Ships Monthly

At the time of writing, the new P&O ferry for the Dover-Calais route, P&O Pioneer, having been handed over, is heading for her new home port. As the next new ferry to begin operations out of the UK, as discussed in the February issue, she is one of many newbuilds recently completed as ferry companies look to not only renew their fleets but also deploy more environmentally friendly tonnage. The trend in the commercial sector, as is evident on our Newbuild column (pages 18-19), is for dual-fuel operation, the use of cleaner fuels and even electric ships, and the ferry industry is following suit. P&O Ferries intends that Pioneer will operate entirely on battery power when manoeuvring in port. The batteries will be recharged by the ferry’s four Wärtsilä diesel…

Colin Smith A native of Clydebank, Colin Smith was inspired to be a shipping enthusiast from a young age by childhood trips aboard Clyde steamers. Paul Brown Dr Paul Brown is an author and photographer whose various books include Maritime Portsmouth and Historic Ships: The Survivors. Matt Davies Matt Davies works in the bus industry and juggles his work with looking after his family and his hobby of travelling on, writing about and photographing ferries. Jim Shaw Jim Shaw is a retired engineer who has worked at various locations around the world and has always had a deep interest in ships and shipping. Ships Monthly on Facebook REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS Krispen Atkinson • Gary Davies • William Mayes • Russell Plummer • Jim Shaw • Conrad Waters SUBSCRIBE TO SHIPS MONTHLY SEE…

Former European Seaway on move OLD FERRY The former P&O Ferries freight ship European Seaway (1991/22,906gt) was sold to Sea Lines and renamed Sea Antolia in 2021 and has now moved again to operate a freight route between Malaga and Tanger Med, which was due to start on 6 March. Built at Bremerhaven’s Seebeck-werft as part of a four-ship ro-pax series for P&O Ferries, she operated on the Dover-Zeebrugge service until 2012, when she was chartered to GLID, a joint venture between Centrica Renewable Energy and EIG to support technicians working on the North Sea Lynn and Inner Dowsing wind farms off Skegness. Her original capacity was 200 passengers and 120 trailers.…

FRENCH TANKER Rotors continue to be seen as viable fuel and emission reducing devices and French tanker operator Socatra has been the latest to take advantage of their use. The Bordeaux-based company, founded in 1977, has entered into a contract with Norway’s Norsepower to have two 35m-tall rotors retrofitted to its 2022-built medium-range (MR) tanker Alcyone, which is currently on charter to TotalEnergies. The Norsepower rotors are modern versions of the 1920s-developed Flettner Rotor and are spun against a sidewind using a small electric motor. This creates high and low pressure areas around the cylinder that aid a ship’s forward propulsion. The rotational direction of the cylinder can be changed to match wind direction, although there is little benefit gained from head or tail winds during which the rotors are…

FLEET NEWS Continuing its spending spree, Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC) has acquired the 26-year-old Sovereign Maersk, renaming her MSC Domna X following handover in Singapore at the end of January. Although at the time of delivery into service in 1997 her container intake was not disclosed, Sovereign Maersk was the largest container ship in the world, being the first to have a capacity in excess of 8,000TEU. She was the first in a series of 25 similar vessels built for Maersk at the company’s Odense shipyard facility over a period of eight years from 1996. Her capacity was increased to 9,600TEU in 2012, by raising her accommodation to allow more containers to be stowed on deck.…

VEHICLE CARRIERS China Merchants Jinling Shipyard at Nanjing has delivered the 7,000CEU capacity car carrier Jasmine Leader to Japan’s NYK Line as the first of four similar-sized LNG-fuelled pure car truck carriers (PCTC) it is building for the company. The ship is propelled by a WinGD 7X62DF2.1 low-pressure dual-fuel engine that uses an Intelligent Control by Exhaust Recycling (iCER) system to cut methane emissions from the exhaust by 50 per cent. In addition, the vessel is equipped with battery hybrid technology to improve fuel efficiency. Construction of the four new ships is in line with NYK Line’s plan to replace current vessels with around 40 LNG-fuelled PCTCs.…