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Southampton welcomes Heulin Renouf
Associated British Ports' (ABP) Port of Southampton has signed a 25-year agreement with Huelin-Renouf Shipping, which will see the company relocate its UK operations from Flathouse Quay in Portsmouth to a facility at Southampton's Eastern Docks, into which ABP will invest £6 million.
Fastest fast cats on show
Australia's Austal Ships has delivered the first of two multi-purpose Auto Express 65m high-speed ferries to the Sultanate of Oman, with the second vessel to follow shortly.
Philippines ferry
What is probably the largest tonnage loss of a ferry occurred in the Philippines on 21 June when the 23,824grt passenger ro-ro Princess of the Stars capsized off Sibuyan Island with the loss of over 800 lives. The flagship of Sulpicio Lines, the biggest ferry operator in the Philippines, she sailed from Manila for Cebu on June 20 with 862 passengers and crew aboard.
Setback for Wightlink
The first pair of three passenger and vehicle ferries ordered from Croatia by Wightlink for the Lymington-Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, service are behind schedule. Delays at the Kraljevica Shipyard mean the 360-passenger/65-car twins will miss the whole of the peak summer season and are not expected to arrive in the Solent until September.
SpeedFerries put up fares
The fourth anniversary of the start of SpeedFerries' operation between Dover and Boulogne was celebrated on 19 May, hard on the heels of the purchase of the 86m catamaran Speed One. The deal for the 870-passenger/200-car vessel, which was previously leased from Incat Chartering, represented a £13.5 investment.
Incat heading for Portsmouth
the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company are putting newly-purchased Incat 050 through a major refit in Portsmouth, where Burgess Marine will work in close co-operation with Fleet Support Limited. Chief executive Mark Woodward says the 96m, 1998-built craft (pictured below), representing a total investment approaching £20 million, will be altered internally with major work including a new aft accommodation module, a Sky Lounge, total renovation of existing passenger areas and installation of a new stern vehicle ramp.
Announcing an announcement
While France has indicated that it may delay a decision on a second aircraft carrier until 2011-12, the UK has clearly signalled that it intends to proceed with a long-awaited order for two ships for the Royal Navy. The latest announcement came ten months after the original go-ahead was given but still stopped short of an actual order.
Burma: bad to worse
The French Navy has diverted humanitarian aid to neighbouring Thailand after attempts to deliver it directly to Burma were rejected by the authorities. The 1,000-tonne shipment of medicine, tents, food, and fresh water, enough to sustain 100,000 people for two weeks, was taken on by the UN World Food Programme in the hope that it would quickly reach the victims of Cyclone Nargis.
Genesis: an Alluring Oasis
The long saga of choosing the names of the first two of Royal Caribbean's huge Project Genesis ships has finally come to an end. The largest cruise ships ever built will be called Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas, following a newspaper 'Name That Ship' competition which attracted more than 91,000 entries and was won by a 53-year-old from near Detroit.
The Topaz goes to breakers
The Topaz (1955/32,327gt) was sold to Indian breakers on 2 June for US$12m, having been retired by the Japanese Peaceboat organisation in April after five years. She sailed to Singapore in May and remained at anchor while her owner, Topaz International Shipping, negotiated the best price for the ship.
Queen Victoria hits Malta
2007/90,049gt) marked her inaugural call at Valletta with an unexpected contact with the quay as she was manoeuvring to dock at Pinto Wharf in the Maltese capital's Grand Harbour on 14 May.
Bunker tanker ends duty
the bunkering vessel Whitstar completed her last bunkering job at Falmouth on 2 May and then sailed for Birkenhead, where she went to lay up. She was replaced by the double-hull tanker Clipper Beaune (2005/2,865gt, ex-Crescent Beaune), which arrived from Immingham to take her place. Clipper Beaune is operated by Clipper Marine Services, which has a fleet of 30 vessels, ten of which are managed from Southampton.
New tanker pool formed
New York-based Overseas Shipholding Group (OSG) has joined with Seaarland Shipping Management to form Suezmax International, a new pool for large tankers in the Suexmax range. The pool will initially operate eight tankers, including OSG's Overseas London and Overseas Newcastle, as well as Seaarland's Genmar Hope and Elisewin.
New berths for Felixstowe
In early May, the port of Felixstowe announced the commencement of construction work on phase 1 of its Felixstowe South Reconfiguration scheme. It is hoped that the first 440m of quay will be available by April 2010 and the whole of Phase 1 completed by September of that year.
New terminal at Yarmouth
At the port of Great Yarnouth in East Anglia, it is hoped the new shortsea container terminal will be open for business in the first quarter of 2009. Work has been continuing on the breakwaters and already two panamax quay cranes have been ordered from Shanghai which should receive the first ships during December this year.
Falls of Clyde in dire straits
Falls of Clyde, the world's only surviving iron hulled, full-rigged, four-masted sailing ship, may have to be scrapped or sunk. The 130-year old vessel has been a fixture on the Honolulu waterfront since 1963, but surveys have shown her to be in such poor condition that in February she was closed to visitors because of safety concerns.
Calshot move
Calshot light vessel, which has been a fixture at Southampton's Ocean Village since being brought ashore more than 20 years ago, is to be put back in the water. Associated British Ports (ABP) says it wants the vessel to take pride of place alongside its new £19 million cruise terminal to be opened next year on berths 46 and 47.
Hikawa Maru reopened
apan's best known commercial trading ship, Hikawa Maru, has been reopened as a maritime museum at Yokohama by NYK Lines under the new name NYK Hikawamaru following a lengthy restoration process.
All this and more in the August 2008 issue of Ships Monthly
Ships Monthly, 15 July 2008
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