In this edition: Latest HSC car ferry delivered. Also inside: Istanbul ferries - 100 million passengers/year, cruise ferries from the Baltic Sea, Interferry - voice of the ferry industry
Date: 21 October 2010
Focus on ferry infrastructure
Many realised the importance of ferries as a reliable infrastructure when the air traffic in Europe came to a halt due to ash from the Icelandic volcano. The ferry business boomed during those weeks. Just a few months later, it seems that this has been forgotten by the politicians when ferry companies ask for their governments’ support to establish even more efficient and environmental ferry services.
Istanbul - the city in the world most dependent on ferries
With many people commuting daily across the Bosphorus Strait, the city of Istanbul is very dependent on ferry services. There are also two bridges, but they do not connect directly to the city centre. The city’s ferries carry the largest number of passengers in the world every day.
IDO – transporting millions of passengers safely and efficiently
Since Dr Ahmet Paksoy was appointed general manager of IDO in May 2004, he has focused on introducing world standards for waterborne transportation by making safety and customer satisfaction top priorities. He is credited with merging City Line Ferry Services with IDO and making IDO the world leader in terms of the number of passengers carried, fleet size and ports of call serviced.
Virtu Ferries, Malta in steady growth with the latest HSC car ferry delivered
With the delivery of the high-speed catamaran Jean de la Valette, one of the largest of its kind in the world, Virtu Ferries has strengthened its position as a vital commercial link between Malta and Italy.
Austal, the world’s leading yard for high speed craft
“Listen – design – build,” says Andrew Bellamy, the COO of Austal. “This is why we are the world’s leading supplier of aluminium custom-built commercial and defence vessels. Our competitive strength is a design office that can work with any customer to make an aluminium vessel that fits the customer’s expectations.
The Attica Group in Greece – the country with most day ferries
The Attica Group is engaged in the passenger shipping industry, and its Superfast Ferries and Blue Star Ferries in the Adriatic Sea and Greek domestic waters offer a unique travel experience.
Taming high speed traffic in hectic Hong Kong, the world centre for HSC passenger craft
As the world centre for HSC passenger craft, Hong Kong is showing the way. High-speed ferries were introduced decades ago to serve the route between Hong Kong and the entertainment city of Macau. Today, they play an important role in linking Hong Kong to the New Territories and the Pearl River Delta on mainland China, carrying almost 25 million passengers a year.
BC Ferries – building a safety culture
British Columbia Ferries (BC Ferries) is one of the largest ferry operators in the world, providing a year-round vehicle and passenger service on 25 routes to 47 terminals using a fleet of 36 vessels. In 2010, BC Ferries carried 21 million passengers and 8.3 million vehicles up and down the coast of British Columbia.
Viking Line – cruise ferries from the centre of the Baltic Sea
It’s around 2pm on an August afternoon in the city of Mariehamn in Åland. Two Viking Line cruise ferries are entering the port ready to berth, while two other ferries are leaving. This small island harbour is visited by 15 to 20 ferries every day. This is a surprising number considering that the total population of Åland is only about 27,000.
Norway – a country dependent on double-ended ferries and a leading user of gas fuel
It is well known that Norway is a mountainous country with long, deep fjords. When driving along the coast, you are completely dependent on ferries to cross the fjords. The crossing does not take long, but if you miss the ferry you may have to wait quite some time. And there is nothing to do at the ferry terminals – there is just the ferry ramp and little else, as the terminals are where the road ends, not where people live.
Latest ‘overnight ferry’ contracted now under construction
The latest contract for two SOLAS ferries was signed this Spring between Norway’s Fjord Line and Bergen Group Fosen (previously named Fosen Mekaniske Verksteder AS).
The HSC code 2000 restricts more environmentally friendly lightweight craft
When the High-Speed Craft (HSC) Code was developed by the IMO, the conventional ship industry was concerned about the competition from lightweight craft. A speed-based formula to define a high-speed craft was created for the application of the new Code. Clause 1.4.30 of HSC 2000 stipulates a high-speed craft to be a vessel that meets a defined speed at its design operational displacement.
New carbon sandwich ferries for Sweden with lower fuel consumption
The carbon sandwich concept has become a proven construction technology. This started with very advanced naval vessels like the ‘Visby class’ corvettes built by the Karlskrona yard in Sweden and then used for raising boats, both sail and motor.
All MES ferries could become the industry standard within 20nm
“P&O Ferries has seven years’ experience of operating the two passenger RoRo ferries Pride of Kent and Pride of Canterbury using Marine Escape Systems (MES) only, as equivalence to the SOLAS lifeboat requirements. This experience has clearly indicated to us that, on safety grounds alone, the Dry-Shod MES are preferable to open lifeboats and davit-launched liferafts,” says John Garner of P&O Ferries.
STX - building more All MES for P&O Ferries
The two new ferries that P&O Ferries has on order with STX Finland – the Spirit of Britain and the Spirit of France, which will be delivered in January and September 2011 – are fitted with six Marinark MES stations, have a total raft capacity of 2,780 persons and 10% additional capacity in davit-handled rafts for infants and the infirm. There are four rescue craft for towing the liferafts. The MES provided is the RFD Marinark.
Future of the ferry and RoRo industry
For 125 years, Flensburger shipyard (FSG) has built all kinds of vessels up to 80,000 dwt. Over the past ten years, FSG has strongly focused on designing and building specialised tonnage with the emphasis on RoRo and RoPax vessels as well as sophisticated naval support vessels. DNV has interviewed the leading management of FSG: Uwe Otto, Executive Vice President and Head of Sales, and Dr Broder Hinrichsen, Executive Vice President and Head of Design.
LNG fuel for ferries for the future?
In response to the environmental challenge facing the Baltic Sea, the IMO has established an Emission Control Area (ECA) in order to reduce SOx and NOx emissions. This is a step-by-step development that extensively affects the ferry services and other shipping in the Baltic.
Will the strict regulations concerning 0.10% sulphur really be enforced?
This issue was extensively discussed at the conference held on board the Color Magic ferry, which sails between Oslo and Kiel. Ferry executives raised their concerns, as they will be the ones most affected by the proposed IMO regulations for Emission Control Areas (ECAs) as from January 2015.
LNG fuel supply to the ship side
The hot topic for the ferry industry in Northern Europe is the upcoming ECA regulations which stipulate a 0.1% sulphur level for ship fuel as from 2015. Some companies are considering converting to LNG fuel to meet the new requirements, but there are a few concerns related to the present cost of LNG and the availability of bunkering at the ship side like there is for present fuel alternatives.
Interferry – the voice of the ferry industry
Interferry is an association that represents all the world’s ferry companies. It was originally founded in 1976 as the International Marine Transit Association.
DNV Triple-E™ - Environmental & Energy Efficiency Rating Scheme used on Stena RoRo
“As a result of an increasing focus on sustainability in society in general and among our customers, Stena RoRo is dedicated to continuously reduce the impact on the environment which is manifested by investments in technology and operational processes on our ships that aim to reduce fuel consumption,” says Ambjörn Fröjd, Commercial Manager of Stena RoRo AB.
Ferry-financing criteria are different to those for other shipping
The need for ship finance is a well known issue; we went to DnB NOR, Norway’s leading ship finance bank, to learn some ferry-financing details. Based on our discussions with Trond H. Scheie, the Senior VP of Shipping, Offshore & Logistics, and Jens-Hermann Jenssen, VP in the same department, the one conclusion we made was: Know your local banker!
The Maritime Labour Convention may hit the ferry industry in 2011
According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), approximately 50 countries are well on the way towards ratification, and the EU has set a target deadline for member states to ratify by the end of 2010.
DNV’s summer student project 2010: LNG-fuelled ships in the Baltic
This year the DNV summer student project included ten ambitious Masters students with as many different backgrounds. During this summer at Høvik, they had six weeks of intense and hard work but also a lot of fun. They were given the task of creating a fictitious shipping company to operate LNG-fuelled ships anywhere in the Nordic region. “We`ve worked hard to find a solution to the task at hand, and have come up with a result that we are all proud of,” they say.