Genoa based ferry operator Grandi Navi Veloci has postponed the launch of its much-trumpeted new service linking Genoa, Barcelona and Tangier.

Ferry companies have halted a five-year period of decline prompted by no-frills airline competition, new figures show.

Cross Channel low-cost ferry pioneer SpeedFerries is considering a joint venture with another shipping company with the aim of taking its low-cost ferry model on to other routes.

Following on from a previous news posting, the DFDS Seaways run services from Newcastle to Bergen, Stavanger and Haugesund are now available to book online for sailings from 14th November onwards.

Italian ferry operator Moby has acquired five-ship operator Lloyd Sardegna for a rumoured euro50M ($63M). The vessels trade under the Linea dei Golfi banner and link Leghorn/Piombino with the Sardinian ports of Olbia and Cagliari. Lloyd Sardegna was set up in the 1970s by the Marsano family but came fully into Carlo Andrea Marsano?s hands when he acquired his brothers 50% stake for euro25M in 1996. Moby currently operates 15 ferries connecting Genoa, Leghorn, Piombino and Civitavecchia with Sardinia, Corsica and Elba. The line already has a 35% share of the Sardinia service. Last week it emerged that Moby had agreed to purchase DFDS 22,500-gt/1,500-passenger-capacity Princess of Scandinavia. The ship is a sister to the former Prince of Scandinavia, which was bought by Moby two years ago and now trades as Moby Drea on the Leghorn-Olbia run. Moby has rejected speculation that the new vessel will be placed onto the Naples-Olbia or Cagliari service, but suggested it could run on the highly-competitive Genoa-Porto Torres (northwest Sardinia) service, going head-to-head with Grimaldi/Grandi Navi Veloci's Excelsior and Splendid and Tirenia's Bithia and Janas. The Prince of Scandinavia was deployed by DFDS between Newcastle, Kristiansand and Gothenburg.

Our Magnificent 7 Mini Cruise service for short breaks to some of the most attractive and historic cities on the Continent is now live and online!

The final DFDS Seaways sailings between Newcastle and Kristiansand/Gothenburg will be 30th October 2006, with the final sailing to the UK on 29th October 2006.

French ferry operator Corsica Ferries has again added to its conventional ferry capacity through the acquisition of the 1993-built Phoenix Express from Japanese operator JRTT.

Italy's Grimaldi group is launching a new ro-ro service between

Crete based ferry operator Anek Lines has notified the Athens Stock Exchange that it plans to raise E100m ($127m) in a share capital increase.

A rationalisation of ferry services between the UK and Norway is taking place in a two-pronged action involving DFDS and Fjord Line. For an undisclosed sum, DFDS has purchased Fjord Line’s 31,356-gt, 1986-built Fjord Norway, which operates on the Bergen/Haugesund/Stavanger-Newcastle route. The 298 crew of the ship have been laid off as part of the deal and DFDS will in future operate this route. For its part, DFDS is closing its Newcastle-Kristiansand/Gothenburg from late October, having sold its Princess of Scandinavia earlier this year. DFDS will take over the Fjord Norway on 15 October and it will commence service after a refurbishment and renaming. The company says it intends to increase the number of sailings during the year from the current one a week in winter and two in summer. This change will leave Fjord Line to its Bergen/Haugesund/Stavanger-Hanstholm (Denmark) service.

Managers of Eurotunnel are locked in talks to reach agreement on freight train subsidies. The issue needs to be resolved by the end of November if freight trains are to continuing passing through the tunnel between France and the UK. The current level of governmental support is £52M a year, or £13,000 for each of the 4,000 freight trains. EWS, the leading UK freight train operator, has been in meetings with the UK’s Department for Transport and Eurotunnel to try and negotiate “a viable rate” for freight transits after November. An EWS spokesman stated that “such a rate we estimate to be around £300 per train. There is a big opportunity to grow the current 1.5M tonnes a year freight to some 8M tonnes by 2010.” EWS says such a rate is competitive with ferries, short-sea shipping and trucks. It is understood that ferry operators are closely watching this situation in the hope that they might have a chance to take traffic from Eurotunnel. Eurotunnel is also attempting to sort out debt of £6.3Bn.

M S Fjord Norway, operated by Fjord Line, is being sold to the Danish Company, DFDS Seaways. They will operate the traditional route between England and Western Norway with an extended schedule.

DFDS Seaways, the leading cruise ferry operator to Scandinavia and Northern Europe, has acquired Fjord Line’s m.s. Fjord Norway and will continue to operate the service between Newcastle and Western Norway.

The apparent failure of the Estonian government to agree support measures for the country’s shipping industry have resulted in the Tallink ferry Regina Baltica being transferred from Estonian to Latvian flag, in the view of finance minister Edgar Savisaar. In a Baltic Times report, Savisaar’s ministry has twice put forward proposals for subsidy support but on both occasions the plans were rejected by the government. He believes that Tallink changed the flag of the vessel, which runs between Riga and Stockholm, to benefit from incentives provided by the Latvians under their regulations. Tallink indicated that Latvia’s laws “were more favourable and economically more advantageous for shipping.” The ferry operator claims it will save euro130,000 ($166M) by operating under the Latvian flag.

Grimaldi Group supremo Emanuele Grimaldi has increased his company’s stake in Finnlines to more than 35%, vowing at the same time that this would be his last acquisition of shares in the Finnish shortsea specialist on the public market.