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Car Deck News

15 Nov 2023

MacGregor to Supply RoRo Equipment for Two PCTC Vessels to be Built in South Korea

Credit: MacGregor

MacGregor, part of Cargotec, said Wednesday it had received a significant order to supply comprehensive packages of RoRo equipment for two PCTC vessels to be built by Hyundai Mipo Dockyard Co. Ltd in South Korea.The vessels are scheduled to be delivered to the owner between the second quarter of 2026 and the third quarter of 2026. MacGregor’s scope of supply encompasses the design, supply, and installation support of complete hardware for both vessels, including a quarter ramp…

30 Oct 2023

RMC Launches and Christens Spirit of Tasmania IV

(Photo: Rauma Marine Constructions)

Rauma Marine Constructions celebrated the launch and christening of Spirit of Tasmania IV, the first of two identical car and passenger ferries the Finnish shipyard is building for Tasmania's TT-Line.Built to replace similarly Finnish-built sister ships, the new vessels are specially designed to operate on a challenging route across the Bass Strait between Geelong, Victoria, and Devonport, Tasmania.The Spirit of Tasmania IV was christened at the RMC shipyard. The vessel’s godmother…

05 Apr 2023

MacGregor to Equip Grimaldi's New Car Carriers

(Image: Grimaldi Group)

MacGregor, part of Cargotec, has received a repeat order with a total value of more than €20 million for comprehensive packages of RoRo equipment for a total of five Pure Car and Truck Carriers (PCTC) vessels. These vessels will be built at China Merchant Heavy Industries for Grimaldi Group. This deal will extend MacGregor’s supply of RoRo equipment from five to ten of Grimaldi’s new PCTC vessels.The orders were booked into Cargotec’s 2023 first quarter orders received. The vessels…

30 Mar 2023

MacGregor to Supply RoRo Equipment for Sallaum Lines' LNG PCTC Vessel Duo

Credit: MacGregor

Marine equipment firm MacGregor, part of Cargotec, said Thursday it had won a large order for RoRo equipment packages for two dual-fuel LNG Pure Car and Truck Carrier (PCTC) vessels. The PCTC vessels will be built at Fujian Mawei Shipbuilding Ltd. for Sallaum Lines. Sallaum Lines specializes in global RoRo cargo shipping, and these two newly ordered vessels will be the company’s first newbuildings.The vessels are scheduled to be delivered to the shipowner between the fourth quarter of 2024 and the second quarter of 2026.MacGregor’s will be responsible for the design…

23 Jan 2023

New Probe into Estonia Ferry Sinking Reveals Construction Flaws

(File photo: Accident Investigation Board Finland)

A new investigation into the sinking of ferry Estonia that claimed 852 lives in 1994 revealed flaws in its bow visor construction missed during its certification, officials said on Monday.If necessary examination was carried out, the Estonia-registered ship would not be approved as seaworthy to serve the Tallin-Stockholm route it operated, investigators from Estonia, Finland and Sweden told a news conference in Tallinn.In 1997, an official investigation into Europe's worst peacetime maritime disaster since World War Two concluded that the roll-on…

30 Aug 2022

Ferry Stricken by Fire on Monday Back in Swedish Port

Credit: Swedish Coast Guard

A ferry was back in the Swedish port of Nynashamn on Tuesday after a fire on the car deck temporarily knocked out its power, the Swedish Coast Guard said in a statement. The fire in a refrigerated container started at mid-day on Monday north of the island of Gotland as the Stena Scandica was heading to Ventspils in Latvia from Nynashamn. The fire was put out on Monday afternoon. No injuries were reported among the 241 passengers and 58 crew aboard, the Swedish Maritime Administration said.Suffering a power failure after the fire…

29 Aug 2022

Authorities Begin Evacuation of Fire-stricken Ferry in Baltic Sea

Swedish and Finnish rescue services began evacuating families and elderly passengers from a fire-stricken Swedish ferry in the Baltic sea late on Monday, but said the situation was calm and that no one had been injured.About 70 out of around 300 people onboard were scheduled to be evacuated by helicopter as the powerless vessel was drifting toward the island of Gotland and risked running aground later on Monday, at roughly 2100 GMT."We are evacuating families with children and the elderly. We have strong winds that make evacuation by boat difficult," a Swedish Maritime Administration spokesperson said.

29 Aug 2022

Fire Breaks Out on Car Ferry off Swedish Coast

A fire has broken out on board a car ferry carrying 300 people off Sweden's coast, Swedish authorities said.The ferry is the 222-meter RoPax Stena Scandica, which operates on the Baltic Sea between Nynäshamn, Sweden and Ventspils, Latvia, with a capacity of 970 passengers.The fire reportedly started in a container on the car deck while the ferry was traveling from Latvia to Sweden.The blaze has been contained, though some smoke can still be seen rising from the vessel, according to local media. The extent of the damage is unknown, and no injuries have been reported.Stena Scandica is said to be sailing under its own power, and there are no plans to evacuate the ship, the Swedish Maritime Administration said.

15 Feb 2022

Case Against Swedes Accused of Disturbing Estonia Wreck to be Tried Again

© fergregory / Adobe Stock

A Swedish appeal court ordered on Tuesday that a district court try again a case against two film makers accused of disturbing the ferry Estonia that sank in the Baltic sea in 1994 with the loss of 852 lives.The lower court in 2021 dismissed charges of disturbing a marine grave against the two Swedes, saying the law that protects the site did not apply to foreign-registered vessels in international waters.The film team had in 2019 lowered a remotely operated vehicle to the Estonia from a German-flagged ship…

16 Nov 2021

Seabed Rock May Have Caused Holes in Estonia Ferry that Sank

The Broken Line Monument in Tallinn, Estonia to rememer the victims of the Ferry disaster in 1994 (© Karl Allen Lugmayer / Adobe Stock)

Rock on the seabed may have gouged previously unknown holes in the hull of the ferry Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea in 1994 with the loss of 852 lives, officials said on Tuesday following a new examination of the wreck.In 1997, an official investigation into Europe's worst peacetime maritime disaster since World War Two concluded that the Estonia sank after a bow shield failed, damaging a bow ramp and causing the car deck to flood.But in 2020, a documentary team found two previously unknown holes in the Estonia's hull…

27 Jul 2021

Maiden Voyage: Stena Line's New Ferry Arrives In Sweden (GALLERY)

Credit: Stena Line

Swedish ferry company Stena Line's new ferry Stena Scandica arrived in the port of Nynäshamn in Sweden this morning when it completed its overnight maiden voyage from Ventspils, Latvia.Stena Scandica is the first of two new large and modern ferries on the route between Ventspils and Nynäshamn in Sweden this year. The vessel adds another 70%  more cabins and 30% more freight capacity compared to the existing vessels and offers an attractive alternative way to travel on the Baltic Sea…

11 Mar 2021

MacGregor to Deliver Equipment for NYK Line's New PCTC Vessel Quartet

Credit: NYK Line - via MacGregor

MacGregor, part of Cargotec, has secured a new equipment order for four PCTC vessels being built by China Merchants Jinling Shipyard (Nanjing) in China for Japan's Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK Line). The order includes a wide range of electrically operated equipment and encompasses quarter stern ramps and doors, side ramps and doors, internal ramps and covers, internal doors, and a liftable car deck. MacGregor said that its Load Monitoring System, which is also included in the order…

08 Feb 2021

Case Against Film Team Accused of Disturbing Wreck of Ferry Estonia Dismissed

© sergign / Adobe Stock

The case against two film makers charged with disturbing the wreck of the ferry Estonia, which sank in 1994 with the loss of 852 lives, was dismissed on Monday by a Swedish court as their vessel was not covered by the law protecting the grave site.The men were part of a Discovery Network documentary team which sent a remote-operated vehicle to film the wreck in the Baltic Sea in 2019, discovering previously unknown damage to the hull and reviving speculation about the cause of…

14 Jan 2021

Sweden Clearing Legal Path to Reexamine Estonia Wreck Site

An inflatable life raft from sunken RoPax ferry Estonia (Photo: Accident Investigation Board Finland)

A new examination of the wreck of the ferry Estonia, which sank in the Baltic in 1994 with the loss of 852 lives, will be possible from the summer when a change to Swedish law comes into force, news agency TT reported on Thursday.The official investigation concluded in 1997 that the roll-on, roll-off ferry’s bow shield had failed, damaging the bow ramp and flooding the car deck.But a recent television documentary renewed speculation about the cause of the disaster and prompted…

18 Dec 2020

Sweden to Allow Underwater Probe of Estonia Wreck Site

(Photo: Accident Investigation Board Finland)

Sweden said on Friday it would allow an underwater examination of the ferry Estonia, which sank in the Baltic 26 years ago with the loss of 852 lives, after a documentary film showed previously unknown holes in the wreck's hull. The official investigation concluded in 1997 that the roll-on, roll-off ferry's bow shield had failed, damaging the bow ramp and flooding the car deck.However, a Discovery Network documentary shown earlier in the autumn about the disaster included new…

15 Dec 2020

The Estonia Disaster: A Bottomless Source of Learning

© Karl Allen Lugmayer / Adobe Stock

The sinking of the Estonia ro-ro passenger ferry stands out as one of the most disastrous accidents in modern times. The tragedy claimed 852 lives and the wreck was declared a marine graveyard. At first glance, the sinking seems to have been triggered by a single technical failure only minutes before the point of no return, with no warning signs. The first objective of this review was to verify whether the pattern of typical major accidents can be found in the Estonia disaster. The usual pattern involves multiple human errors combined with an immature organizational culture.

21 Oct 2020

Hull Damage Not to Blame for 1994 Estonia Ferry Disaster -Report

The Broken Line Monument in Tallinn, Estonia honors the victims of the 1994 ferry disaster (© Karl Allen Lugmayer / Adobe Stock)

An Estonian ferry disaster that killed 852 people in 1994 was probably not caused by hull damage to the vessel that was first revealed in a documentary this year, experts concluded after a preliminary investigation of the video footage.The sinking of the ferry Estonia in the Baltic Sea was the deadliest peacetime shipwreck in European waters for centuries. An official investigation in 1997 concluded that the bow ramp of the ferry had failed during a storm, flooding the car deck and causing the vessel to roll over and sink.The documentary…

15 Oct 2020

Stena Line Lengthening RoPax Pair

The conversion is being conducted by Stena RoRo and Sedef Shipyard in Turkey. (Photo: Gemi Kaydrma / Sedef Shipyard)

Sweden-headquartered ferry operator Stena Line on Thursday revealed plans to replace two vessels currently operating on its Nynäshamn-Ventspils route with the modernized and lengthened RoPax ferries Stena Lagan and Stena Mersey.Stena Line said the vessels switch will increase freight capacity by almost a third, and improve the onboard experience for travelers on the Baltic Sea route.Stena Line, which operates 18 ferry routes in Europe, including three across the Baltic Sea, acquired the ferry route between Nynäshamn in Sweden and Ventspils in Latvia in 2012.

08 Oct 2020

Timelapse: World's Largest Civilian Hospital Ship Falling into Place

Global Mercy - Credit: Stena RORO

Construction of what has been described as the world's largest civilian/NGO hospital ship - the Global Mercy - is making progress and is nearing completion in China.Mercy Ships, an NGO which ordered the ship to deliver free healthcare services to those with little access in the developing world, and Stena RoRo, which leads the construction of the Global Mercy, on Tuesday shared a timelapse video of the construction along with the photos of the vessel in the shipyard in China."The Global Mercy will be a true modern marvel—a fully custom-built hospital ship with customized instruments…

19 Sep 2019

MacGregor Secures $22 mln in Contracts

MacGregor, part of Cargotec, has secured orders to provide MacGregor products to a Naval project in Europe and TTS products to a RoRo project in Asia. The total order value is more than $22 million and the contracts include ramps, car deck and lifting platform equipment. The orders were booked into Cargotec's third quarter 2019 order intake, with deliveries planned to commence during the third quarter of 2020 and completed during the first quarter of 2027.

10 Sep 2019

DFDS, Moby in Ferry Swap Deal

Copenhagen headquartered ferry and logistics company DFDS has reached an agreement with the Italian ferry company Moby to acquire its the two combined freight and passenger ferries (RoPax).The Danish company decided to purchase the ships, the 2001-built Moby Wonder and the 2005-built Moby Aki, in order to expand capacity on the Amsterdam-Newcastle route.Moby will in turn acquire the two passenger ferries currently operating on Amsterdam-Newcastle — King Seaways and Princess Seaways, built in 1987 and 1986, respectively.“The new ferries are ideally suited for our Amsterdam-Newcastle route. Their modern onboard facilities and higher car-deck capacity will allow us to grow revenue by fulfilling the growing demand from high-yield car passengers.

03 Sep 2019

New RoPax Design from KNUD E. HANSEN

KNUD E. HANSEN’s newest ferry design is a 154-meter RoPax ferry that can transport up to 1500 passengers and 440 cars, also featuring 657 lane meters for trucks and trailers.

(Photo: KNUD E. HANSEN)

Danish ship design specialist KNUD E. HANSEN has revealed its newest, groundbreaking design, a 154-meter RoPax ferry that can transport up to 1500 passengers and 440 cars.The vessel also features an additional 657 lane meters for trucks and trailers. The vessel has been designed to with flexible maneuvering and docking capabilities making it highly suitable for markets such as the Mediterranean region but it is also able to work in a variety of locations and under a range of operation…

28 Sep 2020

Could New Evidence Shed Light on a Deadly 1994 Ferry Sinking?

An inflatable life raft from sunken RoPax ferry Estonia (Photo: Accident Investigation Board Finland)

Estonia, Sweden and Finland will look into fresh evidence on the sinking of the ferry Estonia, which went down 26 years ago on Monday with the loss of 852 lives in Europe’s worst peacetime maritime disaster since World War Two.The roll-on roll-off ferry, carrying 803 passengers and 186 crew, sank on a stormy Baltic Sea shortly after midnight on Sept. 28, 1994. The official investigation in 1997 concluded that the bow shield had failed, damaging the bow ramp and flooding the car deck.However…