Due to the continued high level of diesel fuel prices, SpeedFerries will be introducing a general price increase. Prices will remain at existing level until Tuesday 4 July 2006 to allow customers a final chance to secure tickets at current price.

Alicante Port sees ferry services once again from today, 17 years after the last ferry left the port on a link to the Balearic Islands.

A step towards the completion of Tallink’s acquisition of Silja Line was taken on Thursday, when a majority of Tallink shareholders at an Extraordinary General Meeting voted in favour of the deal.

Today is the deadline Euroferries Limited gave itself to close its purchase deal on Rochester's fast ferry boat.

Sea Containers’ sale of the Finnish cruise ferry group Silja to the rapidly-expanding Estonian ferry company Tallink has unleashed a wave of emotion-laden comments in the Finnish media. Silja Line is one of the best known brands in Finland and Sweden. While some of the comments have taken a cool look at the deal, some take an openly hostile view of the transfer of Silja’s ownership to Estonia and the worst cases border on racism. Expressing a positive view, Rami Vilander wrote on the Internet shipping debate forum Ferries and Cruise Ships of the Baltic Sea: “I am happy that Tallink bought Silja. In the future [Silja’s] newbuildings perhaps will be built in Finland as Tallink has had the habit of doing.”

A major new IW Council study into cross-Solent ferries will explore whether the authority can help create a new route to the mainland.

P&O Ferries is considering its legal options after an appeal against a ruling that said the company received illegal state aid, was turned down by the European Court of Justice on 1 June. The new ruling from the court in Luxembourg confirms that P&O received subsidies from Basque institutions when it launched its Portsmouth-Bilbao line 15 years ago.

Estonian ferry operator Tallink has suffered a setback in its expansion strategy for the Baltic Sea region this week with the surprise termination of its newly launched passenger and cargo service between Germany and Estonia.

French ferry operator SNCM is now officially a private company after receiving partial approval from the European Commission for the move and after the company's board welcomed the arrival of private shareholders Veolia Transport and Butler Capital Partners. SNCM's new largest shareholder, private investment fund Butler Capital Partner, will hold 38% of the company. Transport specialist Veolia Transport, which will run SNCM on a day-to-day basis, will be the second largest shareholder with 28%. The French state will retain 25%, under control of the European Commission and for a limited period of time. Finally, 9% will go to the staff. In the longer term, it is expected that Butler and the state will withdraw, leaving Veolia in full command of the company.

Wightlink is to invest up to £10 million in two new ferries for its Yarmouth to Lymington route.

We are pleased to announce that we are the first agent to offer SpeedFerries tickets online and in real time.

Brittany Ferries' flagship vessel which was damaged by a freak wave last Sunday returned to service on Friday with refurbishment still under way.

Stena Line has cutback on the sailings of the HSS Discovery on the Harwich, UK-Hook of Holland, Netherlands route and the HSS Explorer which links Holyhead, UK with Dun Laoghaire, Ireland.

State-controlled French Mediterranean ferry operator SNCM is set to pass into private sector control today following yesterday’s approval by the European Commission of its proposed takeover by Butler Capital Partners and Veolia Transport, writes Andrew Spurrier in Paris .

Grimaldi Group of Naples has started a new route linking Civitavecchia, Catania and Valletta with the ro-pax vessel Euroferry Malta (formerly Louis-Dreyfus-owned, Martinoli-operated Massilia and Levantina Trasporti’s Linda).