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Photo: Ferus Smit

Thun Tankers’ other NaabsaMAX – delivered

The Ferus Smit shipyard in the German Leer handed Thun Britain over to the Dutch-Swedish shipping line, the second in a series of two ‘Not Always Afloat But Safely Aground’ tankers (Naabsa). The 79.9 by 15 m, 4,250 dwt, 1A ice-class vessel offers 4,800 m3 cargo capacity (across eight coated tanks suited to transport oil products and IMO type II chemicals). Like her sister ship Thun Blyth, Thun Britain has been chartered to the Geos Group, a supplier and trader of marine gas oil. The pair will serve harbours with tidal restrictions, being able to rest on the seabed while (un)loading during low tide.

Finnlines lays keel for Finnsirius

Works are proceeding on the company’s hybrid ferry, set for delivery with her sister ship Finncanopus in autumn 2023. The keel-laying ceremony for Finncanopus will take place at China Merchants Jinling Shipyard in Weihai in August 2022. Each of the 235 m long 1A Super ice-class ferries will offer room for 1,100 passengers (across 323 cabins) and provide 5,200 lane metres of cargo capacity. The two will serve Finnlines’ traffic between Kapellskär and Naantali via the Åland Islands.

Photo: DSV

Furetank receives a green credit guarantee

The Swedish Export Credit Agency (EKN) has, for the first time, given its guarantee to a shipping company. It will be used to pre-finance Furetank’s next oil products and chemicals tanker in the Vinga-series. The guarantee will cover 80% of the lender Tjörns Sparbank’s risk. Anders Hermansson, Head of the Swedish Shipowners’ Association, praised EKN’s move, “It is an extremely positive decision for the shipping sector, which is a capital-intensive industry where climate investments costs are high and difficult to sustain internally. It is a big step for shipping’s green transition globally, where Swedish shipowners top the environmental list. When our members invest in new technology, it pushes the boundaries not only for the given vessel but for the entire sector.”

Furetank-Eskilstuna Biogas bioLNG deal

The two have signed a letter of intent enabling the set-up of a 5,000t/year liquefied biogas (bioLNG) plant in Eskilstuna. Production is likely to start in Q4 2023. Gas will be extracted from manure and food waste coming from the municipalities of Eskilstuna and Strängnäs and then upgraded to bioLNG for use as fuel. Furetank will take at least three-quarters of the production over ten years. The bioLNG production plant has received SEK140m (about €13.4m) in climate investment support from the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency. Furetank will use the bioLNG to lower the carbon footprint of its fleet, including minimising the company’s exposure to the inclusion of sea shipping into the European Union Emission Trading System.

DSV’s new multiuser warehouse near Copenhagen

The company has added a new 95k m2 facility to its logistics centre in Hedehusene. The warehouse features the AutoStore automated robotic storage and picking solution, available to multiple users. It also offers GMP- and GDP-certified cooling and freezing facilities, with several temperature zones extending to -80°C. Together with Hybrid Greentech, DSV is testing a solar cell and battery solution atop the warehouse. The parties say it can cut the facility’s carbon footprint by 42% relative to a scenario without the installation. Year-wise, the solution will help avoid emitting around 113t of CO2. Surplus energy can also be fed to the grid. After the trial, DSV will decide whether to furnish its other warehouses with the solar power generation-storage system. The German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB) has pre-certified the facility with the Silver mark. Another 38k m2 warehouse will be added to the Hedehusene complex by 2022-end, increasing its capacity to 231.5k m2 .

First, Remontowa Shiprepair Yard has ordered Wärtsilä’s 31DF dual-fuel engines for the three ro-paxes it is constructing for Polferries and Unity Line, plus the producer’s LNGPac fuel storage, supply and control system. Next, the yard will receive a complete power, automation, and propulsion package for furnishing the vessels. The ABB order includes batteries, the Azipod electric propulsion (two 7.5 MW units/vessel), and the equipment to draw power from the shore. The Polish shipyard will deliver the newbuilds one apiece in 2025, 2026, and 2027. Each of the 195 m long, dual-fuel (LNG/bioLNG) hybrid ferries will offer room for 400 passengers and 4,100 lane metres for trucks & trailers. The ships will connect Świnoujście with Ystad and Trelleborg. The ferry lines intend to run their newbuilds entirely on liquefied biogas by 2025.

300th Liebherr LHM 550 – delivered

Port Gdański Eksploatacja (PGE) has received the celebratory machine, the most popular mobile harbour crane in Liebherr’s portfolio. PGE’s LHM 550 has a boom length of 48 m and a lifting capacity of 104t. The crane will be primarily used to handle coke, coal, and scrap metal. The first LHM 550 was delivered to a client in Kuwait in 2010.

Karlshamn to grow logistically

CH Square and Swedish Logistic Property (SLP) have exercised their options to develop additional land in Karlshamn – in the direct vicinity of the port and its rail terminal. CH Square, which should have finished a 23k m2 logistics centre on behalf of DFDS by 2022-end, will develop an additional 50k m2 in the southern part of Stilleryd in the Municipality of Karlshamn. At the same time, SLP has decided to develop an extra 25k m2 in Stilleryd, too. The Municipality of Karlshamn owns around 2.0m m2 of land near the port and the town’s rail network, of which 1.0m has already been planned in detail. The rest, earmarked for logistics and industry, will receive their detailed plans shortly.

Gdańsk to kick off another modernisation project

The Polish port will invest PLN533m (around €112m, including the EU’s support of €95m) to upgrade four quays in its Inner Harbour. In total, some 1,916 m of quay wall will be revamped across the Bytomskie, Wiślane, Rudowe III, and Węglowe quays to accommodate larger and deeper vessels served with modern cargo handling equipment (such as Liebherr’s LHM 550 mobile harbour cranes). The European Climate Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency is currently evaluating the project, with the port authority expecting to see the green light in June 2022. Once inked, the project will have been completed by 2026. The Port of Gdańsk recently completed its previous Inner Harbour overhaul project (PLN595.5/€125.5m, co-funded by the EU’s Connecting Europe Facility), covering 5.0 km of quay wall and which also included deepening the fairway (9.35-10.6 m of ship draft).

European Green Corridors Network – established

Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping has partnered with the ports of Gdynia, Hamburg, Rønne, Rotterdam and Tallinn to advance the decarbonisation of the maritime industry. The partnership will demonstrate the early commercialisation of alternative fuel supply chains, provide a roadmap to scaling them up, and create a blueprint for rolling out green corridors in other locations. The parties will start with a pre-feasibility to identify the potential routes, vessel types, and fuels to establish high impact green corridors in the Baltic and the North Sea regions. The next phase will assess the shortlisted routes’ technical, regulatory, and commercial feasibility. Finally, the project partners will implement the vision and establish green corridors in Northern Europe and the Baltic Sea.