Balearia Caribbean placed a larger vessel on its Port Everglades-Grand Bahama Island service at the end of June. The 3,989gt/1994 built Jaume I, above, (Incat 033 built as the Stena Lynx II) can accommodate 600 passengers and has replaced the Incat built Seacat Pinar del Rio, which had a capacity for about 450 passengers. Excluding a few months in 2015 when the Bahama Mama operated the route, the smaller vessel had operated the service since launching in December 2011. The fast-ferry service had sought to fill a void at the port left by Discovery Cruise Line, which ceased operations there in September 2011. Discovery had offered day cruises, cruise-and-stay packages and a ferry service between Port Everglades and Freeport since 1987. The company is a division of the Spanish Balearia Group. Meanwhile the 3,454gt/1992 built Pinar del Rio commenced a new Motril- Melilla-Almeria service in late July.

Bluebridge, a Cook Strait (New Zealand) ferry operator was granted consent to increase speed to 18 knots through Marlborough Sound in June. Strait Shipping’s 21,856gt/1997 built Strait Feronia (ex-Stena Feronia, above) is now permitted to travel through the Sounds at the revised speed, equivalent to 33.3kmh, as part of a 20-year coastal permit. The consent was subject to compliance with the “wash rule”, which monitors the size of a ship’s wake. The previous speed limit for the ferry was 15 knots and environmental groups will be monitoring the situation. However, while the vessel is underway within Queen Charlotte Sound or Tory Channel, the 186m long Strait Feronia must at all times operate a data recording device to record all parameters.

Brixham Express finally took delivery of its long awaited (19 months late) new catamaran on 19th June. The Ireland built craft is expected to enter service between Torquay & Brixham in mid-July once trials have been completed. Some off-peak services were cancelled during the crew training process.

C-Bed’s floating hotel Wind Ambition (above) has been assigned a new extensive offshore wind project in the German Baltic Sea from the beginning of 2017. The ship will assist during installation and commissioning of 70 offshore wind turbines with a total capacity of 350MW. C-bed has recently successfully participated in another offshore project in the Baltic Sea – the Baltic II wind farm that was commissioned in 2015. During the contract period, C-bed will be using Sassnitz, Germany as base port for crew change and loading of fresh supplies. The 13,336gt, London registered and 153m long ship is best known for her career as a Ro-Pax ferry when she operated as the Prinsessan Birgitta (Sessan Line), Stena Scandinavica (Stena Line), Scandinavica (Sealink British Ferries), Tarek L (CoTuNav), Venus (Norway Line/Color Line), King of Scandinavia (DFDS) and Cesme (Marmara Lines).

Cassen Eils has abandoned plans for the weekends only extension of its Cuxhaven- Helgoland service to include Hamburg using the new LNG powered 2,256gt/2015 built vessel Helgoland. The company has concluded that the need to move berths and extended crew hours make the prospect too difficult and costly.

Comarit-Comanav’s 20,220gt/1981 built Mistral Express was finally towed away from the Morroccan port of Nador on 13th June destined for scrapping in Turkey. She arrived at Aliaga on 28th June thus bringing an end to the sad deterioration of the ship since her operator ceased trading in 2012. The Mistral Express was formerly known as SNCM’s Estérel.

Condor Ferries’ Commodore Goodwill (above) arrived back at Portsmouth on 3rd July having had her exhaust scrubbers installed at A&P Falmouth. Her extended funnel to accommodate the equipment was added earlier in the year during her routine overhaul, also at Falmouth. The Condor Liberation continues to suffer from mechanical issues and a public consultation over Condor’s service issues, pricing etc has been brought forward from 2017. The faithful Arrow, sub chartered from the Isle of Man Steam Packet Co., deputised in the ‘Goodwill’s absence. She operated the morning rotations from Portsmouth whilst the ‘Clipper covered the evening departures from Portsmouth. The Arrow had generator problems on 2nd July delaying her schedule and thus disrupting the delivery of a memorial stone in connection with the Battle of the Somme centenary. The ship missed the tide at St. Malo and had to wait outside the port for a time. However, the related ceremony was unaffected. The Arrow set off back to Douglas from Portsmouth on 4th July.

Damen (Galati) built ferry Veteran has been in the wars again, returning to service on 6th July after experiencing months of mechanical problems. The 4,459gt vessel started service on Canada’s Fogo-Change Islands run back in December 2015, but since that time, had encountered repeated mechanical breakdowns. Repairs to the vessel’s propulsion system were completed in late June followed by a successful second phase of sea trials.

Golden Star Ferries introduced their new Superferry (the former Japanese ferry Kogane Maru) as from 11th July. The ship had been undergoing refurbishment prior to making her debut at the Greek port of Rafina.

Grimaldi Group S.p.A. has launched redemption proceedings to acquire all of the remaining shares of Finnlines, the Finnish Ro-Ro and passenger operator. Grimaldi, together with its subsidiaries Grimaldi Euromed S.p.A. and Grimaldi Deep Sea S.p.A., holds approximately 98.22 percent of all the shares and votes in Finnlines. Grimaldi also looks set to deploy the 29,841gt/1999 built Finneagle on the Barcelona-Tanger service rather than the 15,000gt/1973 built Ro- Pax ship Caribbean Galaxy that had previously been linked with the role. Following Tirrenia’s announcement to open a new Livorno-Catania-Malta Ro-Ro service from 1st September, Grimaldi has deployed the Eurocargo Livorno on the route, twice weekly. As part of its aspirations of growth, Grimaldi has also attempted to take over the Greek Island ferry operator Hellenic Seaways. The process will go to court as the management of Hellenic Seaways put a stop to the acquisition of shares.

Hayling Ferry was awarded £5,000 in June towards efforts to reinstate the service in July by none other than Sir Richard Branson. The Virgin tycoon responded to tweets for help following a story in The News in April in which people were pleading for his support for the ferry, which had been out of action for almost 18 months. Sir Richard, who is not known for giving out many donations, is a fan of Hayling Island, having supported the Virgin Kitesurfing Armada Festival there. The Hayling Ferry Trust, formed in June, is aiming to raise a total of £40,000 and is hopeful of more donations coming in from other bodies, businesses and members of the public via crowd funding.

Hovertravel’s new 12000TD hovercraft Solent Flyer (above) made her media debut on 27th June and then operated a short public charter in the Solent on 9th July. The Solent Flyer also carried her first paying passengers on the Southsea service on 1st July when an AP-188 craft broke down. Sister vessel Island Flyer made her first visit to Ryde on 23rd June with both craft named by Olympic and America’s Cup Yachtsman Sir Ben Ainslie on 11th July at the Ryde hoverpad. A newbuild feature on these craft will appear in the next issue.

Marine Atlantic ferry Atlantic Vision (30,285gt/2002 built) experienced a small fire in early July when an hour into a voyage from North Sydney to Argentia, N.L. that caused minimal damage to a crew cabin. A portable refrigerator was the culprit and crew quickly extinguished the flames. There were approximately 250 passengers and 100 crewmembers aboard who were mustered into a lounge area as a precaution. The fire occurred on Deck 9, an area of the vessel where many crew cabins are located but also passenger cabins. The Atlantic Vision arrived on schedule at Argentia on 8th July.

Moby-Tirrenia announced an alliance with Grandi Navi Veloci in July. The agreement will also encompass the new Livorno- Catania-Malta triangular service, being launched by Tirrenia in September in competition with Grimaldi.

The Port of Calais was once again affected by strike action on 29th June, this time by the port workers.