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Spanish short sea shipping line Trasmediterranea, part of Acciona, is to start a new ferry
operation between Portsmouth and Bilbao in May.“We are delighted to welcome Acciona
Trasmediterranea to Portsmouth.With a focus on providing a better service for freight to and
from Spain, this new service will extend our offer providing different opportunities for both
freight and passenger customers,” said port manager Martin Putman.The ship servicing the
route to Bilbao is the 172m LOA FORTUNY, built in 2001, with capacity for up to 1000
passengers and 330 vehicles.Three sailings/week will be offered in the June-September high
season and two/week in May-June and September-December
Boulogne pulls a fast one
CCI Boulogne has announced a €20M
investment in a new ro-ro berth, due into
service in June 2007, dedicated to fast jet
cargo carriers. The stainless steel, BGVs
(Bateau Grande Vitesse) are trimarans and
will link Boulogne with Drammen in
Norway, Santander in northern Spain and
Sheerness in Kent, England.
Orders have been placed by Norwegian
company NorFerries for three BGVs.
Two 180m loa vessels will have a capacity
for 94 trailers and one larger vessel
will be able to cater for 175 trailers.
All three vessels will have an average
speed of 35 knots.The biggest one will
operate on the southern route between
Boulogne and Santander and the other
two on the northern routes between
Boulogne, Sheerness and Drammen. Journey
times are touted as: Santander–
Boulogne, 20h; Boulogne–Sheerness, 2h;
and Boulogne–Drammen, 20h.
Boulogne’s BGV ferry berth will be
located on the site of the former Comilog
ferro-manganese plant that closed in 2003.
“We are convinced that the BGV service
can attract road hauliers between the
countries it will operate to and from,
notably for the transport of fish, seafood
and fresh produce,” said CCI Boulogne’s
president Francis Leroy. “This is an important
way to support EU initiatives to
move some freight cargo from the roads.”
Confirmation of where the vessels are
Cavotec in action.
SHIPPING NEWS
to be built must be made soon as construction
is expected to begin this summer,
so that services can start next year.
“Colorful”
MacGregor
MacGregor, part of Cargtotec group, has
received an order for ro-ro access equipment
for two high speed ferries for Norwegian
ship owner Color Line. The
equipment will be delivered in 2007-
2008.The order is valued at around €9M.
MacGregor will design and install bow
doors and ramps, stern doors and ramps,
hoistable tilting ramps, hoistable car decks,
car deck access ramps and pilot and passenger
doors.The ferries will be built at
Aker Yards shipyard in Rauma, Finland.
The first vessel will be operated between
Kristiansand and Hirtshals, and the second
between Larvik and Hirtshals.
● The world order book for new ferries
at the end of February 2006 stood at 45
vessels, according to Sweden-based research
and publication company ShipPax
Information. Capacity of the ferries under
construction was 51,630 passengers
with 14,122 berths for overnight accommodation,
and a car deck capacity of 8170
cars or 81,668 lane/metres.
The total order book was estimated
at US$4.38B, of which North European
shipyards accounted for about half.With
a 73% market share, the EU is still highly
competitive on the international market.
“There is still a need for a modernised
fleet to replace old ships...order books
are likely to remain fairly strong for ropax
ferries,” said Klas Brogren, managing
director of ShipPax Information. “Current
trends for sophisticated interiors even
on ro-pax ferries may result in the industry
re-defining such vessels as “ro-cruise.”
12
Mooring with ropes is a time consuming and risk-laden business often resulting
in a dangerous and inefficient operation. The Cavotec Group now offers a solution
to all traditional mooring problems; The MoorMaster ® automated mooring system.
The system operates at the push
of a button, allowing automatic
mooring and unmooring of
ships in less than 12 seconds.
Thanks to its innovative design
and programming, the
MoorMaster ® can actively
control ship motion alongside
a quay, ensuring an efficient
loading and unloading process.
Furthermore, MoorMaster ® has
shown to be the proven solution for ports exposed to swell and long waves, for
ships of any size.
Fast, safe and secure.
The Cavotec Group is an internationally operating group
consisting of 7 manufacturing Centres of Excellence, 5
local manufacturing units and 25 national sales companies.
Locally present throughout the world, the Cavotec Group
is a world leader in supplying innovative power and control
systems to mobile equipment.
For more information, please email us at info@cavotec.com or visit our website www.cavotec.com
IN ACTION 36
GNSL moves
Geest North Sea Line (GNSL), acquired
by Samskip last year, is restructuring its
operations in the Scandinavian and Baltic
markets, including Russia.The changes
will boost capacity and provide better integration
between these former Samskip
services and GNSL’s established intermodal
network based on Rotterdam.
There are major changes to the company’s
Swedish and Latvian services, larger
ships, a switch from Terneuzen to Rotterdam,
a new hub operation based on
Helsingborg and new direct calls in Denmark
and Lithuania.
Currently GNSL links the UK, North
Continent and Sweden with a weekly
service calling Hull in the UK,Terneuzen
in the Netherlands and Wallhamn and
Halmstad in Sweden, while GNSL’s sister
company Van Dieren Maritime provides
a daily rail link between Herne in Germany
and Älmhult and Norrköping in
Sweden.The weekly Latvian service links
Riga with Moerdijk in Holland and Hull
and Blyth in the UK.A southbound call
in Sölvesborg, Sweden, is also offered.
The Swedish service is being totally
revised. Ports of call will become Hull,
Rotterdam, Ålborg in Denmark, and
Helsingborg and Varberg in Sweden while
a 500 TEU ship will be drawn from the
Geest pool to replace the 350 TEU vessel
that currently operates on this service, thus
providing a 50% boost in capacity. The
port rotation becomes Hull – Rotterdam
-Ålborg - Helsingborg – Varberg – Hull.
In May, Moerdijk, Blyth, Sölvesborg and
Riga will go out of the Latvian service. In
will come Helsingborg (thus giving a twice
weekly link between the new hub port and
Hull) Ventspils and Klaipeda.Again, capacity
will be increased, with two 350 TEU
ships replacing two 210 TEU ships.
Rotterdam will be connected to Latvia
and Lithuania by transhipping over
Helsingborg, the services being synchronised
for same-day connection. “The
switch of the Swedish service from
Terneuzen to Rotterdam Shortsea Terminal
means we can plug in to the road, rail
and barge service network already used by
Geest for its UK, Irish and Spanish services,”
said GNSL’s commercial director
Gerard de Groot.
April 2006