Confirmation that northern Europe remains the centre of the global ferry industry comes with shipbuilding statistics produced by Swedish research house, Shippax Information. They show that, at the latest count, there were 26 passenger ferries being built around the world and that no fewer than 14 of these were under construction in northern Europe.
The figure for southern Europe was just two, confirming the north-south progression for ferries as they age, which largely obviates the need for new construction there.
The other substantial area of construction was Asia – Japan and, increasingly, China – where there were eight vessels being built. The total value of these Asian orders was high, at almost US$1.4 billion, compared with northern Europe, which, in spite of greater ship numbers, still only totalled just under US$1.3 billion in value. Significant for the future is a small but noticeable trend towards natural gas as the propulsion fuel, which has both financial and environmental benefits.
One such LNG ship and, arguably, the most spectacular of new ferries to be delivered soon, is the €240 million vessel, Viking Grace, being built by STX at Turku in Finland for the Viking Group, a leading operator of ferries across the Baltic between Finland and Sweden, a route which carries an annual 6.4 million passengers. When the 57,000-ton, 2,800-bed vessel – the first of two – is introduced at the beginning of next year she will be hailed as one of the most environmentally advanced ships in the world with the ability to operate with three types of fuel – traditional fuel oil, marine diesel and LNG. Viking Grace will be the eighth ferry in the current Viking fleet. In the gas mode it is claimed nitrogen oxide emissions will be 80 per cent below the level specified by the International Maritime Organization.
It is also the case that Baltic ferries are among the most luxurious and innovative passenger vessels afloat, often vying with cruise ships. For example, shopping streets, or horizontal atriums, as they are known in the jargon, were first introduced in Baltic ferries, not cruise ships.
Another ferry powered by LNG, for which high hopes are held, is the 99-metre catamaran Incat in Tasmania is building for Buquebus, the South American company which will use her across the River Plate between Buenos Aires and Montevideo at a cruising speed of 53 knots.
Incat chairman, Robert Clifford, says Buquebus tells him operating costs could be cut by up to 75 per cent, not to mention the environmental advantages. “There is currently a great wave of interest in gas-powered vessels and this could result in more orders than we can shake a stick at,” says Clifford. The snag, he says, is that LNG is not yet widely enough available and to overcome this, vessels like the Buquebus craft will have to be dual-fuelled. This vessel can also burn diesel fuel.
But not all ferry newbuilding contracts have a happy ending, often running into delays and even outright cancellations. An example of the latter is the Norman Leader, a vessel being built at Singapore Marine Technologies in Singapore for the LD Lines Channel services. The full extent of the problems with the order, said to be worth the equivalent of £78 million, was never widely known, but last year LD cancelled the contract, as it was entitled to do. The shipyard says that lawyers of Louis Dreyfus Armateurs, the LD parent company, are claiming more than €35 million to settle the issue. The 27,700-ton ferry was designed to carry 1,250 passengers. After ordering a lengthy refit at the Remontowa shipyard in Poland, the owner has returned the 28,800-ton Norman Spirit to the Portsmouth-Le Havre route it inaugurated for LD seven years ago. This was the route the Norman Leader was intended for.
Two more ferries experiencing problems with delayed construction are the 1,500-berth ships Berlin and Copenhagen, which the German/Danish conglomerate Scandlines is building for its route between Rostock and Gedser in Denmark. The company, one of the largest ferry operators in Europe, is investing €230 million in the two vessels as well as improvements to the terminal ports. They are being built at the P+S shipyard at Stralsund in Germany. Delays brought some sharp words from Soren Poulsgaard-Jensen, COO at Scandlines, who said his company had hoped for more progress from the shipyard: “The building of two new ships designed for exactly this route (Rostock-Gedser) is a complex process. Still we expect the yard to overcome the current challenges as soon as possible to avoid any further delays.” The first ship, Berlin, missed the latest of a number of deadlines to enter service, on 1 July. But after talks between yard and owner, this deadline was put back to September and that of the second ship, Copenhagen, to November. According to a Scandlines spokesman, everyone is now happy to accept these new arrangements.
The construction of two similar-sized ships for Fjord Line (1,500 passengers) is also running late. Originally scheduled for delivery in March and October this year, the Stavangerfjord will not now be ready until October, while her sister, Bergenfjord, has a delivery which has been pushed back to next year. These two ships, to be used across the Jutland Strait between Denmark and Norway, are having their hull and superstructure built at Remontowa in Poland and are being finished off at the Fosen shipyard in Norway. The first ship has now been towed from Poland to Norway to complete construction.
Also in Norway, Boreal Transport Nord has just ordered three double-ended passenger ferries with the Fiskerstrand shipyard, a joint venture between Norway and Lithuania. An option for a fourth vessel has been taken up. Each of the ships will be able to take 250 passengers and 50 cars and will be delivered next autumn for commissioning on 1 January, 2014. They will be used on three different routes in Helgeland in northern Norway, run by the regional council. Boreal says the contracts were competed for internationally. Two of the ferries have a closed car deck while the third is open.
Also reported to be looking for double-ended ferries is Jadrolinija, the Croatian state owner. The company wants four vessels capable of carrying 2,000 passengers and 150 cars and worth €8-9 million each. The company’s services connect the Croatian islands with the mainland on the Adriatic. In the same part of the world, Toremar, an Italian shipping company based in Tuscany, is reported to want to renew its fleet of mostly smaller ferries, now that the larger Moby Lines is its new owner.
This is an abridged version of an article that appeared in the Autumn/ Winter 2012 edition of International Cruise & Ferry Review. To read the full article, you can subscribe to the magazine in printed or digital formats.