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Latest Ferry NewsThe latest ferry news for February 2006 is below:Tallink to open service from Sweden to LatviaDate: 25 Feb 2006Source: Shippax After signing an agreement with the Riga Freeport Authority on Thursday, Tallink says a route connecting Sweden with Latvia will be started on 7 April. Tallink will start a route between Stockholm, Sweden, and Riga, Latvia in April. The Estonian operator plans to deploy the 1979-built Fantaasia between the two capitals. Departing Stockholm with destination Riga on 7 April, the vessel will be sailing under the Estonian flag. The Fantaasia is scheduled to depart Stockholm every second day at 5 p.m. The departure time from Riga will be identical. Enn Pant, CEO of AS Tallink Grupp, commented: "We are very glad that we have finally signed the agreement. This will be a great opportunity for the company to expand and grow its business and also allows us to play a small role in Latvia’s continuing development in the tourism sector." Last autumn Tallink said a second vessel could be deployed on the Riga route before the summer season, “if the traffic develops positively.” Stena Line quash HSS rumoursDate: 23 Feb 2006Source: Lloyds List Stena Line has dismissed reports that the company will decide on the future of the HSS vessel Stena Discovery in April. Spokesman Joakim Kenndal told Fairplay: “I don’t know where this has come from. We are undertaking a fleet review but there’s no date set for making a decision about the Discovery.” The future of Stena’s three HSS fast ferry services hangs in the balance as rising fuel costs and falling passenger numbers reduce earnings. Passenger numbers on the Discovery’s Harwich-Hook of Holland route have fallen by 20% over the past three years to about 800,000. Meanwhile the HSS Stena Explorer, which operates across the Irish Sea between Holyhead and Dun Laoghaire, has problems of its own: the service has been suspended until 3 March after the vessel hit an obstruction on its approach to Holyhead. Harwich - Hook fast ferry service future consideredDate: 22 Feb 2006Source: BBC News Stena Lines fast ferry service linking Harwich to the Hook of Holland could soon disappear, the BBC has revealed. Nine years after Stena Line introduced its service between Harwich in Essex to the Hook of Holland, the ferry firm is reviewing its future. Stena Line said passenger numbers have dropped by a fifth over the last three years to 800,000. Stena Line will remain in the passenger and freight business on the Harwich to Hook of Holland route, but using slower ships. It will be be a seven-hour crossing, rather than three. Ferries have been hit by the budget airlines with Easyjet flying eight times a day to Amsterdam from Luton and Stansted. The flight time of 45 minutes compares with 3 hours 40 minutes on the fast ferry. Stena Line told BBC Look East that the fast ferry is under review with an announcement in April. Ramgate to Ostend ferry service now availableDate: 20 Feb 2006Source: DirectFerries.co.uk At Directferries.co.uk, we are always trying to improve our product by adding new ferry services. We are therefore pleased to announce that we are now working with Transeuropa Ferries. Transeuropa Ferries operate a 3 times daily service between the ports of Ramsgate in the South East of England and Ostend in Belgium. The service takes approximately 4 hours, and is the only direct cross channel link between England and Belgium. Prices start from as little as £49 each way for a car and up to 9 people (for travel up to end of March). For information and booking, please visit our Transeuropa Ferries page. P&O ferry business could be sold offDate: 20 Feb 2006Source: Fairplay Strong market speculation circulating in London suggests that DP World, which is expected to complete its takeover of P&O on 2 March, has received a number of unsolicited approaches concerning the purchase of the P&O Ferries business. One shipping analyst told Fairplay: "I am not surprised at all that such approaches have supposedly been made. Given that DP World's key business is port operations, the P&O Ferries activity could be seen to be hived off." The speculation suggested names such as Macquarie Bank, which has acquired two UK ferry companies, WightLink and the Isle of Man Steam Packet Co, over the past year. A number of other private equity groups were also linked to the approaches. For its part, DP World says it has no plans to sell off the ferry business but as more than one analyst suggested, selling the ferry side would remove an operation that has been through a difficult time over the past few years and allow it to focus totally on growing the ports business. Portsmouth wins Vigo serviceDate: 15 Feb 2006Source: Lloyds register Spanish ship owner Acciona Trasmediterranea will open a regular goods and passenger ro-ro service between the Spanish port of Vigo and Britain's Portsmouth in April 2007. The port authority of Vigo, in North West Spain, confirmed today that Trasmediterranea had opted for a link from Vigo to the port of Portsmouth instead of Bristol because of the ports proximity to London. Trasmediterranea, recently rebaptised Acciona Trasmediterranea, will initially add Portsmouth to a service between Vigo and France within two months transporting goods only. A fully fledged service between Vigo and Portsmouth Ferry port will not come into operation until April 2007. Spanish construction group Acciona is a major shareholder of Trasmediterranea. P&O shareholders vote to accept DP World takeoverDate: 14 Feb 2006Source: Lloyds List P&O shareholders voted overwhelmingly in favour of DP World’s $6.8bn takeover offer late yesterday but not before the board had faced angry questioning over the sale of the company to a foreign buyer from a small but vociferous band of opponents. More than 99% of shareholders voted through a series of resolutions in support of P&O’s sale to the Dubai ports company at an extraordinary general meeting held just days after a rival bid by Singapore’s PSA Corp was withdrawn. Chairman Sir John Parker confirmed that the new owner would continue to use the P&O name that had helped boost the price to be paid for the ports and ferries group to an unprecedented level. “DP World see that part of the value of P&O is in its name and they intend to retain that brand,” Sir John said. Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, chairman of DP World, told Lloyd’s List he was “very happy” with the result which he said was a vote of confidence in his company and its plans for the future of P&O. The structure of the greatly enlarged group would be determined very soon, he said at the end of the EGM. Mr Bin Sulayem also moved to dispel concern about the future of P&O’s ferry operations. “We have bought everything including the ferries and we will look at every asset and how to grow them,” he promised. After the EGM, former P&O chairman Lord Sterling praised the board for what had “not been an easy decision”. He also paid tribute to Dubai – “fast becoming one of the world’s great city states”. P&O will be delisted next month. The timetable is for shareholders to receive their money by March 16. During a series of stockholder meetings at the Wembley Conference Centre, Sir John stressed that P&O was not up for sale when it first received an approach from DP World last November, followed by another from PSA Corp. That was subsequently topped by Dubai which is paying 520 pence per share. PSA, which had offered 470 pence, quit the takeover battle late last week. Both approaches were unsolicited, Sir John told the meeting. Furthermore, the final offer from DP World represented a 71% premium over the price P&O shares were trading at before the Dubai ports company first made contact. That had raised the value of P&O by £1.6bn ($2.8bn) since the first bid was tabled. While non-executive directors and the chairman will step down as soon as the sale is completed, Sir John said P&O’s chief executive Robert Woods would be staying on to assist with the integration process. Despite the amount P&O will be sold for, small shareholders attacked directors for recommending the bid. “I am astounded by your lack of patriotism,” Captain David Hawker, a fierce opponent for the deal and a familiar shareholder dissident, told the meeting of around 200 people including a delegation from Dubai. “Seafarers built the British Empire, he continued, to applause from other individuals. Dubai Now Looks Favourite For P&ODate: 13 Feb 2006Source: Ananova The battle for control of ports group P&O now looks to be over after the Singapore-based company PSA declined to improve its offer. The decision has effectively handed victory to Dubai Ports World, which sparked the tussle in November when it tabled an approach worth £3.3bn. The Port of Singapore Authority - owned by Singapore's state-run investment firm Temasek - briefly took pole position last month with an offer worth £3.5bn. DP World then returned with a knock-out bid of £3.9bn. DP World's proposal will now go before P&O shareholders at a meeting at Wembley Conference Centre on Monday afternoon. With DP World ports in locations including Abu Dhabi, Adelaide and Busan in Korea, the combined operation will have 51 terminals and a presence in 30 countries. P&O's operations and its historic brand will survive, with DP World expected to keep the London-based business separate. It is also forecast to maintain ownership of the ferries arm, even though it does not have any experience in this area. Shares in P&O dropped sharply amid disappointment that PSA had not improved its offer. If the deal goes through it will end some 168 years of independence for P&O. Attempts to re-establish HoverspeedDate: 10 Feb 2006Source: Lloyds List Hoverspeed, the Dover company that until last November operated fast ferries to Calais, is trying to re-establish itself since parent company Sea Containers pulled the plug. Reported to be leading the attempt to re-establish Hoverspeed, possibly with a management buyout, is the tough-talking Australian managing director Geoffrey Ede who still keeps an office near the now disused Dover international hoverport. But he and his colleagues have been warned by the ships officers’ union Numast that if Hoverspeed should re-emerge on the English Channel it will continue its battle to force the company to give it recognition. Numast has already claimed victory when, last year, the Central Arbitration Committee upheld its application for recognition by the company for collective bargaining. A Numast spokesman says that since the decision in its favour Hoverspeed has “tried to wheel out every excuse in the book” for continuing to refuse any dialogue with the union. “This is unacceptable and we will fight to ensure the recognition ruling is enforced on whoever picks up the remnants of Hoverspeed,” he adds. Hoverspeed, at an earlier stage operating hovercraft to France, obtained its name as a result of a merger between Seaspeed in Dover and Hoverlloyd at Ramsgate. Seaspeed was originally an arm of British Rail while Hoverlloyd was a Swedish company jointly owned by Swedish Lloyd and Swedish America Line. Neither was making profits so they merged in 1981 to be based at Dover. Three years later Hoverspeed was sold to its own directors, who in 1986 sold the company to Sea Containers, which eventually ditched the hovercraft and brought in Seacats between Dover and Calais. But there were still not sufficient profits for Sea Containers so it axed the service in November, making scores of people redundant PSA pulls out of running for P&ODate: 10 Feb 2006Source: Lloyds Register PSA International has pulled out of the acquisition of UK port and ferry operator P&O. The Singapore-based terminal operator, which had already given indications that the price was above the level it considered reasonable, said today it would not be posting an offer document to P&O stockholders. Rival bidder DP World of Dubai had raised its initial offer of 443 pence to 520 pence per share, which was accepted by the P&O board with a 13 February deadline for counter-bid submissions. These would have been considered at 546 pence or more, but PSA, which had offered 470 pence, has decided not to increase its offer bid. "For PSA to pay more than this price would not be compatible with commercial business sense and PSA's future success," the statement explained. The decision paves the way for DP World to add to its 2004 acquisition of CSX Terminals, and move into third in the global ranking behind Hutchison Ports Holdings and PSA. Stena Line plans increased capacity on Polish routeDate: 8 Feb 2006Source: Stena Line Stena Line wants to increase capacity on its Karlskrona Gdynia ferry route by next summer. The Swedish operator’s capacity on the route presently does not meet demand, company representatives said during a press conference in Kiel on 7 February. While the two ferries presently deployed on the route (Stena Baltica and Stena Nordica) each handle 200 freight units, there is demand for 300 units. The increased capacity would be needed by next summer. Two alternatives are being evaluated: either the deployment of a third ship on the route, or a replacement of the two present ships with larger vessels. Stena Baltica, built in 1986 and extensively rebuilt last year, has capacity for 1,800 lanemeters and 2,400 passengers. Stena Nordica has capacity for 1,950 lanemeters and 450 passengers. The vessel was built in 2000. Steam Packet announce reduced check-in timesDate: 8 Feb 2006Source: Steam Packet Reductions in passenger and car check-in times announced by The Isle of Man Steam Packet Company will present sea travellers with an even faster travel option. The deadline check-in time for a foot passenger will now be just 25 minutes before the scheduled sailing time and for vehicles 45 minutes. Rupert Trevelyan, Steam Packet Director of Marketing said, ‘We see this further improvement to our services as a boon for our customers. We all know how valuable our own time is and especially when travelling. In addition to offering the best possible fares we are now able to offer the fastest check-in times possible for travellers to and from the Island. Whilst still complying with security regulations, the enhanced facility’s provided by our latest computerised systems allows us to pass on such benefits to our customers’. Check-in times for travel taken during the peak TT Race Festival period in May/June remain as advised by the Company. Bookings for this world famous festival are ahead of those taken at the same time last year with a huge amount of interest being shown for the TT Centenary to be held in 2007. Steam Packet vessels are currently and systematically undergoing overhaul and refurbishment work in readiness for the 2006 season. Corsica Ferries to bid fo SNCM ConcessionDate: 7 Feb 2006Source: Lloyds List Corsica Ferries is to bid for the government concession to run services linking the French mainland with Corsica. The concession is currently held by SNCM for its link to Marseilles. The operator has built up its business on services from Toulon and Nice, on which aid is given ‘per passenger’ rather than to the ferry line itself. Pierre Mattei, general manager at Corsica Ferries, said the operator carried 750,000 passengers last year, beating the number carried by SNCM on its Marseilles route for the first time. In 2005 Corsica Ferries carried a total of 2.85M passengers, more than 2M to Corsica from different French and Italian ports, and posted turnover of €172M ($206M). Toulon Chamber of Commerce president Jacques Bianchi called on the government to extend the successful ‘aid to passenger’ scheme to all routes. However, SNCM’s privatisation process could be put in jeopardy if the concession was awarded to Corsica Ferries as SNCM’s two main shareholders – Veolia Transport and Butler Capital Partners – could activate a clause that stipulates they would be released if the public service concession were not maintained. Color Line denies plot to force rival outDate: 6 Feb 2006Source: Lloyds List Color Line has scotched reports that it is offering free passage on its Norway Denmark services in a bid to blow competitor Fjord Line out of the water. The Norwegian owner said it attracted a record 6,900 bookings last week after newspapers reported passage was available for nothing on the Hirtshals to Bergen ferry route in a bid to crush its rival. However, a company spokesman said the free offer was limited to Wednesday travel through January and February, adding that the deal was a “normal” part of seasonal operations during a period when operators had to “create” traffic. He said the service, which started last April, had attracted passengers in numbers that added up to a money-making operation. It had already filled 30% of its target passenger slots on board Prinsesse Ragnhild (35,438 gt) for this year. Color Line information director Helge Otto Mathisen said: “What is important for us is the income per guest that we achieve and that is quite satisfactory at the moment. This is not a new issue.” He said figures submitted to Norway’s competition authorities showed that Color Line was at least making money on the route, though he declined to give details. “Maybe we are the only ferry company in Europe that can say we earned money in 2005,” he added. He said the start-up of the route had coincided with “165,000 new visitors coming to Bergen. We have opened up a new market on Norway’s west coast and the export industry has also gained new possibilities after the opening up of the new highway out of Hirtshal into Germany”. Mr Mathisen added that 25% of recent bookings had come from Germany. World Cup by Ferry GuideDate: 4 Feb 2006Source: Directferries.co.uk The FIFA World Cup 2006 - this summer's greatest sporting event will be held in Germany from 9th June to 9th July. 32 qualified nations including England, will be taking part at 12 football stadiums throughout Germany. With ferry ports all along the coast of Northern Europe, taking a ferry this summer could be the cheap and convenient option to watch your team and the world's biggest football stars. That's why we have put together a World cup by ferry guide so that you can view the fixtures, stadium details and find the closest port to each venue. Get ahead of the game and book your trip early to avoid disappointment. Visit our World Cup by Ferry Guide for information and booking. Freight Shippers to go DirectDate: 3 Feb 2006Source: Directferries.co.uk DirectFerries.co.uk has launched a new online freight ferry website for the commercial side of their ferry business. Developed along the same lines as their market leading passenger ferry site, www.directferriesfreight.co.uk features information on the freight services of over 45 Ferry Companies, 171 freight ferry ports and 426 freight ferry routes. With the most extensive product of any European Freight ferry website, services offered include Cross Channel, North Sea, Irish Sea, Baltic Sea, freight services across the Mediterranean and all points in between. Users of the Direct Ferries Freight website will be able to view information on all Freight ferry services Europe wide, and search live timetables and fares online. The new site is targeted towards the white van man, truck drivers, removals companies and all commercial vehicles. It is anticipated that the site will be available in most European languages by the summer of 2006. For more information about our freight ferry services, please click Direct Ferries Freight or call 0871 222 3315. Tallink aims at European EmpireDate: 2 Feb 2006Source: Lloyd's Register Tallink Grupp, the rapidly expanding Estonian ferry company, plans to continue to grow both its core ferry business and to expand into other leisure activities, according to its chairman Enn Pant. Tallink has made a bid for Silja, the Finnish ferry group put up for sale by its parent company Sea Containers, and it has four newbuildings on order. “We have already realised our dream to dominate the Baltic. Next we shall aim at dominance in the ferry business in the entire Northern Europe,” Pant told the Turun Sanomat daily. Yesterday in Tallinn, the cornerstone was laid for the Tallink Spa Hotel that will be owned by Tallink’s largest shareholder, AS Infortar, and operated by a Tallink subsidiary company. Pant and businessman Ain Hanschmidt reportedly plan an €300M ($361.6M) leisure complex in an eastern suburb of Tallinn. Stena Line assesses Scandlines bidDate: 1 Feb 2006Source: Lloyds list Stena Line, the Swedish ferry operator, is considering whether to bid for German-Danish Ferry Operator Scandlines. It is also evaluating opportunities to increase freight capacity on its Harwich Hook of Holland Ferry service. 'It would be very natural for us to acquire Scandlines as we already co-operate with them,' said Joakim Kenndal, head of corporate communications at Stena Line. The Gothenburg-based company and Scandlines operate a joint service between Helsingor and Helsingborg. The two companies' networks complement each other well, he added. Kenndal told Fairplay that the German and Danish governments are preparing a prospectus ahead of inviting bids for Scandlines, which should take place in March. 'We haven’t had any talks with them yet, but we will be active once the prospectus is ready.' Stena Line is also considering expanding freight capacity on Harwich-Hook of Holland route, currently served by the 3,400-lane metre Stena Britannica and 2,500-lane metre Stena Hollandica plus an HSS fast ferry. The freight volume has grown between 4% and 7% a year and the growth seems sustained. Lengthening the two ro-paxes is the most likely option to achieve the capacity increase, Kenndal said. Scandlines continues to operate Spodsbjerg Taars ferryDate: 1 Feb 2006Source: Ship Pax The Danish-German ferry operator Scandlines won the concession for the Danish domestic route between Spodsbjerg and Taars for the next five years. The contract now signed with Storebæltsbron is for five years. It will come into effect on 1 May this year. Storebæltsbroen is the competing bridge, connecting the two major islands of Funen and Zealand. There were other ferry operators competing for the contract, including Germany’s Förde Reederei. Scandlines plans to maintain the ferry route deploying the two ferries FRIGG SYDFYEN and ODIN SYDFYEN |
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