Northlink News

Keel laying and steel-cutting ceremonies for two new ferries being built for Scotland's Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL) were held this week at Cemre Marin Endustri shipyard in Turkey.The first ferry in the production timeline has had its keel laid, while steel-cutting for the second vessel has also begun – three weeks earlier than planned.The new, 94.8-meter vehicle/passenger ferries will each have capacity for up to 450 passengers and 100 cars or 14 commercial vehicles…

The two freight ferries serving the Northern Isles have been bought by the Scottish government. Vessels MV Helliar and MV Hildasay will join the Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL) fleet, having previously been chartered from Fortress.The sister vessels operate on the lifeline routes from Aberdeen to Kirkwall, Orkney and Lerwick, said a press note from CMAL, which owns 26 piers and harbours around Scotland.Minister for Energy, Connectivity and the Islands, Paul Wheelhouse, said: “Our ferry services are iconic transport links that play a vital role for our island economies, so it’s important that we secure the two freight ferries for the future.“Purchasing the vessels outright will also bring financial benefits by delivering savings to the public purse over the longer term.

A deal has been agreed for the three passenger ferries serving the Northern Isles to be purchased outright by Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL) with loan funding from the Scottish Government. The MV Hamnavoe, MV Hrossey and MV Hjaltland, which have previously been leased from Royal Bank of Scotland, will be taken into CMAL ownership. An 18 month extension to the current Northern Isles Ferry Services contract has also been agreed to allow further progress to be made with the ongoing review of procurement policy. Serco NorthLink Ferries will continue to operate the services until 31st October 2019 under the extended contract. Minister…

The number of cars taken by ferry has increased from 8.6 million in 2015 to nearly 8.8 million in 2016, a 1.7% increase. This is the fourth successive year of growth according to the annual results of the ferry industry. 2016 Ferrystat figures released today by Discover Ferries, the industry body for ferry operators, reports that growth for car travel by sea is up by 473,000 in the past four years; up from just 8.3 million car crossings by sea in 2012. Discover Ferries member ferry operators include Brittany Ferries, Caledonian MacBrayne, Condor Ferries, DFDS, Irish Ferries, Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, Isles of Scilly Steamship Group, Northlink, P&O Ferries, Red Funnel, StenaLine and Wightlink.

Activity at Aberdeen Harbour remained steady throughout 2015 resulting in the port recording a 9.7 percent increase in turnover, up from £28.9 million in 2014 to £31.7 million in 2015. Pretax profit was also up by 21 percent at £15.03 million, compared to £12.4 million the previous year. A 6 percent drop in vessel numbers, from 7,937 to 7,428 is consistent with the trend for newer, larger multipurpose vessels using the port, which is evidenced by the marginal drop in overall vessel tonnage at 27.5 million metric tons, down only 2.1 percent from 28.1 million metric tons in 2014.

Lerwick Harbour is ready for an exciting week of sailing with the 2014 Fireball European Championships taking place at the port next week. As a warm-up to the main event, the Shetland Fireball Championships will be held this afternoon and tomorrow. 27 boats are expected to enter the European Championships with international crews arriving from the Czech Republic, Switzerland and Ireland as well as the UK mainland. A number of the entrants are local boats looking forward to racing in their home waters. The travelling boats have arrived on trailers via NorthLink Ferries together with two crewmembers for each boat, accompanied by friends and family. Keen competition is expected as well as renewal of friendships made in previous championships, including when last at Lerwick in 2003.

Cammell Laird says it has developed one of the most advanced ‘bespoke environmental’ packages for ferries in the shipyard industry, following its strongest year of trading in the sector. Cammell Laird technical manager Paul Ashcroft  said ‘a massive challenge and focus’ for the sector moving forward is to find cost effective solutions to the new environmental standards ferry companies have to meet. “There has never been greater pressure on ferry companies to become greener than now,” he said. “As a result we have developed a highly advanced and specialised new environmental package addressing some of the hardest challenges. Mr Ashcroft said Cammell Laird’s green package has been developed to be bespoke and address the challenges faced by each individual ferry.

Aberdeen Harbor has reported its results for 2013, with vessel tonnage exceeding 28 million metric tons for the second year in succession, and nearly 4.9 million metric tons of cargo crossing the quayside. Strong activity across the Harbor’s customer base was reflected in its financial results for the year, with turnover up 1.1% to £27.6 million (2012: £27.3 million), delivering pretax profits of £9.6 million. The port has continued to be buoyed by high levels of activity from the region’s oil and gas industry and from its general cargo customers…

Birkenhead shipyard and engineering services company Cammell Laird said it has developed an advanced shipyard environmental package for ferries, following its strongest year of trading in the sector. Cammell Laird said it has docked 24 ferries between 2013 and the beginning of 2014 and, in addition, has carried out a further 24 afloat repairs for ferry operators. During 2013 Cammell Laird repaired, built and converted almost 250,000 gross tons of ferry and Ro-Ro ships for a wide range of owners. Already in 2014 it has docked and repaired ferries of 150,000 gross tons.

Annual 2013 figures show more passengers, cars and coaches carried by the UK ferry industry, compared with 2012, according to figures released by industry body, ‘Discover Ferries’. Britain’s ferry industry showed growth across all its travel sectors last year, with passenger numbers up 2.6% overall to 38 million, all cars carried up 1.1% to 8.37million, and coaches up overall  4.1% to 158,470 -  according to 2013 “Ferrystat” figures, quoted by industry body, ‘Discover Ferries’.

Finning Power Systems, the U.K.’s sole supplier of Caterpillar engines has signed an exclusive £2.5 million, five-year agreement with Serco, the international service company, to provide product support for all of the company’s U.K. and Ireland marine operations as well as all land-based generator sets located at over 400 facilities nationwide. Finning has been providing engine support to Serco for the past year on its “Future Provision of Maritime Services contract (FMPS),” a contract awarded to Serco by the U.K. Ministry of Defense for the provision of marine services at UK Royal Navy bases.

Aberdeen Harbor attracted increased traffic across the first half of 2011, with both vessel numbers and tonnage on the up. Vessel numbers rose by seven percent on the same period last year to 3,746 while shipping tonnage increased from 11.6 million tonnes to 12.2 million tonnes. Total cargo tonnage also increased over the same period by 4.7 percent from 2.2 to 2.3 million tonnes. The port also recorded 590,563 tons of shipping activity during the second week of July; the highest weekly tonnage ever to be handled.

Aker Finnyards and Northlink, a joint venture of Caledonian MacBrayne and Royal Bank of Scotland, have agreed to build two passenger RoRo vessels for the ferry service from the Scottish mainland to Orkney and Shetland for $87 million. A letter of intent was also signed on a third, slightly smaller vessel worth $39.5 million. Measuring 410 ft. (125 m) with a beam of 64 ft. (19.5 m) and 12,000 gt, each vessel will have the capacity for 600 passengers in time for summer 2002.

State-owned ferry operator Caledonian MacBrayne has been announced as the preferred bidder for the service to Orkney and Shetland from the mainland. The contract was re-advertised two years ago after current operators NorthLink had financial problems. More than $134.5 million in public money was spent keeping the service afloat. According to BBC News, the new service would introduce reduced freight tariffs, a new container system for livestock and more berths. NorthLink, a company jointly owned by CalMac and the Royal Bank of Scotland, is expected to handover the service to CalMac in the summer. Under the six year contract, Orkney will see a 19% reduction in freight tariffs, while Shetland's rates will reduce by 25%. Bids for the ferry route had been submitted by V-Ships UK Ltd and CalMac.

The ferries which operate the lifeline route to the Northern Isles were branded as two of the most inefficient vessels built in recent years in a new academic study, the Scotsman reported. The Napier University's Maritime Research Group report claimed that the two NorthLink ferries, which currently sail the route between Aberdeen and Orkney and Shetland, the Hjaltland and the Hrossey, should be replaced by larger and more cost-effective boats. And the research group also suggested that the move to larger vessels would require the ferries to dock at Peterhead instead of Aberdeen when they reach the mainland because the Granite City's harbor would be too small to accommodate them.