CalMac’s former “Streaker” Jupiter has been renamed Orcadia for her new life with Pentland Ferries. She now sports a red hull following overhaul at the Garvel dry dock on the Clyde.

The Hellenic Seaways Austal built fast ferry Highspeed 5 (4,913gt/built 2005) caught fire at a shipyard near Piraeus, Greece, on 23rd March. The fire broke out as the vessel underwent repairs at Ikonion. Tugs of the Hellenic Coast Guard, namely the Alexander 3 and Armadores II, were dispatched to the scene to contain and extinguish the fire. Damage to the aluminium car and passenger ferry is understood to be extensive with one burned body recovered from the vessel. Repair costs are estimated at EUR30m. The Balmoral, the preserved passenger vessel (built by Red Funnel) based in Bristol sailed to Sharpness on 12th April for her preservice dry docking in readiness for her first summer season since withdrawal by Waverley Excursions Ltd.

Brittany Ferries’ Cap Finistere returned to Portsmouth from overhaul and scrubber installation on 25th March. Her modified funnel now lacks the trademark Superfast wings. The Sirena Seaways went to dry dock in April and was renamed Baie de Seine ready for her Brittany Ferries charter.

Lane Line’s 6,386gt/1975 built ferry Vitsentzos Kornaros ran aground on 25th March on the island of Kasos in Greece due to strong winds whilst manoeuvring to berth. The ferry had 227 passengers on board and 55 crewmembers. Emergency supplies were airlifted aboard whilst the ship was stranded. The vessel was later freed with the help of the local vessel Kasos Princess after two days and proceeded to the port of Fry, Kasos, but there was no water ingress and a visit to dry dock for inspection/repairs followed. The Vitsentzos Kornaros maintains a connection between Piraeus, Kythera, Antikythera, Kissamos (Crete) and Gythion. This vessel is best known as the Viking Viscount/Pride of Winchester of Townsend Thoresen/P&O Ferries and is the last survivor of a quartet of ships built, the others being the Viking Valiant, Viking Venturer and Viking Voyager.

MyFerryLink is reportedly threatened by a rift between the management and the supervisory board of SCOP, the company that crews and operates the vessels. My FerryLink already faces being banned from the Port of Dover by the UK competition watchdog (final judgement expected in May) and Eurotunnel has sought to have the company put under court protection by way of administrators to try to avert the threat posed by this internal disagreement. If the Competition Appeal Tribunal decision taken in January is not reversed then MyFerryLink could be faced with closure as early as 9thJuly. Local reports suggest that four companies have expressed an interest in MyFerryLink. One solution could still be the formation of the Société d’Economie Mixte (SEM) led by the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region with 51% of public funds and 49% from private funds.

P&O Ferries’ 22,986gt/1991 built European Seaway arrived back at Tilbury on 7th April after her latest windfarm charter.

Scandlines’ 14,822gt/1997 built Puttgarden- Rødby ferry Prinsesse Benedikte was damaged in March while undocking at the Remontowa shipyard in Poland following scrubber installation. The ferry was about to be floated out after undergoing three weeks of installation work at the yard when the floating dock that she was in keeled over causing the ferry to slip off the keel blocks. The incident flooded the engine room and inflicted other damage consistent with a dry dock accident. The ship fell approximately two metres down and leaned against the wall of the dock with a 13 degree list. The impact knocked holes in the ship’s side that caused the aforementioned flooding. Scandlines expects the repairs of the extensive damage and the following test phase to last three months so the ferry is expected back in service before the end of June 2015.

The former Stena Line HSS Stena Discovery, which has languished in Venezuela since her sale by Stena in 2009, has been sold for $2.1m to Turkish buyers, so scrapping is now inevitable.