Tor Line News

Despite the quality of protection and commitment to maintenance, a certainty in the marine business is that metal structures eventually corrode and wear. Whether it is 25 months or 25 years, most all marine structures will enter a shipyard for some quantity of steel renewal throughout its life. While the process of removing and replacing steel, particularly decks, is at best a manual and laborious process, Intelligent Engineering (IE) is touting its innovative SPS Overlay structural re-instatement process as a means to help shipowners and ship repairers to save valuable time and money. What is SPS? SPS, invented by IE in association with BASF, is a patented system whereby two metal plates are bonded to a solid elastomer core.

A&P Falmouth, part of the A&P Group, has won two significant orders for March, 2004. The first involves the 31,290 dwt containership Safmarine Europe, which is part of Safmarine’s Great White fleet. The vessel, due on March 12th, will be in the shipyard for 24 days, work including underwater hull cleaning and painting, refurbishment of three deck cranes and renewal of approximately 40 tonnes of steel in the peak tank, deep tank, wing tank and double bottom tanks, cargo holds (including cell guides), hatch covers and shell plating. The second contract is from Sweden’s DFDS Tor Line involving the 8,696 dwt freight ferry Tor Anglia, which operates out of Felixstowe.

Having logged fresh orders from existing clients UN RoRo (formerly UND) of Turkey and Denmark's DFDS group, Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft has taken its tally of RoRo trailerships contracted in recent years to 23. The volume of business puts the German yard to the fore in European RoRo freight vessel construction, with a prolific, current output rate of four such newbuilds per annum. FSG's assumption of a high profile in the RoRo category is a mark of thecompany's meticulous attention to production processes, materials and equipment procurement and logistics, build quality and design added-value. Measures aimed at ensuring cost competitiveness in the international market are complemented by the maintenance of a large…

In the first half of 2004, 177 million tonnes of cargo was transhipped in the port of Rotterdam, 8 percent more than the first half of 2003. Outgoing trade increased more noticeably than incoming trade (6.7% and 11.6% respectively) and general cargo grew almost twice as fast (12%) as bulk cargo. Only the amount of coal handled was down (2%) on the first half of last year. The other categories of goods grew: agribulk (+10.6%), ores and scrap (+7.6%), other dry bulk (+6.6%), crude oil (+5.3%), mineral oil products (+13.2%), other liquid bulk (+5.6%), roro (+5.5%), containers (+13.3%) and other general cargo (+7.8%). In numbers, container throughput increased by 12% to 4 million TEU (20-foot units). The prospects for throughput in the second half of the year are good.

According to provisional figures, cargo throughput in the Port of Rotterdam in 2001 totalled 315.5 million tons. comparison with the record year of 2000. and the general cargo sector (-4.9%). The number of containers handled fell by 2.4% from 6.3 mln TEU in 2000 to 6.1 mln TEU in 2001. Imports of crude oil and the throughput of other liquid bulk cargo (chemicals, oils and fats) remained virtually stable. Throughput of oil products and petcoke (+10.5%), coal (+6.9%) and agribulk (+1.4%) increased. 5 mln tons. Imports showed a slight decline, by 2 million tons or 0.7%. This drop mainly occurred in the second half-year. Mr Willem Scholten…

Lithuania's Privatization Commission said on Friday it approved the sale contract of the state-run sea shipper LISCO to Danish DFDS Tor Line - sending the draft to cabinet. "The Privatization Commission approved the draft contract and now the government will have to make a decision," a Commission official said. The government has said the Danish group would spend $107 million to get LISCO. Sources close to the deal said DFDS offered to pay the government $47.6 million up front for a 76-percent stake in LISCO and then invest another roughly $60 million in the company over the next three years. Under the proposal, DFDS would take control of the company's RoRo ferry business and some dry cargo or tramp ships, and the government would retain the bulk of LISCO's tramp fleet and other assets.

Having emerged in recent years among Europe's top echelon of builders of RoRo vessels, Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft (FSG) has put down a new marker for the industry by anticipating demand for a future generation of RoRo ferries incorporating a capacity for 6,000 lane-m of freight. Closely following its formalization of an order from North Sea and Baltic RoRo specialist DFDS for a fifth newbuild capable of loading 4,000 lane-m of road trailers, rolltrailers, cassettes, and other cargo, the German shipyard has unveiled its proposal for a 6,000 lane-m carrier. The Flensburger offering, which has already attracted the interest of operators looking to achieve further scale economies on high-volume routes…

In a further display of hard-earned competitiveness tempered by pure industrial will, Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft has brought another export shipbuilding contract to Germany at a time of ever-more determined incursions by oriental yards into the European market. The Flensburg yard's sealing of a deal with Belgian shipping and logistics company Cobelfret for two container/RoRo (ConRo) vessels has strengthened its standing as a builder of large, RoRo equipped vessels for demanding shortsea trades. The Cobelfret newbuilds have been dubbed the Humbermax type, having been optimized for North Sea service linking the company's new Killingholme terminal on Humberside, in eastern England, with Zeebrugge and Rotterdam in the Low Countries.

Danish sea shipping company DFDS Tor Line bought a majority stake in Lithuanian shipping line LISCO for $47.6 million to bolster its presence around the Baltic Sea. "We can use LISCO... to build a very strong base in the Baltic Sea... We also have to look at the Russian traffic," DFDS General Manager Ole Frie said. Lithuania's State Property Fund earlier said it signed a deal with DFDS to sell a 76.36 percent stake in LISCO to DFDS. The Danish company also agreed to invest another $60 million in LISCO over three years. "DFDS Tor Lines -- under the name of LISCO -- will operate six RoRo and RoPax vessels... plus six comparatively new multi-purpose LoLo vessels," the company said. LISCO shares closed 2.34 percent lower on Monday while the benchmark index ended down 2.25 percent.

In the first six months of 2001, throughput in the port of Rotterdam increased to 161.8 million tons, 2.3% more than in the first half of 2000. The transshipment of coal (+26%), petrochemical products and petcokes(+%), crude oil (+7.5%) and agribulk (+16%) in particular contributed to the good result. Other liquid bulk (chemicals, oil and fats, -2%), other dry bulk (including sand, phosphates, minerals, -%), ores and scrap (-10.2%) and the three general cargo groups (roll on/roll off, containers and other general cargo) showed a decrease. Total incoming trade increased by 5%, while outgoing trade was down 6%. During the first six months, growth gradually slackened off again.

The ECDIS era has arrived, with the type-approval of systems from Transas Marine. Transas' Jochen Rudolf and George Toma discuss the systems capabilities, advantages and future. The advent of the type-approved ECDIS has become one of the major highlights of the maritime industry at the end of the 20th century. Transas Marine with its Navi-Sailor 2400 ECDIS, was the winner amongst some 10 very serious competitors in the rigorous race to be the first to receive the type-approval certificate for ECDIS from BSH in Germany. The issue of the world's first type approval certificate for Transas ECDIS in October 1999 was preceded by almost two years of very thorough tests and expert assessments employed at BSH.