Ferry Positive

Baltic operator Tallink has invested over €16m into renovating the 59,912gt/1993- built cruiseferry Silja Europa (above), which is returning to the Helsinki-Tallinn route on 12th December 2016. The work on the 202m long ship includes an upgrade of the entire interior.

Service Needs Help

A campaign was launched in October to save a vital and historic passenger ferry service which faces an uncertain future. Hampshire’s Hythe Ferry’s future was put in doubt when its Operator warned staff about possible redundancies. The service runs from Hythe, across Southampton Water, to the city’s Town Quay. An historic pier is used at Hythe that also has a narrow gauge electric railway service. Hythe Ferry Ltd. said it was holding talks with other operators but the company has failed to properly invest/maintain the operation for several years. It is said that the service has suffered a “year-on-year decline” in passenger numbers and had also been met with higher operating costs. Hampshire County Council has provided a subsidy towards the cost of operating the ferry for a number of years. Alas an unsuitable back up ferry (Uriah Heap, now scrapped after it hit the pier one evening) and an unreliable main ferry, Great Expectations (above), built for the Tilbury-Gravesend service in the 1990s, have done nothing for the fortunes of the service. An Action Group has been formed and another option being considered is a community group taking over the running of the pier, leaving Hythe Ferry Ltd. to concentrate on the ferry service.

Buoyant Brittany

Brittany Ferries announced on 6th October a record number of passengers travelling from Portsmouth for the second year in a row. The company said between June and August 828,492 passengers came through Portsmouth crossing to France and Spain. Destinations from Portsmouth are Le Havre, Caen, Cherbourg and St. Malo in France plus Bilbao and Santander in Spain. Around 70% of the company’s passengers travel from Portsmouth. There has also been a 4.4% increase in the number of vehicles carried on routes to France and Spain. Brittany Ferries also signed an agreement with the 40 year old Portsmouth International Port to remain based there until at least 2027. A newbuild for Brittany Ferries looks to still be in the pipeline, but this time for a 185m long and 550 car/1,680 passenger capacity ship to replace the 1992 built Normandie, which would in turn replace the Etretat on the Portsmouth-Le Havre service. If this proceeds, delivery is expected around January 2019. The 2016-17 refits commenced on 9th November with the Baie de Seine being dealt with in Santander from 9th November to 4th December. The Barfleur had an afloat refit in Cherbourg from 17th November to 28th November, her place at Poole being taken by the Armorique from 21st November. The Normandie goes to Santander again for her refit from 2nd January to 10th February whilst the Bretagne will head to Gdansk, Poland, for attention from 2nd January to 14th February. Finally the Cap Finistère will refit in Santander from 11th February to 28th March.

Jet 1, Skier 0

The foolhardy actions of Jet Skiers can be witnessed on a daily basis around the Solent, and elsewhere. They frequently “play” in the wakes of ferries and other ships and generally show off to anyone that they think is watching. Serious injuries are caused every year but a quite incredible incident took place on 5th November, a day the Jet Skier will undoubtedly remember. The individual in question was playing in the wake of Red Funnel’s vehicle ferry Red Osprey in Southampton Water off Fawley as she headed for East Cowes with the Midday sailing. The Red Jet 4 departed Town Quay, Southampton, at 12.15 with 45 passengers aboard. The Red Jet was passing the car ferry on her port side when the Jet Skier, apparently oblivious to the highspeed ferry’s presence, headed straight for the port side of the catamaran, colliding with the hull, ironically just forward of the embarkation door. The 342gt/2003 built Red Jet 4 stopped and returned to the scene to take the shaken man on board. The Jet Ski was later recovered, no injuries were sustained and the Red Jet was also undamaged. The Hampshire Constabulary’s Marine Unit is investigating and a prosecution has not been ruled out.

Mersey Christening

Atlantic Container Line’s 10,430gt/2016 built Con-Ro Atlantic Sea operates for ACL across the Atlantic to Liverpool and arrived on the River Mersey on 19th October to prepare for her christening the following day. The event was also the first Royal christening of a ship on the Mersey since 1960. The ship visited her normal container berth and then went to the waterfront Pier Head to await her ceremony. The Atlantic Sea is one of five new container vessels that will double ACL’s capacity to carry containers from the UK and Europe across the Atlantic. At least four of the ships will fly the Red Ensign and will have Liverpool as their home port. After the ceremony the ship sailed out under a firework display. The first of these G4 ships was the Atlantic Star, the subject of a Newbuild feature.

Built at China’s Hudong‐Zhonghua Shipyard, the new ships can carry 3,800 containers and 1,300 vehicles. The other vessels in the series are the Atlantic Sail, Atlantic Sky and Atlantic Sun.

Carry On Condor

The much maligned 6,307gt/2010 built Condor Liberation (above) departed Poole early on Thursday 10th November for A&P Falmouth and a two week annual refit. The 5,007gt/1997 built Condor Rapide covered sailings from Poole to the Channel Islands on Fridays (from Poole) and Mondays (to Poole).

The 2017 schedule from Portsmouth appears to have dropped the summer only Portsmouth-Cherbourg holidaymaker round trip on a Sunday. Such competition to Brittany Ferries was a good thing, especially as Portsmouth-Cherbourg has lacked a conventional ferry service since the last ship used (Cap Finistere) was focussed on sailings to Spain. The Condor sailings were always busy too.

The quarterly statistics to September 2016 did not made good reading. The third quarter of 2011 saw 90,800 passengers travelling to Guernsey & Jersey by sea but the same period in 2016 saw 45,000 passengers using the ferries, half the number. This was a further drop compared to 54,250 of 2015.

BC Ferries

BC Ferries finished wrapping its new 8,690gt vessel Salish Orca (above) in a large decal in Poland in mid-October. Being built at Remontowa Shipbuilding S.A. in Gdansk, the vessel will be the company’s first liquefied natural gas (LNG) powered ferry, capable of operating on either LNG or Ultra Low Sulphur Diesel Oil. The 107m long/600 passenger and 145 vehicle capacity Salish Orca departed Poland in November under her own power bound for Canada via the Canary Islands, through the Panama Canal and up the west coast of North America. The Salish Orca will enter service on the Comox-Powell River route in 2017. The Salish Class Ferries, the Salish Orca, the Salish Eagle and the Salish Raven, are expected to replace the company’s two older vessels, the 4,939gt/1964 built Queen of Nanaimo and the 4,903gt/1965 built Queen of Burnaby. The two remaining vessels are scheduled to arrive in early 2017 and will be deployed on the Southern Gulf Islands routes by summer 2017.

Early Delivery

CMAL’s 499gt Catriona (above) was delivered 6 weeks ahead of schedule to CalMac Ferries Ltd. by Ferguson Marine Engineering Ltd. on 20th September 2016. The ship has subsequently been presented with the Electric & Hybrid Propulsion System of the Year award at a ceremony that honoured the world’s finest engineers, innovations and products in the electric and hybrid marine arena. With a judging panel that boasted some of the world’s leading marine journalists, industry experts and academics, the Electric & Hybrid Marine Awards is one of the most sought-after accolades within the marine industry.

New Route

Grandi Navi Veloci (GNV) has opened a new route from Palermo in Italy to the Marsaxlokk Ro-Ro terminal in Malta. The new freight service will link Malta with the ports of Genoa, Civitavecchia, Naples and Palermo on a weekly basis. GNV shipped 1,000 lanemetres of freight on the first sailing with route enhancements planned as from December.

Isle Of Man

Isle of Man Steam Packet Company’s 5,743gt/1998 built fast craft Manannan will once again stay in Manx waters until at least the end of the year. At the end of her 2015 season the Manannan, which had previously been laid up at Birkenhead during the winter, stayed in Douglas harbour on standby and it has been confirmed that this will happen again this year. The vessel’s 2016 season concluded on 6th November, with services due to resume on 31st March 2017. The Manannan will not sail to Merseyside until early 2017 for her annual overhaul. The 12,747gt/1998 built Ben-my-Chree will operate services throughout the winter, including regular sailings to Heysham and weekend services to Birkenhead.

The 7,606gt/1998 built Ro-Ro ship Arrow, (above) which remains on charter to IoMSPCo, will be available to ensure freight transportation is not interupted, and having both vessels on stand-by until after the busy Christmas period will provide an extra degree of support at a busy time of the year.

Moby Update

Moby Lines has purchased the 15,074gt/1974 built European Express and will operate her as the Moby Niki on services to Bastia. She was refitted in Ancona. In 2017 Moby Lines plans to increase Santa Teresa-Bonifacio sailings using two vessels and has extended the seasonal service until December at least following competitor Blu Navy’s decision to suspend sailings on this route.

Blu Navy’s 16,405gt/1979 built Regina Della Pace (above) was detained in October at Ancona and remained there at the time of writing. Local reports also suggest that St. Peter Line’s 34,093gt/1981 built Princess Maria has been renamed Moby Dada for her forthcoming service with Moby Lines, most probably on the Nice-Bastia service. The 37,583gt/1986 built Princess Anastasia (formerly the Pride of Bilbao) may also serve Moby Lines as the St. Peter Line schedule does not operate from New Year until Spring 2017. This remains to be seen.

Earthquake Disrupts Ferries

Tranzrail services were disrupted following the second earthquake in a few days that struck New Zealand after midnight local time on 14th November. After delays the 22,160gt/1998 built ferry Kaiarahi (above) berthed in Picton to disembark passengers once a berth had been cleared by Port Authorities. The terminals suffered damage in both Wellington and Picton after the quake that measured 7.8 on the Richter scale. The epicentre was on South Island. The ferries Kaitaki and Aratere ferries remained anchored in Wellington harbour on 14th November until checks and repairs to the shore infrastructure were made.

Port Of The Year

The Port of Dover was named ‘Port of the Year’ at the UK National Transport Awards 2016 in October. Supported by the Department for Transport, Transport Focus and the Association for Consultancy and Engineering, the 2016 National Transport Awards recognise organisations making a real difference to transport across the UK. In 2015, the Port completed its Traffic Management Project, creating 4km of additional vehicle holding capacity to intelligently manage increasing freight and tourist traffic. The ongoing Dover Western Dock Revival project, will provide a transformed waterfront with a new marina accommodating a host of shops, bars, cafes and restaurants and a new cargo terminal and distribution centre creating greater space within the Eastern Docks for ferry traffic.

Stena Refits

 Stena Line confirmed in October that Harland & Wolff’s Belfast shipyard will be carrying out the bulk of its Irish Sea annual ferry fleet refit and maintenance programme in a £7 million contract. The Harland & Wolff refit schedule for nine of the Irish Sea fleet will start at the end of December and will run through until early May 2017. 2016 has been a record year for Stena Line across the car, passenger and freight markets on the Belfast to Cairnryan, Liverpool and Heysham routes. The 64,039gt/2009 built Stena Britannica emerged from refit in Rotterdam during November sporting a modified (taller) funnel to contain her scrubber technology.