Indholdsfortegnelse for May 2023 i Ships Monthly

P&O FERRIES After passing through the Suez Canal on a delivery voyage from the GSI yard in Guangzhou, China, P&O Ferries’ new vessel for the Dover-Calais route, P&O Pioneer, called at Limassol in Cyprus for bunkers in late March. She arrived off the UK on 30 March and anchored in Poole Bay, then repositioned to Sandown Bay, arriving just before 0800 on 1 April. She sailed on the evening of 2 April for Dunkirk, where she arrived on 4 April. The world’s largest double-ended ferries, with sistership P&O Liberte due before the end of the year, are expected to achieve a 40 per cent reduction in emissions. Carrying 1,500 passengers and 200 cars, the pair have diesel-electric propulsion, with four Wärtsilä diesel engines delivering 34,000kW for a service speed of…

COMPANY NEWS Maersk, owner of the well-known Hamburg-Süd brand, has announced that the brand will be replaced, along with its distinctive red-hulled vessels. Along with the former German company, other brands within the Maersk Group, including Sealand, which has been used for European and Asian feeder services, will all be taken under the Maersk brand. In a statement made by the Danish container line, ranked second largest in the world, the creation of a single entity will enable the company to better respond to logistics needs, offering customers better connectivity. Founded in 1871, the Hamburg-based company saw its first container ship, Columbus New Zealand, enter service in 1971, being sold by the Oetker Group to AP Moller-Maersk in 2017. WATERFRONT • www.shipsmonthly.com • The Granary, Downs Court, Yalding Hill, Yalding,…

NEW TANKERS Singapore-based Hafnia, through its Vista Shipping joint venture with China’s CSSC Shipping, is taking delivery of four dual-fuel LR2 product tankers from China’s Guangzhou Shipyard International. The first two ships, Hafnia Languedoc and Hafnia Loire, are to operate under charter to TotalEnergies of France, while the second two, scheduled for delivery next year, will be chartered to Norway’s Equinor. All four 133,500m3 tankers make use of high-pressure LNG propulsion technology and are equipped with 3,600m3 capacity deck-mounted LNG tanks to achieve a range of 13,500 nautical miles when they are sailing on LNG at 14.5 knots.…

CONDOR FERRIES Condor Ferries saw off interest from two other major operators to secure New Zealand ferry Straitsman (2005/13,908gt) to open a new night service from Portsmouth to Guernsey and Jersey. Condor’s rivals were Serco Northlink Ferries serving Orkney and Shetland from Aberdeen in Scotland, and Canada’s CTMA running to the Magdalen islands, who are looking to replace the long-serving CTMA Vacancier (1973/11,481gt). Bolth companies sent staff to look at Straitsman as she linked Wellington and Picton across the Cook Strait on the Bluebridge service of parent company Strait NZ. The Northlink deputation included a representative of CMAL. Condor chief executive John Napton said the vessel, to be renamed Condor Islander, will carry 400 passengers, with just over 100 cabin berths and 1,211 lane metres of vehicle space, crossing the…

BRITTANY FERRIES Santona, second of the Stena-designed 42,000gt E-Flexer ferries built at China’s CMI Jinling Waihai Yard for Brittany Ferries, was delivered during March and joined elder sister Salamanca, which came in last year, on services from Portsmouth to northern Spain The first LNG-powered ships in the Brittany Ferries fleet have twin Wärtsilä diesel engines developing 26,480kW for a speed of 23 knots and carry 1,015 passengers and 300 cars in 2,714 lane metres of space. Brittany Ferries achieved a profit of €202.4 million in their financial year running from November 2021 to October 2022, which is just €22 million short of the last comparable financial year 2018-19, before the Covid pandemic struck. Passenger numbers of 1.84 million were down from the previous year’s 2.5 million, while freight traffic dropped…

STENA LINE Operations on the Irish Sea service between Fishguard and Rosslare by Stena Europe (1981/24,828gt), the fleet’s oldest vessel, are coming to an end, with the veteran set to be replaced in July by Japan-built Stena Nordica (2000). She is currently in the Baltic and will offer an increased range of passenger facilities. Stena Europe was built at Gothenburg’s Arendal Yard as Kronprinssan Victoria for Sessan Line’s Gothenburg-Frederikshavn link and became Stena Saga in 1989, with a change to the present name five years later. Next was a spell with Lion Ferry as Lion Europe before additional cabins installed in 1982 were removed ahead of the 2002 move to Fishguard. Stena Nordica has space for just over 400 passengers, together with 375 cars, with four Wärtsilä diesel engines giving…

MEYER WERFT The Meyer Werft shipyard in Turku was the location for the keel-laying of the second in the trio of ships being built for Disney Cruise Line, Disney Treasure, on 30 March. Due for delivery in 2024, this second LNG-fuelled vessel will accommodate 2,480 lower berth passengers, but more when her family cabins are used to their full potential. The first block for the new ship weighed 719 tonnes. Disney Wish is being built in the large building hall, which has a length of 500m. Just a week earlier, in the small building hall, the first block for what will be Silversea’s Silver Ray was lowered into place. She is a smaller ship, so it was a smaller block, weighing 230 tonnes. Silver Ray is the second of two…

UKRAINE NAVY The Netherlands is to gift a pair of Tripartite class minehunters to Ukraine. Ukrainian crews are due to begin training on the ships later this year, together with Belgium and other allies. The formal transfer will take place in 2025 after their Vlissingen class replacements start to be delivered. The ships are intended to help clear Russian-laid mines from Black Sea shipping lanes after the current conflict ends. The 40-strong Tripartite class was jointly procured by the Belgian and French navies. Known as the Alkmaar class in the Royal Netherlands Navy, only six of the original 15 ships remain in Dutch service, with five sold to Latvia, two to Bulgaria and two to Pakistan. Two ships are also active with the Indonesian Navy. Ukraine has also recently taken…

US NAVY/RAN In a further extension of the new AUKUS co-operation, the US State Department has approved the sale of Tomahawk missiles to Australia. The request for 200 Tomahawk Block V and 20 Tomahawk Block IV, along with associated maintenance and technical support, is worth US$895 million. The long-range cruise missiles will initially be fitted to the Royal Australian Navy’s Hobart class destroyers and later equip Virginia class submarines when Australia acquires them in the next decade. The news comes just a month after Japan agreed a US$1.6 billion deal for 400 Tomahawk missiles. The Block IV Tactical Tomahawk, or TACTOM, has a data link that enables it to switch targets in flight. It can also loiter for hours and alter course when commanded. Block V missiles are a series…

CARGO SHIPS The Isle of Wight-based company Carisbrooke Shipping is set to trial a zero-emission, 50kW hydrogen powered auxiliary engine in one of its ships. The containerised demonstrator, provided by Carnot, a consortium which has recently been awarded £2.3 million to develop the unit, will be placed on the deck of one of Carisbrooke’s cargo ships in early 2025. During the 40-day trial, the unit will partially supply electrical power to the vessel, the goal being to validate the decarbonising impact of hydrogen units. In order to ensure the as-yet-unnamed vessel complies with regulations, the classification society Bureau Veritas and Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) will be involved in the trial. Carisbrooke operates a series of shortsea small and medium-sized bulk carriers.…

‘GREEN’ TUGBOATS Ship-assist tugs, because they do not stray too far from where they can be refuelled, have become early beneficiaries of several new but limited technologies. The first is all-battery operation, pioneered by the 32-ton bollard pull Turkish shipyard tug Gisas Power in 2020 and since followed by the Port of Auckland, New Zealand’s 70-ton bollard pull Sparky. Both tugs have been successful and are to be followed by others, with Sparky’s builder, the Damen Group’s Song Cam shipyard in Vietnam, to begin building a series of all-electric reverse stern drive (RSD) tugs fitted with Toshiba batteries that will be ready for purchase at the start of next year. Turkey’s Navtek, which designed and built Gisas Power, also has new orders for battery-powered tugs as does compatriot builder Sanmar,…

TUG BUILDER Turkish tugboat builder Sanmar Shipyards, which works in close cooperation with Canadian tugboat designer Robert Allan Ltd, delivered a total of 30 tugs to operators around the world during 2022. The last boat delivered was the RAscal 1800 class compact tug Adakale, which was was completed for compatriot operator Marintug. Developed exclusively for Sanmar, the RAscal 1800 class tugs are high-performance Z-drive line-handling vessels which measure only 18.7m by 9.2m on a navigational draught of less than 4m. The boats are powered by twin Caterpillar C32 engines, each producing 970kW, driving 360-degree azimuthing Veth VZ 900 thrusters to give a bollard pull ahead of 32 tons and a speed ahead of 12 knots.…

Any review of recent naval events is inevitably dominated by the outbreak of the Russo-Ukrainian War. Although largely a land-based conflict, hostilities have encompassed a significant maritime element. This was, perhaps, most vividly demonstrated by the destruction of the cruiser Moskva – flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet – in mid-April 2022. She was the first major warship lost at sea since the Falklands War some 40 years previously, and her demise served to highlight deficiencies in a supposedly revitalised Russian Navy. Although the Russian fleet has not had a good war, it remains a potent force that continues to pose a significant threat to members of the NATO alliance. This is particularly true of its underwater arm, which has received priority for investment in new equipment in recent years.…

The Port of Poole lies within Europe’s largest natural harbour. Known for centuries as a trading port, it was not until the 1970s that ro-ro ferry activities started. UK / West Africa Conference Lines began shipping trade vehicles to Lagos in 1971 on the side-loading vessel Clearway. The return passage was made in ballast, which often made for a lively crossing. Port trustees Poole Harbour Commissioners began reclaiming land for the new Continental Freight Ferry Terminal in 1971, with work completed two years later. Truckline started a daily ro-ro freight service to Cherbourg using Poole Antelope on 29 June 1973, taking advantage of tariff cuts following Great Britain’s entry into the EU Common Market. Poole-Cherbourg is the shortest Western Channel crossing, but Poole Antelope proved inadequate for the role, so…

I read with great interest Jim Shaw’s article about the Pakistan Merchant Navy (SM, Dec 2022), and in particular about the Pakistan Steam Navigation Co’s Jahangirabad, built in 1940 as British India SNC’s Itaura, which was a beautiful up and downer with Bauer Wach steam turbine engines. I joined Itaura as 4th Engineer in June 1956 and stayed with her for six months. On one trip we sailed from London for Karachi with racehorses on the after deck. The animals were looked after by two cadets and a vet. Offloaded on the quayside in Karachi, the dozen or so horses demonstrated their new freedom with high jumps and kicks. With the horses gone we loaded about 50 Brahman cattle for Singapore; they were penned in on the foredeck and came…

BALEARIA Following a troubled construction period, the 43,130gt passenger and vehicle ferry which was originally to have been named Honfleur finally entered service in March on charter to Italian operator Balearia. She is set to link mainland ports and the Balearic Islands. The vessel passed through the Mediterranean en route to her new homeport during early March. She was originally ordered by Brittany Ferries from the Flensburg yard of Norwegian builders FSG. However, lengthy delays resulted in the contract being cancelled in June 2020. Siem Offshore bought the vessel the following month, and renamed her Rusadir. She carries 1,680 passengers, with en-suite cabins catering for 887, plus separate freight driver rooms, while power comes from four MAK diesels for a speed of 22 knots. Founded in 1988, Balearia operates from…

CRUISE DESIGN Inspired by the shape of the Rockhopper penguin, and considered ‘reverse’ because it has an aerodynamic exterior with a glass facade, the latest cruise ship design unveiled by Germany’s Meyer Group can be considered truly futuristic. Although it might not be to the liking of today’s cruise aficionados, it does incorporate some interesting concepts. It would use wave energy generated by horizontal wings on the hull, along with wind energy, solar panels and fuel cells, to operate without fossil fuels and have drone landing pads at the stern. In addition, the cabin structure would be detached from the outer hull to allow the use of more efficient modular manufacturing methods, and the public areas, both inside and out, would feature growing gardens and trees. As sit-down meals for…

BULKER The Russian Maritime Rescue Service was unable to save the 33,160dwt bulk carrier Yong Xing 56 after the ship was substantially damaged in a collision with heavy ice flows near the Russian port of Vanino in late February. The 15-year-old vessel, with 9,000tonsofaluminaon board, had been caught in the ice for several days before it issued a distress call on 23 February stating it was taking on water. As the ship sank lower, its 21 crew members disembarked onto the ice, where they were rescued by the Russian ferry Sakhalin 8 and taken to Vanino. Although the Russian Maritime Rescue Service’s icebreaker Otto Schmidt arrived on the scene on 24 February and attempted the free the vessel, flooding of its interior continued and the ship sank at a depth…

COSTA The transfer of Costa Venezia to Carnival Cruise Line has been completed and the ship has been reregistered in Nassau, prior to receiving a make-over in the Navantia shipyard at Cadiz, following which, as Carnival Venezia, she will make a 15-night transatlantic crossing from Barcelona to New York on 29 May. She will then be based in New York. Originally, both she and her sister, Costa Firenze, were going to operate under the new ‘Carnival by Costa’ brand, but that has now become wholly Carnival and is being marketed as ‘Fun, Italian Style’. After almost three years in lay-up, Costa Serena, the last of the fleet to re-enter service, has been reactivated, and sailed from her anchorage in the Middle East to Singapore during March, where she was drydocked…

BIRKA CRUISES After three years in lay-up, Birka Stockholm has found a new home. When she entered service for Birka Cruises in 2004 as the 1,800-passenger Birka Paradise, she replaced the smaller Birka Princess, which went to Louis Cruises in 2006 as Sea Diamond. Birka Cruises became a subsidiary of Eckerö Line in 2007. Birka Paradise was renamed Birka Stockholm in 2013, and continued to operate on 22-hour cruises from Stockholm to Mariehamn, with occasional longer cruises in the Baltic. Birka Cruises closed in July 2020 as a result of the pandemic, and the ship was laid up. As she had a route-specific layout comprising small cabins, a sale into the traditional cruise market was not likely, so a major internal refit involving enlarging cabins was considered, with a view…

CELESTYAL CRUISES The latest addition to the Celestyal fleet, Celestyal Journey, will come into service in September on the seven-night circuit currently being operated by Celestyal Crystal. It is not clear if that means that the latter ship will be withdrawn or will be used on a new programme. Celestyal Journey, the former Ryndam of Holland America Line, was built in 1994, has a gross tonnage of 55,819 and carries 1,260 passengers. Celestyal Crystal spent much of her life as Sally Albatros and Silja Opera. Although parts of the ship date from the 1980-built Viking Saga, most of what is above the waterline dates from her major 1992 rebuild. Although she is a much smaller ship (25,076gt), she has a capacity for 1,400 passengers. Celestyal Cruises also operates Celestyal Olympia,…

US NAVY The US Navy is set to formally rename two ships later this year after a congressionally mandated Naming Commission that required the change due to their Confederate links to slavery was approved by the Secretary of Defense. Thus, the 34-year old Ticonderoga class cruiser USS Chancellorsville (CG 62), which is named after a Confederate battle victory during the American Civil War, is to be renamed USS Robert Smalls. Born into slavery in South Carolina, Smalls became a skilled sailor, statesman and a strong advocate for African Americans. The Pathfinder class Oceanographic Survey Ship USNS Maury (T-AGS 66) will become USNS Marie Tharp. Matthew Fontaine Maury was a former US naval officer, considered to be the founder of modern oceanography, who later joined the Confederacy. Marie Tharp was the…

CAPESIZE BULKERS UK-based Anglo American is taking a series of ten LNG dual-fuelled Capesize bulk carriers under charter as they are completed by Asian shipyards, with the first two, Ubuntu Harmony and Ubuntu Equality, already employed. Owned by Taiwan’s U-Ming Marine, the 300m by 47.5m twin ships are being followed by another eight 190,000dwt sisters, including the recently delivered Ubuntu Unity and Ubuntu Community, both completed by China’s Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding for the Angelicoussis Group of Greece. The 14-knot vessels, the last of which will be delivered in 2024, are being fitted with two C-type LNG fuel tanks mounted on each side of the accommodation block at the stern to give an endurance range, operating in LNG mode, of 20,000 nautical miles.…

OLD TUG The Canadian tug Master, the world’s last operational wooden steam tug, has marked its centenary, but its future hangs in the balance because of an estimated $2.2 million needed in repair work. Built by Arthur Moscrop at Vancouver, BC in 1922, the 85ft by 19.5ft vessel is still powered by its original Scotch boiler and triple-expansion steam engine, completed by William Beardmore’s Speedwell Iron Works Co in Coatbridge, Scotland in 1916. This machinery, as well as much woodwork, including aft bulwarks, deck beams, deckhouse and wheelhouse, now requires repairs and the tug’s caretaker, the SS Master Society, has launched the ‘SS Master Centenary Project’ with the objective of raising funds to ensure that the old tug will survive.…

HYBRID TUG Turkey’s UZMAR Shipbuilding expects to deliver a RAmpage 4100BB-H hybrid offshore tug to Norwegian tug operator Bukser & Berging next year for offshore work, as well as worldwide towing. The 41m by 15.5m vessel will be powered by two medium-speed main engines of 2,800kW output driving twin azimuth thrusters, while one bow thruster of 500kW will be fitted to increase manoeuvrability. In addition, the boat will have two inline electrical motor/shaft generators powered by four 555ekW gensets to give a relatively high bollard pull of 120 tonnes. Accommodation will be arranged for a crew of ten to enable long-distance towing operations, as well as marine contracting work. WATERFRONT • www.shipsmonthly.com • The Granary, Downs Court, Yalding Hill, Yalding, Kent, ME18 6AL • t > 01959 541444 • e…

The black-hulled cargo vessels of Smyril Line ply their trade in the far reaches of the North Atlantic. For these unflagging workhorses, skippered by experienced captains, having to endure heavy seas, treacherous storms is par for the course in this corner of the world. Linking the Faroe Islands with Iceland and northern Europe, including the Baltic states, Smyril is a well-respected shipping company based in Tórshavn the tiny Faroese capital. Lying halfway between Scotland and Iceland, this remote and rugged archipelago comprises 18 islands. Off the main tourist trail, these wild, volcanic lumps of jagged rock are home to just over 53,000 people. At the Smyril’s harbourside headquarters, managing director Halgir Dahl Oleson says: ‘Eimskip and Samskip are the two largest freight companies running scheduled sailings which pass the Faroes.…

Hydrofoils with surface-piercing foils have been around for a century. They work well on a flat calm lake, but pitch and roll like any other ship in a choppy sea. The idea of a submerged foil, less affected by the waves, was first developed by the English engineer Christopher Hook. Stuck in Kenya during World War II, he stripped the wreckage of a Walrus seaplane to build an experimental hydrofoil on Lake Victoria. It flew level by using skis fitted to hinged arms at the bow to sense the water surface and control the angle of the submerged foil. After the war, he built several small ‘hydrofin’ craft, which he sold as pleasure boats. Although Hook’s invention was largely ignored in the UK, it soon got attention from the US…

MARCH’S MYSTERY March’s mystery ship is Melrose Abbey, built in 1929 by Earle’s Shipbuilding of Hull, for the Hull & Netherlands Steamship Co, pictured in the Clyde anchorage while she was serving as a Convoy Rescue Ship during 1942-45. She was originally requisitioned in February 1941, but her conversion to a Rescue Ship was delayed by her grounding and subsequent mine damage which left her stranded off Newburgh for four months, and needing repairs before being able to continue to the Clyde for fitting out by Tennerhill and Co. She eventually reached the Clyde in February 1942 and joined her first convoy as a Rescue Ship in May. Over the next three years she escorted 46 convoys, mostly on the North Atlantic crossing, and is credited with rescuing a total…

ROYAL NAVY During March two Royal Navy ships arrived at Portsmouth Naval Base for decommissioning. HMS Montrose was the first of the two, making her final journey on 17 March. Over nearly 30 years the Type 23 frigate has travelled more than 400,000 miles. The second ship was the Echo class survey ship HMS Enterprise, which arrived on the south coast ten days later, and which will be decommissioned in April.…

FLEET NEWS Bangladesh Shipping Corporation, which was established at Dacca in 1972, plans to add 20 vessels to its fleet over the next seven years, including bulk carriers and container ships. All the new tonnage is expected to be built in China, which completed three bulk carriers and three tankers for the Corporation in 2018/19 under a government-to-government $184.5 million loan agreement. The Corporation is currently negotiating a second loan agreement for $241.92 million that would cover the construction of an two extra bulk carriers of 80,000dwt and two tankers of 100,000dwt for delivery in 2025-26. Last year one vessel in the Corporation’s ten-ship fleet, the 38,894dwt bulk carrier Banglar Samriddhi, was struck by a missile while it was anchored in the Black Sea off Ukraine, resulting in the death…

OLD FERRY The former Townsend-Thoresen ferry Viking III (1965), latterly Red Star 1 and Star N, was beached at Aliaga at the end of March for breaking after a career lasting the best part of six decades. Launched in March 1965 as Viking III by Orenstein-Koppel and Lubecker Mach A/G, Lübeck, she was powered by two 12-cylinder Pielstick-Lindholmens 12PC2V 400 diesels. She could carry 940 passengers and 180 cars. She had a long and varied career, entering service in June 1965 between Southampton and Cherbourg and also serving the Harwich-Bremerhaven route. One of her claims to fame was that she ‘completed’ the last voyage of the famous liner France in September 1974, ferrying the liner’s passengers ashore in Le Havre after the larger vessel was seized by her crew in…

NEW TANKER James Fisher and Sons took delivery of its first LNG dual-fuel vessel, Sir John Fisher, in November 2022. The 6,106 dwt tanker was formally christened in late March at a ceremony in central London, with the vessel arriving on 28 March, mooring alongside HMS Belfast, and sailing the following day. Built at China Merchants Jinling (CMJL) shipyard in Yangzhou, China, Sir John Fisher is the first 6,000dwt chemical tanker to incorporate LNG dual-fuel propulsion technology, meaning she should achieve a 45 per cent reduction in carbon emissions, a 93 per cent reduction in NOx and a 45 per cent reduction in SOx emissions compared to other tankers. Equipped with highly efficient dual-fuel engines, the tanker, and her sister vessel Lady Maria (expected this year), are able to run…

SHORTSEA SHIPPING Samskip, operators of shortsea ships with offices in 24 countries, is looking to move towards ‘zero carbon-emission shipping services’ and has contracted two hydrogen-fuel-powered vessels to service its west European routes by signing a shipbuilding contract with the Indian shipyard Cochin Shipyard Ltd. Once commissioned, these vessels will be among the first zero-emission shortsea container vessels, using green hydrogen as fuel, to enter service. This is another project which is seeing Samskip work with the Norwegian Government’s green funding program aimed at emission-free transport solutions by adopting sustainable innovative future technologies. In zero-emission mode, each vessel is expected to achieve a reduction of around 25,000 tons of CO2 per year, with zero-emission operations in ports as well by using green shore power. WATERFRONT • www.shipsmonthly.com • The Granary,…

CLdN FLEET Belgium-headquartered CLdN has increased links from mainland Europe to British ports at Middlesbrough and Purfleet in Essex. A new connection to Middlesbrough Teesport started on 23 March, with four rotations each week from Zeebrugge and a fifth sailing out of Rotterdam Europoort. CLdN say the move reflects demand for direct sailings to the north-east of England, and there is a long-term agreement covering the use of Teesport, which is the fifth-largest UK freight port and offers rail connections, including two trains a day to Scotland. CLdN’s operations to the Thames, a core route stretching back to 1991, are also being expanded. Three additional round trips from Zeebrugge to Purfleet each week represent a 30 per cent capacity increase. CLdN chief executive Florent Maes welcomed the developments, commenting: ‘We…

INDUSTRY NEWS The last vestiges of Covid restrictions in the cruise industry are gradually being eased, with virtually no pre-boarding testing now being required and some cruise lines dropping the previously strict rules on vaccination. Ports, too, are reopening to international cruise traffic, with the latest major port, Hong Kong, declaring itself ready to welcome ships again. In January Silversea’s 2009-built Silver Spirit made the first transit call at the port, which has seen no international cruise ships for almost three years. In the same region, the South Korean port of Sokcho had a visit from Phoenix Reisen’s Amadea on 13 March, putting that country back onto the cruise map. On the other side of the world, the Turks and Caicos Islands lifted the requirement for visitors to have been…

US NAVY USS Arleigh Burke (DDG 51), the first-of-class of a highly successful class of destroyers built around the Aegis combat system, is to undergo a service life extension. Commissioned in 1991, she was due to have been retired in 2026 but will be maintained and upgraded for a further five years of service. Plans to extend the service lives of the entire DDG-51 fleet, the workhorses of the US Navy, were shelved in 2020 as not cost-effective. Instead, a decision was made to do so on an individual hull-by-hull basis, dependent on the material condition of the ship. The destroyer modernisation programme aims to deliver mid-life upgrades to improve the baseline firepower and defensive capabilities of older ships to match those of newer ships of the class. To date,…

RAN The plan for Australia to acquire a nuclear-powered submarine capability has been revealed. The RAN is to purchase three second-hand Virginia class submarines from the US Navy, with an option for two more. With the transfers scheduled to take place in the early 2030s, these are likely to be beyond mid-life hulls that are nearing the end of their planned 33-year service life. They will subsequently be replaced by a new British design, dubbed SSN-AUKUS, that will also be the successor to the RN Astute class. They are to be built in Barrow and Adelaide and will be equipped with American vertical-launch weapon systems. An undisclosed number of British boats will begin deliveries in the late 2030s, followed by the first of eight Australian variants from the early 2040s…

ACCIDENT The Gibraltar Port Authority (GPA) remains hopeful that the wreck of the bulk carrier OS 35, which sank last August after hitting the LNG tanker Adam LNG at the entrance to Gibraltar harbour, can be safely removed despite suffering additional damage this past winter due to heavy weather. Storms in the area in February caused a small section of the accommodation block to break away while also extending the original break in the hull and straining the deck areas around the No.4 hold, as well as the No.1 and No. 2 holds. An inspection by divers in March showed that the pounding conditions of the storm had driven the bow section an additional 13ft into the sand and that the two sections of the hull are now held together…

CONTAINER SHIPS As it prepares for disbanding the 2M alliance with Maersk Line, the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) has been purchasing a number of vessels formerly operated by Maersk. These include five of the Danish carrier’s S-class ships built by the Odense shipyard in the 1990s, which were, at the time, considered the largest container ships in the world. These include MSC Domna X (ex-Sovereign Maersk), MSC Fie X (ex-Susan Maersk), MSC Vilda X (ex-Sofie Maersk), MSC Aby (ex-Svend Maersk) and MSC Ellen (ex-Soroe Maersk). Since mid-2020 MSC has acquired over 270 vessels on the secondhand market while ordering 130 newbuilds. The Geneva-based carrier now controls 738 ships of a combined 4.77 million TEU capacity.…

CONTAINER SHIPS Taiwan’s TS Lines, which terminated a number of its long-haul services late last year to concentrate on its inter-Asia routes, has sold several of its vessels. These include the 2019-built 1,096 TEU twins TS Shanghai and TS Yokohama, plus the older and smaller 2006-built 962 TEU TS Moji, all of which have been acquired by Germany’s HR Schifffahrt, a major tonnage provider in the international charter market. In addition, the larger 6,300TEU TS Dubai and 5,400TEU TS Mumbai have been purchased by the Mediterranean Shipping Co, while the 2,553TEU TS Manila has gone to India’s Shreyas Shipping. The sales come as TS Lines prepares to take delivery of a series of new 1,100TEU, 2,900TEU and 7,000TEU vessels from China’s Fujian Mawei Shipbuilding and Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding. WATERFRONT •…

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Carnival Corporation is the world’s biggest travel leisure company, and operates more than 100 cruise ships, with ten different cruise brands under its banner. The Corporation’s latest ‘Fun Ship’, Carnival Celebration, recently arrived at PortMiami, her new homeport, just in time for the company’s 50th anniversary to be marked at the city where it all began. Carnival’s meteoric rise to the top of the cruising industry over the last half-century has been nothing short of amazing, especially when considering its humble Miami origins, having been founded by entrepreneur Ted Arison using the former Canadian Pacific liner Empress of Canada (1961/27,284gt), renamed Mardi Gras, which had been withdrawn from CP commercial service in late 1971, and which became the original Fun Ship, introducing a new style of cruising when she made…

This year marks the 65th anniversary of the loss of the British cargo liner Seistan operated by the well known Strick Line, the ships of which were absorbed into the P&O fleet during the 1970s. Strick had been founded by London shipbroker Frank Clarke Strick, who merged several of his earlier undertakings, including the Anglo-Algerian Steam Ship Co and the Anglo-Arabian and Persian Steamship Co together to form Strick Line Ltd in 1913, primarily to trade between Great Britain and the Persian Gulf via the Mediterranean. After the Great War, and at 70 years of age, Strick sold his ships and business to Gray Dawes & Co which, in turn, sold it on to the P&O-controlled Hain Steamship Co in 1923, although Strick returned to purchase a 49 per cent…

Chandris tankers I was very interested in the article about Chandris Tankers (SM, Mar) and in particular Dona Marika and her grounding at Milford Haven in 1973. I remember in 1972 or 1973 the ship spent some time laid up at Newcastle Quayside near the Tyne Bridge. I took some photos of her in sunshine during one of my lunch hours. The article reminded me of Lowland Tankers, whose ships were employed by BP and managed by Common Brothers Ltd. They had a fleet of 15 tankers at their peak, some of which were later sold for further service, visiting the Tyne in the early 1970s. I enjoyed the March edition, which had plenty of good items for us older ship enthusiasts! Hilton Davis South Shields Cunard Princess We have…

“I NAME THIS SHIP” Alan Moorhouse provides an overview of the cruise ships, passenger liners, warships and other vessels named by the late Queen Evlizabeth II during her long reign. PLUS WONDER OF THE SEAS • Profile of Royal Caribbean’s new flagship Wonder of the Seas, which will operate from Port Canaveral on year-round cruises to the Caribbean. STORNOWAY-ULLAPOOL LINKS • The ferry service from Ullapool across the North Minch to Stornoway on Lewis is a key part of the Caledonian Macbrayne network. BATTLE OF THE NORTH CAPE • Revisiting the last action fought between capital ships in European waters, which took place in December 1943 as part of the Arctic campaign. SAS PROTEA • The Hecla class hydrographic survey vessel SAS Protea, built by Yarrow Shipbuilders in Glasgow, marked half…