Balearia’s first of two LNG-powered Ro-Pax ferries was floated out on 30th March. Named Hypatia De Alejandria she is expected to enter service on the Balearic Island services in early 2019. The pair of NOAS designed/Visentini built ships will be the first LNG ferries of this size in the Mediterranean. They each have a capacity of 2,100 freight lanemetres, 810 passengers, and 150 cars. Recently the Spanish company cancelled the order for another LNG vessel to be built by La Naval, a shipyard in financial trouble. Balearia is to employ the 33,958gt/1999 built Finnclipper in May, when the latter is replaced by the 45,923gt/2007 built Finnswann on the Naantali-Kappelskär route.

Brittany Ferries’ 27,414gt/2007 built Cork-Santander vessel Connemara concluded her previous career as the Asterion serving Venice on 8th April. The 33,635gt/1998 built Elyros replaced her from 9th April with the latter being replaced by the 38,261gt/1992 built El. Venizelos from 3rd April. The long-term replacement, the 31,804gt/1991 built Grand Spring (to be renamed Asterion II) was due to be delivered to Greece from China in April.

CalMac has said farewell to one of its longest serving vessels which has retired from west coast service. The 69gt Raasay (above) served the Sconser to Raasay route for 21 years from her launch in 1976 until increased traffic from the island made her unsuitable. She was the last of eight ‘Island class’ ferries launched and is capable of carrying six cars and up to 75 passengers.

Meanwhile the Summer 2018 schedule got off to a troubled start with the 6,753gt/1995 built Isle of Lewis having problems, the 4,719gt/1988 built Isle of Mull covering the Coll/Tiree run with an as required stop at Craignure on the return and the 1,599gt/2003 built Coruisk serving Oban-Mull on a shuttle service running as a first come first served basis. The 5,499gt/1998 built Clansman was also still sidelined at Greenock awaiting a new propeller, sourced from Scandinavia. A wire rope became entangled in the propeller as she proceeded to dry dock, causing much damage.

DFDS will carry passengers on its Ro-Ro service between Belgium (Zeebrugge) and Scotland (Rosyth) as from 15th May 2018. It has been possible to sail as a passenger on the Ghent-Gothenburg route for many years so this addition is nothing new. The route to Sweden involves 32 hours at sea and the Rosyth-Zeebrugge link crossing time is 23 hours aboard the 11,530gt/2000 built Finlandia Seaways. The repaired 37,985gt/2004 built Primula Seaways departed from the Fayard shipyard at Odense on 5th April after repairs to her collision damage. She re-entered service in Gothenburg on 8th April, releasing the 25,609gt/2010 built Jutlandia Seaways back to the Cuxhaven-Immingham route.

The former cruise ship/ferry Ocean Gala, renamed as Ocean Gala-1 for her final voyage, has gone to the beaches of Alang for recycling. The 40,171gt/1982 built ship was previously known as the Island Escape and was built as the DFDS vessel Scandinavia. The 18,940gt/2006 built Newhaven-Dieppe vessel Cote D’Albatre headed to Santander after Easter for refit, the route being left in the hands of sister Seven Sisters.

Hoverspeed veteran SRN4 cross-channel hovercraft The Princess Margaret has been broken up where she sat looking out to the Solent at the former HMS Daedulus site at Lee-on-Solent, adjacent to the Hovercraft Museum and preserved sister craft The Princess Anne. The craft had been laid up there since being moved from Dover in December 2000 for storage after withdrawal and now blocked access to a new development. The Princess Margaret was built in 1968 by the British Hovercraft Corporation at East Cowes for Seaspeed and stretched in 1977. She was transferred to Hoverspeed upon creation of the company in 1981. The un-stretched SRN4 Swift, built in 1969, had previously occupied part of the same site as a museum exhibit until demolished due to costs so The Princess Anne is now the last survivor of this iconic fleet of hovercraft.

Island Cruises Ltd. has purchased the Dame Shirley (ex-Dorset Belle) and she made her way around from Cardiff to the Isle of Sheppey in Kent during March including stopovers in Falmouth, Weymouth, Brighton and a refuelling call at Yarmouth on 23rd March. The popular vessel has also served as the Island Enterprise and Ryde Scene and will be renamed Spirit of Sheppey in readiness for cruises from the Isle of Sheppey and Southend as from May. She was built for Croson’s in 1974 as the Dorset Belle, sold in 1983, reacquired in 1997 and later sold to Cardiff Cruises.

Manche Iles Express has operated fast passenger ferry services between Normandy and the Channel Islands since 2005 and, in 2018, has been awarded the tender to operate a Jersey-Guernsey service. Condor Ferries withdrew from the process in January leaving only Bumblebee and MIL in the running to the deadline on 18th January. Whilst the company’s submission did not fully meet the scheduling requirements set out in the Invitation to Tender, it represented in the region of 25,000 extra seats for inter-island travel. Services will operate from March to October from Carteret, Dielette, Granville to Alderney, Guernsey, Jersey and Sark with day trips also advertised on set dates to Cherbourg. The commercial tender for the service specifies Guernsey-Jersey day trips on a minimum of just 7 days between May and September but 49 day trips from Jersey to Guernsey over the same period. The company has been asked to provide an extra 23 weekend return trips (5,000 seats) between Guernsey and Jersey this season with the costs underwritten to a maximum of £95,680 split between both islands. The underwriting will only be necessary if passenger capacity falls below 60% on these sailings. The vessels to be used are the 325gt/2006 built monohull Granville and the 387gt/1997 built Fjellstrand built catamaran Victor Hugo (above). The latter received a refit over the winter in Cherbourg.

Polferries’ chartered 27,744gt/2014 built Nova Star went to Stocznia Remontowa Gdańsk when she arrived in the Baltic Region and may well emerge in a feature livery when overhauled if the company’s Facebook posts are anything to go by!

Stena Line’s Gdynia-Nynäshamn service has seen the 10,471gt/1999 built Elisabeth Russ swapped for the 10,572gt/1997 built Bore Bay as from April. The 21,171gt/2004 built Stena Carrier meanwhile deputised for the 22,152gt/2000 built European Endeavour on the Dublin-Liverpool route during the latter’s refit, 1st-25th April.

TT Lines’ 36,468gt/2001 built Peter Pan (above) left dry dock in Bremerhaven on 2nd April having been lengthened by 30 metres. The ship also received a new bow to improve efficiency. The Project was expected to take 2 months but, as these things can do, the project over-ran.