Innehållsförteckning för December 2023 från Ships Monthly

TECHNOLOGY Paris-based AYRO, the designer and manufacturer of the OceanWings ‘wingsail’, has completed its installation of four of the units on the ro-ro vessel Canopée, which is being used to transport Ariane 6 space launch system components from Europe to French Guiana on the northern coast of South America. The sails, each standing 40m high and having 363m2 of area when automatically deployed, are expected to reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions by approximately 30 per cent over the Polish-built 120m by 22m ship’s regular route (see SM, July 2022).…

BULK CARRIERS Berge Bulk, one of the world’s leading dry bulk ship owners, has launched a Newcastlemax bulker, Berge Olympus, with four retrofitted BARTech WindWings by Yara Marine Technologies. The WindWings installation is part of Berge Bulk’s ambition to become carbon-neutral by 2025, and Berge Olympus is the world’s most powerful sailing cargo ship. With four WindWings installed, each possessing an aerodynamic span of 37.5m by 20m, Berge Olympus will save six tonnes of fuel a day on an average worldwide route and, in the process, reduce CO2 emissions by approximately 19.5 tonnes per day. Berge Bulk is evaluating installing WindWings on more of its vessels that trade on routes with favourable wind conditions. Berge Bulk’s WindWings project is part of the company’s efforts to work towards new IMO goals…

MUSEUM SHIP The 79-year-old cable ship Cable Restorer, built in 1944 as HMS Bullfrog and under demolition at Simon’s Town, South Africa after the local museum could no longer afford its upkeep, sank alongside her berth during stormy weather in late September. At the time, the centre of the ship had been cut down to the waterline for scrap, but the bow and stern sections were still intact. Small quantities of fuel and oil residue leaked from the broken hull after the incident, and units of the South African Navy responded. Launched during the war, the ship was used for harbour defence work during hostilities and became Cable Restorer in 1961 for the laying and repairing of undersea communications cables.…

SEMI-SUBMERSIBLES Germany’s SAL Heavy Lift has chartered two semi-submersible deck carriers, Zhong Ren 121 and Zhong Ren 122, on a long-term basis, together with its partner Shanghai Salvage, from the Chinese Ministry of Transport. Both ships will be marketed through the Jumbo-SAL-Alliance and will first be employed on construction of an offshore windfarm project in the USA. The 169.0m by 39.8m ships were built in 2022 and feature a cargo carrying deck measuring 5,300m2 with a strength of 25 tonnes per square metre, and a forward house capable of accommodating up to 59 people. The twin ships can be partially submerged down to a draught of 21.4 to load and offload floating equipment.…

IRISH SEA Built in the Netherlands at Rotterdam’s Van der Giessen-de Nord Yard, freight ferry Norbay (1992/17,464gt) will remain in Irish Sea service despite being withdrawn by P&O Ferries. The enforced closure of their Liverpool-Dublin service came as a result of the berths provided on the Mersey by Peel Ports no longer being available. However, the ship has been taken on an initial six-month charter by P&O Ferries to Irish Ferries with further extensions possible, and Norbay replaces Epsilon (2022/26,375gt) on Irish Ferries’ route from Dublin to Holyhead and the French link between Dublin and Cherbourg. Norbay’s existing crew will remain with the stern-loading vessel, which flies the flag of Bermuda and has the capacity to carry up to 114 trucks or trailers. She has a 22-knot service speed, and…

DFDS Danish ferry giant DFDS is taking over three busy routes linking Spain and Morocco across the Gibraltar Strait through the acquisition of FRS Iberia, who use two catamarans built in Australia by Incat between the ports of Algeciras and Tanger Med, Algeciras and Cueta and from Tarifa to Tanger Ville. Levante Jet (2015/5,537gt) and Tarifa Jet (1997/4,995gt) complete the route at speeds close to 35 knots, taking power from Caterpillar and Ruston engines. They have space for 692 passengers/151 cars and 777 passengers/175 cars respectively. Following the recent devastating earthquake in Morocco, the FRS vessels assisted with the transport of emergency supplies, together with medicines and other relief items, a role that DFDS say they have every intention of continuing. This is a highly important route, which DFDS will…

GREEK NAVY The first FDI HN frigate being built for the Hellenic Navy was ceremonially launched at the Naval Group shipyard in Lorient on 4 October. The technical launch took place the previous week, when the future HS Kimon (F601) was floated out of the covered ship hall to a fitting out berth, where the 4,500-tonne defence and intervention frigate will receive her integrated mast. The FDI HN armament fit exceeds the specification of the French Navy’s version, with eight Exocet MM40 B3C anti-ship missiles, 32 Aster surface-to-air missiles, a RAM missile system for point defence, a 76mm main gun, two Lionfish 20 remote weapon stations and four torpedo tubes for MU90 torpedoes. Greece has contracted the French shipbuilder for three ships, with an option for one more.…

RFA The United Kingdom’s first ever underwater surveillance ship has entered service, with RFA Proteus (K60) being formally dedicated at a ceremony in the Pool of London alongside the World War II cruiser HMS Belfast on 10 October. The Multi-Role Ocean Surveillance Ship (MROSS) will serve as a mother ship for the deployment of remotely operated vehicles and a suite of other specialist capabilities for monitoring sovereign subsea cables and pipelines. For this role, the former Offshore Support Vessel, which was built in 2017 as Topaz Tangaroa (6,133gt) for P&O Maritime Logistics, is equipped with a flight deck and a 1,000m2 cargo deck, with a heavy-duty crane for lifting and lowering operations. She is crewed by 26 Royal Fleet auxiliary officers and sailors, augmented by 60 Royal Navy specialist operators…

CONTAINER SHIPS Maersk has nominated the Zhoushan Xinya shipyard to undertake work to retrofit the propulsion system on Maersk Halifax (153,744/2017) to enable the vessel to operate on methanol. The vessel will enter the yard in mid-2024, with the work expected to take three months. The conversion will set the blueprint for work on other container ships fitted with similar MAN engines, including the other ten 15,228TEU capacity H class ships. This will be the second large project the 2017-built Maersk Halifax will have gone through. In 2019 she had a new forward section joined to the original aft section, after a major fire in the Arabian Sea destroyed the section almost two years earlier, when she was trading as Maersk Honam. The company is also undertaking work on its…

TANKERS AP Moller-Maersk’s American subsidiary, Maersk Line, has sold its government contracting division, US Marine Management (USMMI), to Louisiana-based Maritime Partners, LLC. USMMI has been chartering four US-flagged tankers and one military support vessel to the US Navy’s Military Sealift Command. The acquisition is Maritime Partners’ second in the US tanker market this year, after they agreed to buy the American Shipping Company ASA’s Jones Act business, which owns nine handysize product carriers and one handysize shuttle tanker, all of which are bareboat chartered to US-based operators Overseas Shipholding and Keystone Shipping.…

VEHICLE CARRIER Finland’s Deltamarin has been commissioned to design a new series of hybrid LNG-fuelled 4,200CEU capacity Pure car and truck carriers (PCTCs) for Neptune Lines of Greece, which will be built by China’s Fujian Mawei Shipbuilding Ltd for delivery in 2026. The twin ships, each to be powered by a high-pressure two stroke main engine, will be able to utilise LNG or VLSFO as fuel and will make use of controllable pitch propellers and shaft generators to enhance operational performance, as well as environmental efficiency. In addition, they will be configured for the adoption of an energy storage system, as well as a solar power system, while connections will be made available for the use of high-voltage shore power, enabling the ship to connect to port grids when available…

RESEARCH SHIP America’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the US government’s scientific and regulatory agency, has ordered two advanced research vessels with an option for an additional two from compatriot shipbuilder Thoma-Sea Marine Constructors, with the first two vessels to be designed and built under a $624.6million contract for delivery in 2027 and 2028. The ships will follow two similar vessels currently being built by Thoma-Sea at Houma, Louisiana and due for delivery in 2025 and 2026 under the names Oceanographer and Discoverer. The first of these ships will be based at Honolulu, Hawaii and the second at Newport, Rhode Island. They will be outfitted to focus primarily on ocean mapping and nautical charting work, while accommodating a crew of 20 and 28 technicians. Propulsion will be provided by…

CONTAINER SHIPS China’s Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding (SWS) and China Shipbuilding Trading have signed a construction contract for eight 9,200TEU methanol dual-fuel container ships which will feature internal fuel tanks and large wind deflectors fitted forward. The new vessels will measure 299.9m by 45.6m and have a container capacity of 9,200TEU. To be classed by Bureau Veritas, they will use methanol as the main fuel to meet EEDI (Energy Efficiency Design Index) Phase III requirements and are expected to be in service by 2025/26. The use of large wind deflectors on newer container ships to reduce fuel costs is still experimental, but it is thought that the devices can reduce fuel consumption, and thus toxic exhaust emissions, by from three to five per cent, depending upon wind conditions encountered. WATERFRONT •…

Although the first screw steamer, Queen, quickly established herself as a key fleet member in 1867, the Aberdeen, Leith, Clyde and Tay Shipping Company added a paddle steamer in 1867, buying the 1864 Tyne-built Waverley from a brief spell on the Silloth-Dublin service of the North British Railway, which was cut short by problems with her engines, built by Robert Stephenson and Co. These were resolved during a return visit to the Tyne, and a debut on the northern routes as St Magnus started a style of nomenclature that has lasted into the 21st century. Four further vessels ran as St Magnus, with the last built as ro-ro freighter Dorset and bought from Belfast Steamship Company as Ulster Sportsman in 1978, before running for P&O Ferries without change of name…

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The Turkishowned cargo ship Manioglu was built by Neptun Werft at Rostock in 1913 as Arcturus for Dampfschifffahrts-Gesellschaft Argo of Bremen, being delivered in January 1914. Arcturus was in Bordeaux when Germany declared war against France on 3 August 1914, and she was immediately seized by the French Government. In January 1922 she was transferred to Compagnie de Navigation Paquet (Paquet) of Marseille as compensation for losses suffered during the war. In October 1923, after the conclusion of the Turkish war of independence on 24 July 1923, she sailed from Constantinople (renamed Istanbul from 1930), repatriating French troops to Marseille, accompanying Paquet’s new liner, Médie II. At the end of August 1939 Arcturus was requisitioned by the French Government to transport military equipment from Marseille to Syria and was damaged…

NEW SERVICE A new cargo service from Queen Elizabeth II Eastham docks, Merseyside to Vigo Port in Spain has started. The 1999-built ro-ro cargo ship Friedrich Russ, which was built for Baltic service with Transfennica, made her maiden call on the Mersey on 16 October, and she will call there every Monday until the end of the end of the year. From January 2024 the service will become twice-weekly. The new route, operated by Suardíaz, will see parts being brought to Stellantis’ Ellesmere Port manufacturing plant, which is currently undergoing a major transformation to manufacture a compact electric van. The new 891-nautical-mile route will take an estimated 14,700 lorry journeys off the roads annually. The journey time from Vigo Port to Queen Elizabeth II Eastham docks is around 50 hours.…

HERITAGE The historic Canadian ferry Norisle has been towed to a scrapyard at Port Colborne, Ontario for demolition after the 77-year-old vessel became too costly to maintain and was considered in danger of sinking. Built by Ontario’s now defunct Collingwood Shipyard in 1946 for service between Tobermory and South Baymouth, Ontario, the 1,668grt ship was retired in 1974 after being replaced by a larger vessel and was eventually opened as a static exhibit at the Assiginack Museum on Ontario’s Manitoulin Island. However, due to a lack of financial support, the ferry began a slow process of deterioration and this year it was felt she should be disposed of to a breaking facility while she was still towable.…

IRISH SEA Seatruck Panorama (2009/14,759gt) returned to the Seatruck line-up on 3 September after a charter spell on Stena Line’s Irish Sea operations, which included time on the Rosslare-Cherbourg service, on which she ran opposite the Visentini-built Stena Horizon (2006/27,522gt), which was later replaced on the route by cruise ferry Stena Vision (1987/39,191gt). The availability of Seatruck Panorama, which was launched as Clipper Pennant at Spain’s Huelva Yard but was renamed Clipper Panorama prior to delivery and received her present name in 2011, released sistership Seatruck Pace, also completed in 2009, from sailings on the Irish Sea connection between Dublin and Heysham. The 1,830-lane-metre Pace made a Dublin-Santander trip on 6 September before remaining on the route for Seatruck’s parent company Belgium’s CLdN.…

BAD WEATHER With October’s Storm Babet far from forgotten, the opening days of November saw the even more ferocious Storm Ciarán sweep in from the Atlantic to hit ferry routes from Northern France, the Channel Islands and both English and Irish south coast ports. A blast of 104mph was recorded in Jersey as Condor Ferries passenger and freight sailings between the Channel Islands, Poole and St Malo were halted for two days. The recently introduced Netherlands-built 13,906gt Condor Islander, brought in after she served in New Zealand as Straitsman, remained in port. Sailings by DFDS Ferries between the UK and France were also cancelled, with the 2002-built vessels Côte d’Albâtre and Seven Sisters, still in the colours of owner Transmanche, lying idle for a couple of days. Both operate for…

COSTA CRUISES Long scheduled to join the Carnival/CSSC cruise line now trading as Adora Cruises, the 85,619gt Costa Atlantica (2000) is believed to have been sold to operate for Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line in conjunction with Margaritaville, and will be renamed Margaritaville at Sea Islander, operating alongside Margaritaville at Sea Paradise (ex-Costa Classica). However, Costa Atlantica is larger than the port of West Palm Beach can accommodate and she will open a new four-night cruise service between Tampa, Florida and Cozumel, Mexico. Costa Atlantica was built by Kvaerner Masa Yards at the Helsinki New Shipyard. Her transfer to the Chinese joint venture was announced in late 2019, with the transaction taking place in January 2020. During the pandemic, she was quarantined in Japan after a number of crew tested positive.…

INDUSTRY NEWS Australia is enjoying something of a cruising boom as lines such as Disney, new to the area, begin to position ships at the country’s ports. Disney Wonder sailed from Honolulu on 13 October, bound for Sydney, where she arrived two weeks later, ready for a season of two- to four-night cruises from Sydney and Melbourne. In March she will return to North America, but will be back in Australia for the 2024 summer. Princess Cruises will put Discovery Princess in Sydney in October 2025, where she will join Grand Princess and Crown Princess. This year, Royal Princess had her inaugural season in Australia, joining Coral Princess, Majestic Princess and Grand Princess. They will be joined by Island Princess in February 2024. This season will see three Royal Caribbean…

NETHERLANDS NAVY The Royal Netherlands Navy has retired its first Walrus class submarine, while a successor class has yet to be decided. HNLMS Walrus was decommissioned at Den Helder on 12 October. The 31-year-old vessel will be used for spare parts to help keep the remaining boats in service. Due to years of delays in the replacement programme, this is likely to last for at least a decade, making it likely that a second hull will also be retired soon to facilitate the safe operation of the two remaining vessels into the mid-2030s. The government is set to announce the winner of the competition for a new class of four submarines between Naval Group (Barracuda), Saab Kockums (A26), and Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems (Type 212CD) in early 2024. Dutch submarines are…

CONTAINER SHIP South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries has launched the first of Maersk Lines’ new series of 12 ‘methanol-enabled’ container ships, with the yet-to-be-named lead vessel’s delivery expected by early next year. Measuring 350m by 53.5m, the ship can carry 16,200TEUs and is powered by a MAN Energy Solutions dual-fuel main engine. The hull has been configured to have the accommodation block and bridge mounted fully forward to allow a higher stacking of containers aft, and a funnel/exhaust ‘gas treatment centre’ fitted at the stern on the port side. The new ships are expected to generate CO2 emissions savings of around 2.3 million tonnes annually.…

CARGO VESSEL Cowes-based operator of shortsea cargo vessels, Carisbrooke Shipping, has contracted Thecla Bodewes Shipyard of Kampen to build a 7,280dwt general cargo ship. The contract was finalised by Mrs Thecla Bodewes, CEO of Thecla Bodewes Shipyards, and Mrs Helen Tveitan, CEO of Carisbrooke Shipping, at a ceremony at the beginning of September 2023. The newbuild, due for delivery in 2026, will be the 11th vessel to be built to LABRAX 7000 design. Measuring 118m in length, the design incorporates an optimised hull, providing fuel-efficient diesel electric propulsion, which enables simpler upgrading to alternative fuels in the future. Three examples of the class are already in service with Vertom Group, Vertom Patty, Vertom Cyta and Vertom Tomma, which have all achieved greater efficiency and lower consumption compared to similar-sized vessels.…

NEWBUILD China’s Yangzhou New Dayang Shipbuilding Co expects to deliver the methanol-fuelled container ship Eco Maestro to Singapore-based X-Press Feeders during the second quarter of 2024 as the first of 14 ships on order. Designed by Germany’s TECHNOLOG Services, the 13,900dwt vessel measures 486ft by 82ft and has a capacity for 950 TEUs. It features the first installation of a new MAN dual-fuel engine designed to operate on green methanol to meet both EEDI phase three requirements and Tier 3 standards while providing a service speed of 14 knots. Following delivery, it is expected the ship will operate on X-Press Feeders’ routes in Northern Europe. JS…

SHORT SEA Transtal Shipping of the Netherlands has contracted compatriot shipbuilder Thecla Bodewes Shipyards for the construction of a diesel-electric-propelled 5,100dwt multi-purpose vessel of the shipyard’s modularly-built SALMO type for delivery in late 2024. The newbuild will be equipped with three generator sets of 532bkW each and two electric motors of 600ekW each, resulting in an average fuel consumption of less than three tons of MGO per day. Hold volume in the 87.3m by 137m non-geared hull will be 208,360ft3 (5,900m3). Space will be made available for the possible future use of alternative fuels such as methanol or hydrogen.…

NAVAL UPDATE On Saturday 16 September Babcock International’s Rosyth shipyard near Edinburgh hosted a keel-laying ceremony to mark the formal start of the assembly of HMS Active, the second of five new Type 31 ‘Inspiration’ class frigates. To the sound of bagpipes, a specially-commissioned coin designed by a local schoolgirl was hammered under the ship’s keel. It will later be presented to Active’s commanding officer and crew when the ship is ready to sail. Ordered in November 2019, the Type 31 frigates will replace the Type 23 ‘Duke’ class ships which were configured for general purpose operations. The new ships are intended to be a flexible and affordable design aimed at carrying out maritime security missions across the globe. They are based on Babcock’s Arrowhead 140 concept; itself derived from…

NorthLink Ferries Serco Marine Services, with more than 100 vessels supporting the Royal Navy, Royal Marines and Fleet Auxiliary at six UK locations including Portsmouth and Devonport, formally took over the NorthLink Ferries services to Orkney and Shetland on 5 July 2012 after another tendering process for the North Isles service. The company initially retained the three existing vessels and branding, but with promises of improved catering, more seating and onboard entertainment. Other features included the introduction of ‘sleep pods’, reclining seats and premium lounges on the vessels. Having been confirmed as operators to Orkney and Shetland on 29 May 2012, Serco retained the three principal vessels, built for the route by Aker Yards in Finland, in service. The 11,720gt sisters Hjaltland and Hrossey had been introduced in 2002, taking…

James Hendrie recounts the short but active career of the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf von Spee, which sank nine ships in the South Atlantic before being stopped by the Royal Navy during an intense encounter in 1939. Over 90 years have passed since the keel of the battleship Admiral Graf von Spee was laid down, on 1 October 1932, at Wilhelmshaven. Graf Spee was a Deutschland class Panzerschiff which entered service with the German Kriegsmarine on 6 January 1936. Her design was constrained by limitations imposed by the Treaty of Versailles, but Graf Spee and others of her class became known as pocket battleships, primarily because of their powerful 11-inch guns. The Deutschland class were not allowed to exceed 10,000 long tons, according to the Treaty. To overcome this,…

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the retirement of one of Britain’s most notable yet largely unknown passenger vessels, British India Steam Navigation Company’s 1926-built Rajula. The Barclay, Curle & Co-built liner was sold to the Government of India for interim Andaman and Nicobar Islands service in 1973 and then passed on to Bombay breakers for demolition a year later, just short of her 48th birthday. This author was fortunate to sail on the old ship from Madras, India to Penang, Malaysia in 1970, and the following is a nostalgic look back at that voyage, which departed Madras on 24 July and arrived at Penang six days later, the ship then continuing on to Singapore. Financially pressed because of an earlier trip in cabin class across the Indian Ocean…

OCTOBER’S MYSTERY The mystery ship is the Canadian Pacific coastal passenger steamer Princess Mary, built in 1910 at Bow, MacLachlan & Co in Paisley for the Canadian Pacific Railways. The 1,697gt twin-screw passenger vessel had a 700-passenger capacity. On 14 April 1911 she started on the Comox-Union Bay-Powell River service (BC) after she arrived from Scotland. From 1926 she operated cruises from Vancouver. In 1952 she was sold to Island Tug & Barge Co, stripped to the hull, and the upperworks were turned into a restaurant at Victoria. The restaurant was closed in 2006 and in 2011 the remains were demolished. Urbain Ureel Aartrijke, Belgium THIS MONTH’S MYSTERY SHIP This month’s mystery shows a classic cargo liner. But which ship is it? What was her name, and who owner her?…

INCIDENT The British-owned coaster Verity (2001/2,601gt) sank after colliding with the Polsteam-operated bulk carrier Polesie (2009/24,055gt) in the early hours of 24 October. Operated by Casper Chartering, and managed by Faversham Ships, the 91m-long Verity was on passage to Immingham from Bremen when the incident occurred about 14 miles north of the German island of Spiekeroog, whilst she was navigating in the vessel traffic separation zone. P&O Cruises’ Iona which was close by as the incident unfolded, heading for Hamburg, contributed to the search and rescue operation, with other German craft, including the salvage tug Nordic and the research ship Atair helping during the day. Two crew members were picked up, another was found dead, and four others were missing and unaccounted for, assumed to have drowned in the incident.…

RESEARCH SHIP The British Antarctic Survey’s RRS Sir David Attenborough called at Portsmouth on 26 October for a final logistics stop before sailing south for the austral summer. The ship has left the UK and headed south to the Falkland Islands, where scientists and support staff will join the ship ahead of the BIOPOLE cruise. From the Falkland Islands, the ship will head to Rothera, opening up the station for the season. The ten-day BIOPOLE cruise will then take place in the Weddell Sea, before the ship continues its station calls, heading to King Edward Point and Bird Island. In the New Year, the ship heads back to the Weddell Sea for the PICCOLO cruise, which lasts around a month. The ship will call round the stations again, before departing…

INDUSTRY NEWS A power struggle to take control of Euronav between its two largest shareholders, Belgium-based Compagnie Maritime Belge (CMB) and Frontline, appears to be coming to an end. The two companies have agreed a deal whereby Frontline’s subsidiaries will sell their 26 per cent shareholding in the company to CMB. The deal will see 24 modern VLCCs, built between 2015 and 2023, transferred to Frontline, with the deal valued at $2.35 billion. Following the sale, CMB will hold a 49 per cent share in Euronav, and will initiate a mandatory public takeover for the remaining shares. The vessels involved in the deal are: Alboran (2016), Alex (2016), Alice (2016), Amundsen (2017), Andaman (2016), Anne (2016), Aquitaine (2017), Arafura (2016), Aral (2016), Ardeche (2017), Camus (2023), Cassius (2023), Clovis (2023),…

NEW CRUISE SHIP MSC Cruises’ latest flagship, MSC Euribia, made her maiden visit to her new UK homeport of Southampton in October. Despite her arriving in darkness and with rain falling, she was given a warm welcome in Southampton when she reached the port on 13 October. The LNG-powered cruise ship is the latest to join the Swiss/Italian cruise line’s fast growing fleet and takes sustainability to a new level. In June, during a four-day sailing from the shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France to Copenhagen, the ship achieved the world’s first net zero greenhouse gas voyage. Along with the other two Meraviglia-Plus class ships, MSC Euribia features ship-to-shore technology allowing the use of shoreside power while in port, which was being utilised while she was berthed at Southampton’s modern Horizon Cruise…

HOVERCRAFT On 4 March 2020 Oita Prefecture in Japan announced that it would reintroduce the hovercraft as a means of public transport, connecting Oita Airport with Oita City, having previously operated the craft from 1971 to 2009. An order, worth £25 million, for three new Griffon 12000TD hovercraft, which can carry 80 passengers, was placed in November 2021. The intended route has a 25-minute journey time, and the craft have a top speed of 45-50 knots from twin MAN D2862 LE124 engines. Construction of the craft, named Baien, Banri and Tanso, began at Griffon Hoverwork’s new Portchester yard in January 2022. Baien and Banri have been completed and, after trials in the Solent, were shipped 5,700 miles to Japan. The service is due to start in Oita in early 2024.…

INDUSTRY NEWS P&O Ferries, Finnlines and Rosslare Europort were major winners at the Ferry Shipping Summit in Malmö, Sweden, with two new vessels built in China taking top honours. The 47,394gt P&O Pioneer, newly established on the English Channel service between Dover and Calais, was acclaimed as Short Sea Ferry of the Year, while Finnlines’ 68,400gt Finnsirius, which entered service in September, took the year’s top Ro-pax Ferry title. Pioneer was designed by Osic with close co-operation from P&O’s own teams, while for Finnsirus the initial concept was by Knud E. Hansen, with Delta Marine taking over the contract brief. Finnsirius, designed for Sweden-Finland traffic, can take 5,200 lane metres and can carry 1,100 passengers. In port news, the Irish State owned Rosslare facility was announced as European Ferry Port…

MYSTIC CRUISES Construction of the fifth ship in the World Explorer series has begun at the West Sea shipyard in Viana do Castelo, Portugal. To be named World Seeker, she will be the next addition to the fleet of Mystic Cruises’ American subsidiary Atlas Ocean Voyages, joining World Voyager (2020, operated by Mystic’s German subsidiary Nicko Cruises until November 2023), World Navigator (2021) and World Traveller (2022). The fourth ship, World Explorer (2019), is operated by various companies under charter arrangements. This class of 9,900gt vessels can carry up to 200 passengers, served by a crew numbering 125. World Seeker is due for delivery in 2025 and is expected to debut with a season operating in Antarctica. The original plan was for six similar expedition ships, so there is still…

ISRAEL With the recent flare-up of violence in and around Israel, a number of cruise lines have cancelled calls at Israeli ports. Aida Cruises cancelled the calls of AIDAprima at Haifa and AIDAblu at Ashdod, both for November. Celestyal Cruises has removed the Israel port calls from the Three Continents Cruises operated with Celestyal Journey until at least the end of November. On 16 October Royal Caribbean’s Rhapsody of the Seas sailed from Haifa, evacuating Americans at the request of the US embassy in Israel. As the ship had been based in Haifa, and with the cancellation of cruises, there was a good amount of space on board for the evacuees, who were taken to Limassol for onward carriage to the US. At the time of writing, Rhapsody of the…

RFA The Royal Fleet Auxiliary is in the spotlight with the despatch of two ships to the eastern Mediterranean in response to the Hamas attacks in Israel. RFA Lyme Bay and RFA Argus were sent by the Prime Minister to show support for Israel and reinforce regional stability. The RFAs, which comprise the UK’s Littoral Response Group (South), were en route to the Gulf with three Merlin helicopters and a company of Royal Marines embarked. As the UK’s Primary Casualty Receiving Ship, RFA Argus has extensive medical facilities that could prove useful if the situation escalates. In a major show of force, the USA diverted two Carrier Strike Groups to the region, spearheaded by USS Gerald R. Ford and USS Dwight D. Eisenhower. In the Red Sea, the Arleigh Burke…

TAIWAN NAVY Taiwan has revealed its first domestically produced submarine, named Hai Kun. The vessel is a follow-on from the Hai Lung class, which is based on the Dutch-built Zwaardvis, and has been in service since the late 1980s. Despite being an older design, the new diesel-electric vessel incorporates significant improvements, such as X-form rudders, a non-hull penetrating mast system, and a more blended sail to reduce noise. The programme for eight vessels has also greatly benefited from technology transfers and technical support from the USA, UK and Japan. The boats will be armed with UGM-84 Sub-Harpoonanti-ship missiles and MK-48 Mod6 Advanced Technology heavyweight torpedoes, that can be used against surface ships and other submarines. The Taiwan Navy currently has only four submarines, two of which are World War II-era…

FERRY Italy’s Sicilian Region has ordered a 14,500gt ro-pax ferry from Fincantieri’s Palermo shipyard for delivery in 2026 to serve routes between Sicily and the islands of Lampedusa and Pantelleria. Expected to cost approximately €120 million to build, the 140m-long vessel will have a capacity for 1,000 people and 200 vehicles. It will be equipped with a dual-fuel engine capable of burning LNG, and will have a battery-based energy storage system that will allow it to discharge and load in port for about four hours while generating no emissions. It will also have a photovoltaic system to guarantee a zero-emission stay in port for approximately four hours.…

SERVICE OPERATIONS The Damen Shipyards Group has produced a concept design for a battery-equipped fully electric Service Operations Vessel (SOV), which would be able to recharge from the offshore wind turbines it would be supporting. While still at an early stage of development, the concept has generated considerable enthusiasm from wind farm developers and operators. The shared aim is to create a vessel that can not only remain at wind farms for extended periods, but also take full advantage of the abundant clean energy available from the turbines. Because SOVs deploy technicians to wind turbines to conduct maintenance, and then waits until retrieving them, the vessel could recharge its battery banks during that time using the energy generated by the farm. However, the connection between the vessel and the offshore…

The ferry services to the two archipelagos north of Scotland offer not just lifeline services for the local population but also provide visitors with an enjoyable and memorable way to holiday in these remote islands. But the modern ships are a far cry from those of the 18th and 19th centuries, when just completing a crossing over often treacherous waters was more important than facilities on board the early steamers. After early 18th century links with Kirkwall and Lerwick, the capitals of Orkney and Shetland respectively, provided by sailing ship, the first steam powered ferries came to the islands’ scene during the 1830s in the form of paddle steamers. These were then displaced by screw vessels from early in the following decade. Operations moved forward after two established companies joined…

On 24 March 1988 the cruise company Home Lines was purchased by Holland America Line (HAL), along with its two ships, Atlantic and Homeric. The 30,262grt Atlantic (1981) did not meet HAL’s requirements and was chartered to Premier Cruise Line, but Homeric (1986) entered HAL service as the 42,092grt Westerdam, running alongside HAL’s three other ships: the venerable 38,646grt flagship Rotterdam (V) dating from 1959, and the 33,930grt twin sisters Nieuw Amsterdam and Noordam of 1983/1984. HAL soon contracted for Westerdam to be lengthened 130ft by her original builders, Meyer Werft at Papenburg, at a cost of US$84 million, work which meant her size increased to 53,872grt and lower bed passenger numbers went up from 1,132 to 1,476. Between placing the contract and the work being carried out, however, HAL was…

In July Stena Line introduced the largest ferry by far on to their route from Rosslare, Ireland to Cherbourg, France. The arrival of Stena Vision doubled passenger sailings on the crossing and brought extensive cruise-ferry style facilities to the service. Stena’s involvement in the route date back 30 years, to the establishment of a freight-only service by Stena’s then rivals P&O. Under the Pandoro subsidiary, P&O launched the connection in late 1993 using European Pathfinder, which had come from Dover. One of the original European class freighters built to serve Zeebrugge in the mid-late 1970s, she was renamed Panther in 1996, and was replaced on the crossing in 2001 by the larger European Diplomat, one of the Korean-built Stena Searunner series. Formerly Baltic Ferry and Pride of Suffolk, European Diplomat…

Rajula was one of two sisterships, her sibling, the 8,602grt Rohna, having been delivered several weeks earlier by Hawthorn Leslie & Co Ltd at Hebburn-on-Tyne. Both vessels were requisitioned for military service during World War II, Rohna unfortunately becoming one of the worst losses of the war when she was attacked by a formation of German bombers off Algeria during a voyage from Oran to India in 1943. One of the aircraft released a radio-controlled glider bomber which hit the ship above the waterline near the aft end of the engine room, causing the ship to burst into flames, with only the starboard lifeboats capable of being lowered, many of which were quickly swamped. This resulted in the loss of 1,138 people, including 1,015 American troops, making it the single…

I was interested to see the ro-ro ferry Rusadir currently operating for Spanish ferry company Baleària. Shewasoriginally ordered by Brittany Ferries in mid-2017 and was to have been named Honfluer but, due to changing circumstances, the order was cancelled in mid-2020. The ship moved yards, not being completed until 2022. In early 2023 she was chartered by Baleària for their Málaga to Melilla route, on which she debuted in May 2023. She received her new name, Rusadir, in March, the Phoenician name for Melilla. On the technical side, the 42,400gt vessel has a passenger capacity of 1,680 and a speed of 22 knots. Her hybrid drive chain consists of an integrated electric propulsion system, which is supplied by four LNG-fuelled engines (totalling 40,000hp) driving electric generators which power motors and…

NEW CRUISE SHIP • LINER STEFAN BATORY • WORLD WAR II BATTLESHIP • COAL-FIRED STEAMER EXPLORA I EXPLORA JOURNEYS’ NEW CRUISE SHIP PLUS WHEN THE LIGHTS WENT OUT • A final cruise on Holland America Line’s 1959-built Rotterdam when the lights, indeed, went out. STEFAN BATORY AND POLISH OCEAN LINES • Jim Shaw relates a transatlantic passage taken on Polish Ocean Lines’ Stefan Batory and interweaves it with the history of the Polish shipping company. SEGWUN: GRAND OLD LADY OF THE MUSKOKA LAKES • The history of Segwun, built in 1887 in Glasgow and currently North America’s oldest coal-fired vessel in operation. HMS PRINCE OF WALES • The short but eventful career of the battleship which hunted the Bismarck and patrolled the Med, but was sunk by Japanese air power…