10 •^ Summer 2018^ •^ http://www.shipsmonthly.com
P&O ACT TO FILL FREIGHT GAP
NORTH SEA
After DFDS Seaways closed
its Rosyth-Zeebrugge service
following fire damage to route
vessel Finlandia Seaways
(2000/11,530gt), P&O Ferries
moved quickly to increase capacity
on the service from Middlesbrough
Teesport to Zeebrugge by 25per cent and create a gateway to
Scotland via the north-eastern
port, which currently handles more
than 100,000 freight units a year.
The 12-sailings-a-week service
is provided by chartered vessels
Bore Song (2011/25,586gt) and the
Godby Shipping-owned Mistral
(1999/10,471gt), both taking 12
drivers, with sailings integratedwith a rail service to Mossend in
Scotland, enabling freight to be
moved easily from one to the other.Currently the Steam Packet provide year-round Douglas-Heysham sailings
and winter weekend Douglas-Birkenhead trips with ro-pax vessel Ben-My-
Chree (1998/12,747gt), seen in the Mersey in January. Nicholas leach Ro-ro Bore Song at Teesport on
P&O’s service to Zeebrugge.FERRYRussell Plummer
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NEW NAME • The latest addition
to Canary Islands ferry specialist
Lineas Fred. Olsen, the Austal Auto
Express 113m catamaran Leonora
Christina, will be introduced as
Buganvilla Express after moving
south from the Baltic in September.
She was delivered by Austal in 2011
and can carry 1,400 passengers.HSC EXPRESS • The 91.3m Incat,
which sailed as Express for P&O
Ferries on the Irish Sea North Channel
routes from Larne to Cairnryan and
Troon until November 2015, left
lay-up in the Baltic during May for
a delivery voyage to Motril, Spain
after being chartered by Spanish
operators Balearia/Armas. Carrying
836 passengers and 220 cars, the
1998-built craft went from P&O to
Nordic HSC for an unsuccessful
spell with Sweden’s Golandsbolaget
before spending the summer 2017 on
a Viking Line high-speed Baltic service.SICILIA • Seen arriving at Barcelona
from Ibiza on 5 March, the 24,409gt
Balearia vessel was delivered as Trinacria
from Visentini in December 2002. After
purchase by Stena RoRo in 2015 she
was quickly chartered by Balearia and
named Sicilia. The vessel was bought
by Kanalion Maritime in 2017.CONNEMARA • Brittany Ferries’
first Ireland-Spain route opened on
6 May when the chartered Visentini-
built ro-pax vessel Connemara
left Santander at 1200, with a first
arrival in Cork at 1500 next day. The
service was to have started at the
end of April, but Brittany Ferries
wanted to get the vessel right for
the new venture, with a dry-docking
and interior upgrade package at
the Astander Yard in Santander.
Chartered from Stena RoRo for
two years, Connemara runs under
Brittany Ferries’ ‘Economie’ brand.NEWS IN BRIEF
E-FLEXER • The fifth vessel in
the Stena E-Flexer ro-pax class
will be delivered from China’s
Avic Weihai Shipyard in 2021 to
begin a ten-year bareboat charter
with DFDS Seaways, replacing
Calais Seaways (1991/28,833gt)
on the Dover-Calais route. With
a capacity of 3,100 lane metres
and up to 1,000 passengers, the
42,000gt vessel will become the
largest DFDS ferry on the English
Channel. She will be designed
to the highest technical and
environmental standards, and
twin Caterpillar engines delivering
25,200kW will bring a 25 per cent
reduction in fuel consumption
compared with the ferries
currently in Channel service.APPOINTMENT • Captain Elwyn
Dop has been named by Condor
Ferries as their new Operations
Director, replacing Captain Fran
Collins, who left the company to
take up a new position as chief
executive at Red Funnel Ferries.
Mr Dop, who has been working
as a consultant and advisor to
Condor since 2017, will direct
activities across the company’s
fleet of four ships and five ports.
He is a qualified master mariner
with previous Operations Director
level experience at Wightlink,
and will be based in Poole. Fran
Collins has spent 16 years with
Condor in roles including vessel
master and Director of Ports &
Guest Services, before working
the last four years as Executive
Director of Operations.TYNWALD TO BUY STEAM PACKET
ISLE OF MAN
The Tynwald, the Isle of Man
government, is set to take control
of the services operated by the
Isle of Man Steam Packet Co
and put the operation back in
the hands of islanders following
the £124 million purchase of the
company from present owner, the
Portuguese private bank Banco
Esparto Santo.
Chief Minister Howard Quayle
described the potential deal as aonce-in-a-generation opportunity
but stressed that day-to-day running
of services will remain in the
hands of the current management
team with a new strategic sea
service agreement to be put in
place over a 12-month period.
The Steam Packet, the world’s
oldest passenger shipping
company with a history stretching
back 188 years, has been owned
by banks or city hedge funds
since Sea Containers sold in 2003
to Montagu Private Equity for£142 million. Australian financial
institution Macquarie Bank paid
£225 million to take over in 2005,
and the company passed to
Lisbon-based Banco Esparto Santo
in 2011 for an undisclosed fee.
Steam Packet Chief Executive
Mark Woodward said: ‘I am
pleased to say a deal has been
reached, which will consolidate the
excellent relationship between the
company and Government and
deliver continued investment and
sea services to the Isle of Man.’