Indholdsfortegnelse for September 2025 i Ships Monthly

NEWBUILD On 24 July Vertom launched Vertom Tula, the ninth vessel in the innovative LABRAX series. The launch took place at Royal T Shipyards in Kampen and marks the first vessel in the series to be launched under the yard’s new name and Royal designation, recently granted in honour of its 100th anniversary. The ceremony took place in the presence of godmother Mrs Tula Gonzaléz, who travelled from South America with her family to name the vessel. Measuring 118.6m by 14.3m, Vertom Tula has a full-box cargo hold of 329,700ft3. All of the nine 7,280dwt vessels built for Vertom feature cutting-edge dies-elelectric propulsion systems, low-resistance hulls and smart energy management systems. These innovations enable significant fuel savings and emissions reductions, while ensuring the vessels are ready for a future powered…

US FERRY LINK Washington State Ferries has launched its first hybrid-electric vessel, Wenatchee, in late July after a 22-month overhaul. The 202-car ferry resumed service on the busy Seattle-Bainbridge Island route, initially running part-time in the evenings before returning to full-time operations. It was claimed that the vessel holds the title of largest hybrid-electric ferry in North America. The $133 million conversion project involved the two diesel engines being replaced by electric motors powered by large battery banks. Although the ferry can operate on pure battery power, shore charging infrastructure will not be ready until at least 2029. Planned conversions of the other ferries, Tacoma and Puyallup, was put on hold to keep as many ferries in the water as possible and speed up the restoration of pre-pandemic service levels.…

ROYAL CARIBBEAN Following strike action by workers at the Navantia shipyard in Cadiz, Royal Caribbean’s recently delivered Star of the Seas was said to be heading for Algeciras in southern Spain instead for final fitting out, including the installation of plants and trees on the ship. She had been due in Cadiz on 18 July. However, she did not sail from Turku until 17 July and was shown to be heading for Cadiz, with arrival on 24 July. The second of the Icon class, Star of the Seas, will enter service in August, sailing from Port Canaveral. The next ship in the series, Legend of the Seas, had her Aqua Dome installed at the Meyer Turku shipyard. The 327-tonne steel and glass structure was lowered onto the vessel while held…

ROUTE RIVALS The grievances between Brittany Ferries and DFDS, sparked by the tempestuous bidding war for Channel Islands ferry services, has intensified, with the French company simultaneously lodging a complaint with the EU’s Directorate-General for Competition and launching legal action with the Commercial Court of Brest over the grants DFDS receives to operate the service between Newhaven and Dieppe. They claim the annual subsidy of around £22 million provided by the route’s owners, Syndicat Mixte Transmanche in Normandy, has cost them £125 million in lost revenue since 2013, with traffic using the lower cost route, which would be economically unviable without the subsidy. Det Forenede Dampskibs-Selskab (DFDS) currently has the concession until 2027, with two ships, Côte d’Albâtre and Seven Sisters, sailing on the four-hour crossing in the bright yellow…

STENA LINE Stena Line has announced the closure of its Rosslare-Cherbourg service, with the last sailing set to depart Cherbourg on 29 September, arriving in Rosslare the following day. The axing of the route comes after the redeployment of Stena Horizon to the Baltic, which operated the three-day service for 14 years. While the route’s incumbent, the 39,178gt Stena Vision (ex-Stena Germanica), offers a better passenger experience than the more basic Visentini-built ship, it costs significantly more to operate, while providing less revenue-generating freight capacity. The Cherbourg-Rosslare route will continue to be served by Brittany Ferries with five weekly sailings, while Irish Ferries sails to the French port from Dublin. Stena Line’s move is part of a strategic review, with other arms of the company’s Irish Sea network benefiting from…

NEWBUILD The 13th vessel in Stena RoRo’s successful E-Flexer ro-pax series was launched at the CMI Jinling shipyard in Weihai, on 30 June, less than five months after the ship’s keel was laid. Capu Rossu is destined for service in the Mediterranean with Corsica Linea, linking Marseille and Corsica. Her delivery is scheduled for early next year, with an entry into service, in time for the summer season, planned for May 2026. With a length of 202.9m and a beam of 27.8m, the ship can accommodate 1,035 passengers in 234 cabins, 120 trailers and 180 vehicles. The ship is their second LNG-powered newbuild after the A Galeotta was introduced in 2023. The French shipping company was founded in 2016 after the demise of SNCM, inheriting much of their fleet and…

US COAST GUARD The US Department of Homeland Security Secretary has cancelled two of the four Offshore Patrol Cutters (OPCs) being built by the Eastern Shipbuilding Group. The decisive action follows a similar contract termination with Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) for a Legend class National Security Cutter a month earlier. In both cases construction of the US Coast Guard vessels had fallen significantly behind schedule. ESG’s delivery of OPC 1, to be named Argus, was scheduled for June 2023, but will now not be completed until the end of 2026 at the earliest. ESG also missed its April 2024 delivery for OPC 2. The Coast Guard subsequently issued a stop work order on OPCs 3 and 4 after the shipyard notified the service they could not fulfil their contractual duty…

ROYAL NAVY In a rare move, the Royal Navy has taken on a ship transferred from the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, with RFA Stirling Castle being switched to the White Ensign at a ceremony at the Cammell Laird shipyard in Birkenhead on 21 July. Described as ‘the first time in living memory’ that such an occurrence had taken place, the transfer has been enforced by a severe shortage of suitably qualified RFA personnel that has led to the ship being laid up since December 2024. HMS Stirling Castle will return to frontline duties, carrying high-tech equipment, including autonomous surface and underwater vehicles, for mine-hunting operations, in UK waters. Stirling Castle, still in the blue-and-white livery from her time as the offshore support vessel Island Crown, was purchased by the MoD in…

INCIDENT On 6 and 7 July two bulk carriers, Magic Seas and Eternity C, were struck and sunk in Houthi assaults in the southern Red Sea. Magic Seas was hit by missiles and an unmanned explosive boat off Yemen’s coast before being abandoned and scuttled. The next day, Eternity C was attacked by drones, rocket-propelled grenades and small-boat attacks which left her dead in the water and ultimately submerged. Both vessels flew Liberian flags and were managed by Greek operators. It was part of the Houthi campaign to interdict what they term ‘enemy-supporting’ shipping. A rapid rescue operation followed the Magic Seas sinking. An Abu Dhabi-registered vessel, Safeen Prism, answered the Liberian bulker’s distress call under UK Maritime Trade Operations coordination, recovering all 22 crew and security personnel on board.…

CONTAINER COMPANY In early July CMA CGM officially exceeded four million TEU of operated capacity, cementing its rank as the world’s third-largest container line behind MSC (6.7 million TEU) and Maersk (4.6 million TEU). The milestone marks a four-fold expansion over 16 years, from one million TEU in 2009 to two million in 2016 and three million in 2021. Founded in Marseille in 1978 and still privately owned by the Saadé family, CMA CGM has grown thanks to both fleet renewal and strategic acquisitions. Key takeovers include French national carrier CGM, Australia’s ANL, Delmas and APL in 2016. The group also absorbed feeder and regional operators such as MacAndrews, Cheng Lie Navigation, US Lines, COMANAV, and Mercosul Line. Today, CMA CGM and affiliates run a fleet of over 600 ships,…

NEWBUILD Dutch marine contractor Van Oord has placed an order for two next-generation subsea rock installation vessels with Yantai CIMC Raffles Offshore in China. Each ship will feature a 35,000-tonne loading capacity, a DP-2 dynamic positioning system and capability to place large rock sizes around pipelines, cables and foundations. Delivery is scheduled for 2028 and 2029. The new vessels will operate on methanol and biofuel, incorporate a DC electrical grid with battery storage, and have an energy-efficient hull design and advanced rock-handling systems. These features are expected to reduce CO2 emissions in line with Van Oord’s net-zero commitments. The vessels will join Van Oord’s existing subsea rock installation fleet, currently comprising Stornes, Nordnes and Bravenes. The enhancements over the earlier trio include higher loading volumes and increased automation for long-distance…

The four Racehorse class ro-ro ferries were ordered by Cenargo Group, then owners of Norse Merchant Ferries, in the late 1990s. The ferries, named Brave Merchant, Dawn Merchant, Northern Merchant and Midnight Merchant, were intended primarily for short sea routes, combining both freight and passenger services. Their flexible design allowed them to carry a variety of cargoes, including vehicles, trailers and passengers, making them well suited to fit into the UK’s ferry infrastructure, which has also meant they are suitable for a wide variety of ferry operations. Indeed, over the course of their careers, now spanning more than a quarter of a century, they have proved themselves around the world. The quartet was constructed at the Astilleros Españoles SA (AESA) shipyard in Seville, Spain between 1997 and 2000. The first…

Midnight Merchant was built in 2000 for Merchant Ferries for a planned service between Liverpool and Belfast. However, the ship was chartered to Norfolkline for a new service between Dover and Dunkirk, with a crossing time of two hours. She remained on that route until July 2006, when she was replaced by three new ships purpose-built for the route, Maersk Dover, Maersk Delft and Maersk Dunkerque. EL GRECO Following her displacement at Dover, the ship was chartered to Acciona Trasmediterránea in August 2006 for service in the Mediterranean and was renamed El Greco, being registered under the Spanish flag. However, this did not last long, and in June 2007 P&O Ferries agreed to purchase the ship to meet growing demand from haulage customers. The ship was intended primarily for the…

MSC WORLD EUROPA and MSC WORLD AMERICA MSC World Europa and MSC World America are sisterships in MSC Cruises’ World class fleet, representing a bold step forward in cruise ship design, sustainability and guest experience. Though nearly identical in size and structure, each ship is tailored to its primary market – Europa for a global audience and America for North American cruisers. MSC World Europa was launched in 2022 as the first ship in the World class series. She introduced a futuristic silhouette with a plumb bow, a Y-shaped aft, and a 104m-long outdoor promenade. MSC World America, launched in 2025, follows the same architectural blueprint, but incorporates various elements and venues specifically designed for American tastes, such as sports bars and an onboard brewery. Both ships were built with…

• Within the ship’s 22 decks are 2,614 staterooms, of which 65 per cent are outside cabins. They are arranged in 25 categories, the highest being the pair of owners’ suites, at 1,119ft2 plus a 699ft2 verandah, located forward in the MSC Yacht Club, the line’s ‘ship within a ship’ concept. • The exclusive MSC Yacht Club features keycard access-only to a range of Suites and Junior Suites, all with personalized butler service, private restaurant, lounges, sun deck and pool as well as upgraded amenities such as priority embarking/disembarking. • There are 1,458 Deluxe Balcony staterooms in various categories and sizes in addition to 77 Ocean View cabins and 818 Interior staterooms. For the single traveler, there are 22 Single Studio cabins available. Sixty-fivestateroomsin various categories are designated for mobility-impaired…

The Canadian Coast Guard was officially established in 1962, under the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), consolidating maritime services under one civilian agency. The history of the service goes back to 1867 when, following the Confederation of Canada, measures were taken to manage rivers, waterways and offshore environments and to ensure safe passage of vessels in Canadian waters, with the maintenance of lighthouses and navigational aids under the auspices of the Marine Branch of the Department of Marine and Fisheries. Other tasks assigned to the newly formed organisation were marine safety and search and rescue operations. Money and personnel were allocated to the construction and permanent manning of lifeboat stations on both the east and west coast, constituting the Canadian Lifesaving Service. The first of these stations to come…

NEW FERRY Damen Shipyards Group has signed a contract with South Korea’s Starline Co Ltd for the delivery of a new Damen Fast Ferry 4212. The ferry is available from stock at Damen Song Cam Shipyard in Vietnam, and the shipbuilder expects to deliver the vessel just seven weeks after the contract signing on 12 May. Starline will operate the vessel between Busan on the mainland and the Japanese island of Tsushima. The company operates a Damen Fast Ferry 4010 and wanted a slightly larger vessel suited to the sometimes harsh open sea conditions on the route. The Fast Ferry 4212 is an aluminium catamaran vessel designed to offer optimal passenger comfort with high fuel efficiency and low maintenance requirements. The 42.2m vessel can transport up to 439 passengers at…

PORT NEWS The Port of Hamburg has announced a €1.1 billion public investment in major infrastructure upgrades at the Waltershofer Hafen, its principal ultra-large containership hub. Work includes widening the turning basin from 480m to 600m, creating additional berths, and developing new terminal yards to boost capacity. Completion is targeted for the mid-2030s under Hamburg Port Authority (HPA) oversight. Expanding the basin will ease navigation toward Container Terminals Buchardkai (CTB) and Hamburg (CTH), which together handle 90 per cent of the largest ships calling at the port. It will also improve manoeuvring space and streamline access to increase vessel throughput and reduce waiting times. New land development, excavating adjacent basins and infilling sealed-off areas will improve existing road and rail networks. The additional yard area supports automation, including electric, remotely-guided…

More expansion brings fleet to eight OCEANIA CRUISES This Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings subsidiary Oceania Cruises has ordered a further pair of 86,000gt 1,390-passenger cruise ships from Fincantieri, bringing the current class up to four ships. The first two, due in 2027 and 2029, will be named Sonata and Arietta, although there is some suggestion that the names might be prefixed with Oceania. The latest pair will be delivered in 2032 and 2035. The arrival of these new and larger ships will almost certainly spell the end for the original quartet of former 700-passenger Renaissance ships, dating from 1998-2000: Insignia, Nautica, Regatta and Sirena. Insignia is already earmarked to operate as a residential ship from 2027. The second ship in the 1,000-passenger 68,000gt Allura class, Vista, was delivered in July,…

NEW FERRY The new ferry Isle of Islay successfully completed a second set of sea trials in mid-July with staff from CMAL and Cal Mac on board. These focussed on the set-up and testing of the battery energy storage system (BESS), as well as the proving and optimisation of the power management system (PMS) and energy management system (EMS). The first of four ferries under contract with the Cemre Marin Endustri shipyard in Turkey, she will undergo further outfitting work ahead of delivery in Q3 of 2025. Closer to home, Glen Rosa has been moved from the Ferguson Marine shipyard in Port Glasgow for a dry-dock period at the nearby Dales Marine Services’ facility in Greenock. The package of planned work includes rudder and stabiliser inspections, welding work to the…

India receives final Russian-built warship INDIAN NAVY The Indian Navy commissioned INS Tamal (F71) at the Yantar shipyard in Kaliningrad on 1 July. The Project 1135.6 (improved Krivak III) frigate is the eighth of the Talwar class and the second Tushil variant. These were the incomplete Admiral Butakov and Admiral Butomin, originally destined for the Russian Navy. They were cancelled due to a Ukrainian embargo on the supply of Zorya Mashproekt M7N1 power plants, after the annexation of Crimea in 2014. India subsequently agreed multi-million dollar deals with Zorya-Mashproekt for the supply of gas turbines, reduction gears and control systems for four ships. Tamal is the 51st Indo-Russian collobaration in the past 65 years, with India now very much on the path to self-reliance thanks to the government’s ‘Made in…

RUSSIAN NAVY The pro-Kremlin newspaper Izvestia has revealed that work to restore RFS Admiral Kuznetzov to frontline service has been suspended for more than a year and is likely to be abandoned altogether. Such a decision has yet to be formally taken but seems inevitable given that her crew has long been disbanded and the campaign against Ukraine has diverted resources, making her future ever more unviable. The Russian Navy’s sole aircraft carrier has been in shipyard hands since early 2017. In that time the ship has suffered multiple fires, had her flight deck pierced by a falling crane, and had the floating dry-dock in which she was sitting sink beneath her. Prior to her current overhaul, the Kuznetsov, widely ridiculed for the huge trail of black smoke generated by…

CONTAINER SHIPS Two 8,204 TEU vessels, MSC Bilbao and MSC Valencia, were freed from detention in Valletta on 7 July after nearly three years of being held due to their ties to the Russian state leasing company GTLK JSC. Both ships had operated on bareboat charter to Mediterranean Shipping Co since 2007 but were arrested in Malta in 2022 following US Treasury sanctions imposed on GTLK. To break the link to sanctioned interests, ownership of each ship was transferred to Trans-Shipping Company (TSC), a newly established entity unaffiliated with Russian stakeholders, and the two ships were renamed TSC Dorado and TSC London. Now that the sanction-related restrictions have been lifted, both vessels are available for charter, although it remains unclear whether MSC will take them back. Built in 2006 by…

SAIL RACES The third visit of the Tall Ships to Aberdeen took place between 19 and 23 July, when 49 ships comprising the International Sail Training fleet arrived in the Scottish city from Dunkirk. The fleet included Class A favourites such as the Polish square-rigger Dar Młodziezy, the Dutch schooner Eendracht, the French schooner Belem, the well-known Shabab Oman II and, making her European debut, BAP Union from Peru, which was built as recently as 2015. Smaller Class C and D vessels included the Italian vessel Corsaro II and the Belgian ketch Williwaw. Berthing in Victoria Dock in the centre of the Granite City, the fleet comprised 18 A class, 14 B class, 11 C class and six D class ships. Ships began arriving on Thursday 18 July in excellent…

Brave Merchant was the first ferry of the Racehorse class ships and initially operated on the Liverpool-Dublin route, operating between the UK and Ireland. Launched on 28 May 1998, she was delivered to Cenargo International on 26 January 1999 and embarked on her maiden voyage from Seville to Liverpool on 29 January 1999. On 5 February 1999, soon after arriving in the UK, the vessel broke free from her moorings in Liverpool during a storm, sustaining damage to her bulbous bow, which was repaired at Cammell Laird, Birkenhead. She initially started in a freight-only capacity for Merchant Ferries on 15 February 1999 between Liverpool and Dublin, and a couple of weeks later started carrying passengers. In April 2002 Brave Merchant transitioned to service with Norse Merchant Ferries on the Liver-pool-Dublin…

Northern Merchant waslaunched on 15 May 1999, and delivered to Merchant Ferries on 26 February 2000, under Cenargo Group ownership. She was measured at 22,046gt, making her slightly smaller than her Norfolkline-chartered counterparts, Midnight Merchant and Northern Merchant. She entered service on 20 March 2000, and was chartered to Norfolkline for the Dover-Dunkirk route. She was replaced on the Dover-Dunkirk service in March 2006 after the three Maersk newbuilds entered service, and was initially laid up. Following her replacement, she was dry-docked, repainted and modified to her original configuration, with the cow-catchers removed at the bow, along with the sliding doors and twin-level loading features, and the ramps on both the bow and stern were reinstated. ZURBARAN In March 2006 Acciona Trasmediterranea agreed to charter the vessel, along with Midnight…

MSC Cruises is the world’s largest privately owned cruise company and is based in Geneva, Switzerland. Leap-frogging over NCL Cruises, it is now the third-largest cruise line as well as the fastest-growing cruise brand. It is a market leader in Europe and is currently establishing a strong presence in North America and the Far East. It is a far cry from the company’s humble origins, which began in 1970, when founder Gianluigi Aponte first established the Mediterranean Shipping Company in Brussels, later moving headquarters to Geneva in 1978. His first three cargo ships were Patricia, Rafaela (after his wife) and Ilse, with this trio establishing a foothold in the highly competitive Mediterranean market. With continued strong growth in the cargo business, the decision was made to enter the lucrative cruise…

A dam Scott Gray was brought up in Sunderland surrounded by shipping. His interest in ships was sparked when he was given a book about them as a youngster. In 1947, at the age of 15, he started cycling along the banks of both the rivers Wear and Tyne with a new camera. In those days the rivers were full of ships, building, trading and under repair, with many vantage points from their high banks. His original photographs were 120-size (3.5in x 2.5in) contact prints, which he mounted in albums, named and dated. The gates of shipyards were thrown open on launch days, allowing close-up photographs to be taken. Such occasions were frequent when 20 to 30 ships a year were being built in Sunderland. Given his interest in ships,…

JULY’S MYSTERY The mystery ship is West Hixton (not West Hinton), which was built in 1920 by Los Shipbuilding and Drydock Co as a Standard Type 1013 for the United States Shipping Board, Los Angeles division. The ship was sold in 1928 to States Steamship Co and renamed California. She was torpedoed and sunk by the Italian submarine Reginaldo Giuliani on 13 August 1942 on a voyage from Bombay to New York via Cape Town with a cargo of shellac, manganese ore and general cargo. One crewman (out of 38) died in a lifeboat after the attack. As the ship seems to be flying the Australian or New Zealand ensign as a courtesy flag, it may be that the photograph was taken when she was ‘down under’. Peter Cundall, Sydney,…

RO-RO REBUILD At the end of July the ro-ro ship Stena Foreteller returned to service on the Europoort/Rotterdam-Immingham route following a major rebuild and renovation. A new additional cargo deck giving 30 per cent more capacity further reduces CO2 emissions per cargo unit. Stena RoRo oversaw the reconstruction of the vessel at the Chinese shipyard CMI Jinling in Weihai. The fourth vehicle deck was fitted on top of the existing three, increasing the amount of lane metres from 3,000 to 4,000. The rebuild is another step by Stena to reach the goal of reducing our CO2 emissions by 30 per cent by 2030. The vessel has also been equipped with a shore power connection system to reduce CO2 emissions while in port. Due to the additional deck, the wind area…

CHANNEL ROUTE Brittany Ferries will close its Poole-Bilbao freight service during August. It has been operated twiceweekly by the chartered 155m ro-ro freighter MN Pelican since 2016, but the recent opening of the Bayonne-Cherbourg intermodal rail freight link means unaccompanied trailers are now carried directly to the port of Cherbourg for onward shipment by ferry, with Poole becoming Brittany Ferries’ UK hub port for this traffic. Further good news for the Dorset port is that the Poole-Cherbourg route, which has been seasonal since 2020, will revert to a year-round operation for both freight and passengers, operated mainly by regular vessel Barfleur (1992/20,133gt), with relief cover by Commodore Clipper (1999/14,000gt) this winter.…

LIFEBOAT LEAVES The 14m Trent class lifeboat Maurice and Joyce Hardy left Fowey for the last time on 1 August. Former crew and many who have been involved with the station joined the crew on the lifeboat for a farewell ceremony. A flotilla of lifeboats, harbour boats, pleasure boats, ex-lifeboats, safety boats, gigs and motor yachts accompanied the 1996-buit lifeboat out of the harbour, where they gave her a rousing send off as she headed to the RNLI’s All-Weather Lifeboat Centre in Poole, via Plymouth and Exmouth. The 14m Trent, which has launched 314 times on service and saved 22 lives at Fowey, has been replaced by an Atlantic 85, which will work in conjunction with the existing inshore lifeboat to provide more suitable rescue coverage for the Fowey coastline.…

OOSTERSCHELDE The Dutch three-masted topsail schooner Oosterschelde sailed into Falmouth in mid-July, bringing the two-year Darwin200 Global Voyage to a close. Over the course of 43,000 nautical miles and 31 port calls on five continents, the vessel visited the waters where Charles Darwin concluded his Beagle expedition in 1836, almost 189 years earlier. Departing Plymouth in August 2023, the expedition retraced HMS Beagle’s historic route. Oosterschelde crossed the Atlantic via the Canary and Cape Verde Islands, reached Brazil’s Fernando de Noronha and Salvador, then went south around Cape Horn into Antarctic waters. After skirting South Georgia, she traversed the South Pacific through Polynesian archipelagos. The homeward leg took her across the Indian Ocean, around the Cape of Good Hope, and north past St Helena and the Azores before she re-entered…

POLISH NAVY The first of two new signals intelligence gathering (SIGINT) ships for the Polish Navy was formally launched at the Remontowa Shipbuilding yard in Gdansk on 1 July. The ships are designed for the reconnaissance of radar emissions, underwater acoustic signatures, and communication links across the full electromagnetic spectrum. They have been developed in partnership with Swedish prime contractor Saab as part of the €620 million Delfin programme, and are based on the same platform as the Swedish Navy’s HSwMS Artemis (A202), which entered service in 2023. The ships are to be named ORP Jerzy Rózycki (261) and ORP Henryk Zygalski (264) after the mathematicians, cryptologists and Cipher Bureau employees who helped break the code of the German Enigma encryption machine before and during World War II. Both are…

FEEDER CONTAINER On 11 July Icelandic liner operator Eimskip finalised the sale the container vessel Lagarfoss to Grupo Sousa of Madeira, Portugal. The 875TEU vessel was designed for Eimskip’s North Atlantic routes and has served the company for over a decade. Eimskip will record a €3.4 million accounting loss in Q3 2025, as the sale price fell short of the ship’s book value. Lagarfoss was constructed in China in 2014 and acquired new by Eimskip to support its coastal and feeder services in Iceland and adjacent markets. Following a review, the Icelandic company has realigned its fleet capacity. The buyer, Grupo Sousa, owner of GS Lines, operates six vessels serving the Atlantic Islands from mainland Portugal. Delivery of Lagarfoss is expected in Reykjavík between August and September. Eimskip continues to…

Dawn Merchant, launched in 1998, was the second vessel in the Racehorse class and was virtually identical in design to Brave Merchant, being named in recognition of the famous racing thoroughbred Dawn Run. Launched in February 1998 and delivered in September 1998 by Astilleros Españoles to Cenargo International, she was initially chartered to Und RoRo, Istanbul, Turkey and operated between Istanbul and Trieste from October 1998 to January 1999. In 1999 she was operated by Norse Merchant Ferries, under the management of V Ships (UK) at Douglas, and made her first arrival in Liverpool on 7 January 1999. Thereafter she was deployed on the Merchant Ferries run between Liverpool and Dublin, initially in a freight capacity, but then took passengers from March 1999. In April 2002 she operated under the…

The light aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious was the second of three Invincible class ships constructed for the Royal Navy in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Her entry into service was speeded up due to the Falklands War, and she was completed three months early, and commissioned on 20 June 1982 at sea en route to Portsmouth Dockyard to take on board extra stores and crew prior to steaming to the Falklands to relieve HMS Invincible. After the RAF airfield in the Falklands was repaired, Illustrious returned to the UK for a full shakedown cruise and workup period, and was formally commissioned on 20 March 1983, by when she had already seen service. Her other service highlights included helping to maintain the ‘No Fly Zone’ in Bosnia, through Operation Deny…

Walter Runciman (1847-1937), 1st Lord Runciman of Shoreston, was one of Britain’s most successful tramp ship owners, controlling no fewer than 49 vessels by 1914. Although Runciman’s fleet losses during World War I totalled 20 steamers, Runciman rebuilt his enterprise in the post-war era, and injuected capital into the Anchor Line, a longestablished liner operator, in 1935. His successors went on to purchase Anchor in 1965 and took it into the bulker age with a new Kirriemoor. Born in Dunbar, the son of a schooner master, Walter ran away to sea aged 12. ‘Coming through the hawse-hole and out at the cabin window’, he served as an apprentice, secured his mate’s papers in 1867, and became a master in 1871. Having served on sailing vessels and steamers, he ‘came ashore’…

The most ambitious project under way at present is the building of two Polar Class 2 icebreakers: CCGS Arpatuuq (26,036 tonnes displacement), by Seaspan ULC, and CCGS Imnaryuaq (22,800 tons displacement), under construction in Helsinki Shipyard in Finland. The new icebreakers will take on roles supporting maritime emergencies and scientific ventures across the Arctic while ensuring that the country has a long-term presence in the region.Each vessel will be able to operate in temperatures down to -50o C and in ice three metres in thickness or more. The 158m by 28m vessels will have accommodation for up to 100 people, and will feature a helideck and hangar for two medium helicopters, a vehicle garage, payload space, multiple cranes, an equipment deployment system and laboratories. They will have a top speed…

SHIPS MAIL CAN TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE KEEP UP WITH TECHNOLOGY? letter of the month In earlier times, marine engineers gained foundational knowledge through college courses in heat engines, mechanics, hydraulics and electricity. Many, especially pre-1960, also “served their time” in shipyards, gaining hands-on experience constructing and installing machinery. Though engineers often encountered unfamiliar equipment on board, solid principles and practical exposure enabled them to operate systems effectively. Engines were mainly mechanical, and components were visible and adjustable, none of which could be classed as ‘rocket science’. Over the last 25 years, however, the rate of technical development has been growing exponentially. We now see unmanned machinery spaces, engines having fancy electronics controlling the fuel injectors and valve operation, computer-controlled load management systems, exhaust gas treatment systems, ballast water treatment, the…

DOMINION MONARCH ON SALE 26 SEPT The quadruple-screw motor vessel Dominion Monarch was a ground-breaking liner when she was launched in 1930 for the express service from London to Wellington. Stephen Payne describes the ship’s design and her career. PLUS HMS VENTURER • On 27 May the first of the Royal Navy’s new Type 31 frigates, Venturer, was rolled out. It was a significant event for both the new ship and the British shipbuilding sector. GLEN SANNOX PROFILE • After a very protracted construction process, the Cal Mac ferry to Arran, Glen Sannox, is now in service. FUTURE FUEL? • Methanol is rapidly emerging as a leading alternative fuel in the maritime sector. Many new technologically-advanced ships are now using it to help the industry decarbonise. SCILLONIAN III • Profile…