40 vehicles, thus saving approximately 2,000 tons of CO2 on an annual basis and will be equipped with the biggest battery pack in the world that will have a high charging capacity and thus allow for short stays in port.

The IoMSPCo’s Ben-My-Chree suffered from a bow thruster fault on 2nd May leading to service cancellations owing to the inclement weather at the time. The Manannan’s schedule was adjusted to accommodate passengers affected from the cancelled 0845 Heysham service, departing at 0820. The Ben-My-Chree operated a round-the-island cruise on 23rd May.

Knud E. Hansen has been awarded the design contract for the third generation domestic ferry for service between Nólsoy and Tórshavn in the Faroe Islands. This project is the second design within the last 15 years for the domestic ferry company Strandfaraskip Landsins. The new ferry will replace the 40m Ro-Pax currently serving the island of Nolsoy with construction expected to be issued for tender from May 2015. The new 35m long/11m beam ferry will have a hybrid diesel electric/battery power pack with thrusters or Voith Schneider propulsion. Displacement will be 675 tons with capacity for up to 170 passengers in the summer period and 10-12 cars or alternatively 2 trucks and 5-6 cars.

Nor Lines’ new weekly Cuxhaven service, also connecting the Oslo fjord in the south of Norway to ports on the west coast like Bergen, Ålesund, Trondheim and Hammerfest, launched on 7th May using the new LNG powered and 5,000dwt Ro-Ro vessels Kvitbjørn and Kvitnos. Prior to this the Kvitbjørn became the world’s first vessel to operate between Asia and Europe solely on LNG as the ship’s bunker fuel owing to the fact she was built by Tsuji Heavy Industries shipyard in Jiangsu, China. Bunkering took place in Cochin, India and Cartagena, Spain. This trip also marked the longest voyage ever undertaken by a vessel running solely on LNG. The Kvitbjørn was built to Rolls- Royce’s award-winning Environship concept.

Nova Star Cruises’ Nova Star has returned to Portland, Maine, from winter lay up in South Carolina in preparation for her second season that begins on 1st June. The company projects carrying 80,000 passengers, which is 21,000 more than the first season. So far Nova Scotia has committed $39 million to the operation in subsidies.

The Gestas Deniz Ulasim Turizm owned 3,780gt/1993 built Gokceada-1 (above) ran aground off the island of Gokceada with 188 passengers aboard on 19th April. Everyone was rescued 15 hours later with the former Norwegian ferry then being freed two days after grounding. All 39 vehicles and eleven crewmembers remained aboard throughout.

Stena Line is to replace the 7,504gt/1973 built Ro-Ro/Rail Ferry Stena Scanrail that operates on the Gothenburg- Frederikshavn route after summer 2015 with the 13,294gt/1982 built Ro-Ro vessel Ask, which will transfer from Travemünde. Stena Line cannot renew its use of the Kvillepiren area in Frihamnen, Gothenburg as this area will be utilised to build homes in the future. So, as the Stena Scanrail is an old vessel customised to use Kvillepiren she will be withdrawn.