fleet Maritime Summer 2020:

fleetMaritime: IRISH SHIPPING & FREIGHT

MARITIME I | 21

Compiled by Howard Knott Edited by Jarlath Sweeney email: maritime@fleet.ie

Volume 15, No. 3 Summer 2020

There’s something familiar about: Stena Nordica

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tena Line took the Stena Estrid out of service on 1 May and replaced her on the Dublin-Holyhead route with the veteran Stena Nordica. The Stena Estrid, completed in China in late 2019 and introduced on the Irish Sea in January, had suffered some teething problems, putt ing one of her engines out of action.

Stena Line decided to take the opportunity to take her out of service for a few weeks and undertake substantial work on the matter. While the Stena Nordica offers less passenger and freight capacity than the new vessel, the COVID-19 collapse of passenger business and reduction in freight, meant that the Line continued to offer adequate capacity to meet demand.

The Stena Nordica was built as the European Ambassador and delivered in 2000 to P&O Ferries. She was one of three similar vessels built for P&O by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Japan, all of them for Irish Sea services. The European Highlander and European Causeway went directly into the long-established Larne/Cairnryan service on which they have remained ever since.

The European Ambassador sailed to Dublin

and P&O used her to open a weekday service from there to Mostyn. Th is port, at the mouth of the River Dee estuary on the North Wales coast, and with good access to the British motorway system, did not previously have a history of operation as a ferry terminal, even though its location, close to the British Aircraft Corporation factory at Broughton which manufacturers aircraft wings for Airbus, maintains a steady traffic flow through the port.

The European Ambassador also opened a weekend Dublin to Cherbourg route for P&O, supplementing that company’s Rosslare/Cherbourg route. Th is was to be a forerunner of Irish Ferries’ deployment of the Epsilon on the same route over several recent summers.

In 2019 she stood in for the Stena Europe on the Rosslare/Fishguard service while that vessel underwent a major re-fit at a Turkish yard. While her freight vehicle capacity is much greater than that of the older ship, her passenger capacity of 400 is significantly less than the 1,400 on Stena Europe.

In early June, on completion of her standin duties running between Dublin and Holyhead, Stena Nordica will again move to the Rosslare/Fishguard route, enabling the Stena Europe to undertake her annual re-fit. She is then scheduled to return in early July to her established route linking the Polish Port of Gdynia with Karlskrona in Sweden.

In 2004 P&O closed its Mostyn and Cherbourg routes and the European Ambassador was sold to Stena Line where she was renamed Stena Nordica. Apart from a brief period in 2015-16 when she sailed as Malo Seaways for DFDS on the English Channel, she has been operational on Stena services ever since.

FLEETMARITIME | Summer 2020

22 | MARITIME II

Rosslare Windfarm Support project could play key role in renewable energy drive

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he 2018 “Irish Ports Offshore Renewable Energy Services” (IPORES) report commissioned by the Irish Maritime Development Office (IMDO) opened with the following: “Since 2012, the offshore renewable energy (ORE) sector in Europe has tripled in size, primarily through the deployment of offshore wind turbines, with energy companies investing over €22 billion in the construction and operation of over 11GW (2,000 turbines) of capacity. The rapid growth of the offshore wind industry in Europe is projected to continue over the next ten years, where offshore wind is becoming a mainstream supplier of low-carbon electricity due to achieving competitiveness through a continued focus on cost reductions and innovation throughout the supply chain.

Rosslare Europort did play a significant role in the development of Ireland’s first offshore wind farm which was located on the Arklow Bank, offshore in 2004. That project is now under further development by SSE Airtricity with plans to increase the power output from the windfarm from 25MW to 520MW by 2025.

quay for the loading a nd of f load i ng of offshore wind equipment as well as providing storage and assembly areas to manage the turbines, transition pieces and mobilisation equipment.

Space will also be made available to enterprises interested in providing maintenance, operational and repair services. The development is alongside the new port access road which is planned and being developed by Rosslare Europort and several transport related enterprises. The Rosslare Europort Development Plan, some of which is already completed in anticipation of Brexit with the provision of State Control facilities and vehicle parking areas will provide facilities that are important to the developers of the Wind farm projects. The availability there of a range of ferry services to and from European Ports and of regular lo-lo container services to and from the nearby Waterford Port, together the tugboat and other supports in the region will also be an advantage.

In May 2020 XELLZ Ireland Ltd. announced that it had secured an area of approximately 200,000 sq. metres of land alongside Rosslare Europort where it plans to establish an offshore wind supply base to serve and support the development of offshore wind energy farms.

The Europort Business Park being developed on the site will give direct access to the

In addition to the already operational Arklow Bank windfarm and its development, seven further offshore renewable energy projects have been designated as ‘Relevant Projects’ by the Ministers for Urban Development and Climate Action and have been approved for transition to the upcoming marine planning regime. This approval should enable them to

Ireland’s offshore renewable energy resources are among the largest in Europe; however, these assets remain largely undeveloped. To date, the only offshore wind project deployed in Ireland is the 25MW (7 turbine) offshore wind demonstration project commissioned in 2004. However, recent policy developments in Ireland have stimulated a renewed focus on investment opportunities in Ireland’s offshore wind, wave and tidal energy resources. In particular, the new Renewable Energy Support Scheme (RESS) being designed to contribute to Ireland’s 2020 renewable electricity targets, and to deliver Ireland’s renewable energy ambitions out to 2030, could act as a catalyst for the deployment of ORE projects in Irish waters and create new business opportunities for Ireland’s ports.”

FLEETMARITIME | Summer 2020

be processed to receive a valid grid connection offer.

Six of these projects are located off the Irish East Coast, two off County Louth, one each on the Kish Bank outside Dublin and off Bray, two on the Codling Bank near Wicklow while the seventh is located off the Connemara Coast.

A further project announcement in recent weeks came from Simply Blue Energy, who propose to locate a floating wind farm some 45km west of Pembroke in the Celtic Sea. The technology for such a development is based on that in use for floating oil exploration platforms.

Any of these projects could be developed and maintained from the Rosslare location.

MARITIME III | 23

The post COVID-19 Maritime world

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t the time of writing this worldwide pandemic is far from being over, but already some significant changes in the way in which the maritime sector operates are becoming apparent. Some of these arise from changes in the way in which people and industries have begun to work in order to keep some sense of normality in a unique global event. Many others come from the unique “opportunity” that has required people, businesses and Governments to, almost literally, stop and think things out again.

One development that has been brought into sharp focus by the pandemic has been the use of e-documentation. There is an imperative to avoid, where possible, the physical handling of any form of paperwork. Shipping lines and Forwarders have come together in groups like the Digital Container Shipping Association to promote the use of technologies such as blockchain to develop valid documentation that will ease the flow of cargo through ports on a global basis.

Britt ania leaves Dublin

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To look at different sectors from an Irish perspective: Irish export and import performance Four sectors of the Irish export economy, Financial Services, ICT, Food and Drink, along with Pharma and Medical Devices, while suffering some disruption and reduction in business as their customers have slowed their activities, have, in the main, kept active throughout the crisis. On the import side, food and drink volumes have remained strong as has the requirement for medical equipment, PPE’s and the like. At the time of writing, as markets in Europe and further afield begin to open-up, volumes shipping through Irish ports are beginning to recover from the March/April slump.

Short Sea Shipping services • Ferries: Due, in part, to the short-term State assistance to ferry routes out of Rosslare and the Cherbourg route out of Dublin, the shipping lines have been able to maintain full schedules. Another significant factor is that, in the main, ferry services operating through Irish Ports are very freight traffic focussed and passenger traffic is limited and very seasonal.

Thus, routes, other than those to Roscoff have continued to be served with the planned schedules. Th is is unlike the case on several English Channel, North Sea and Scandinavian routes which, following the collapse of passenger traffic, have closed either temporarily or permanently. In the course of a recent IEA webinar, Rosslare Europort CEO, Glenn Carr made the point that when a service closes, even if it supposed to be temporarily, it is extremely difficult to get such a service up and running again. One change, that was already happening but which the COVID-19 outbreak hastened, has been the switch by hauliers to operations using unaccompanied trailers on ferries. Doing this has enabled them to sidestep many of the difficulties that they may otherwise have faced at ports and border crossing points, but it has also put the Shipping Lines under pressure in maintaining their loading and discharging time schedules.

While Brexit and the potential disruption arising from it, has, up to now, been the main reason for shippers and hauliers to consider the use of direct shipping services from Irish to

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continental ports, the potential COVID-19 disruptions have made shippers and customers more likely to ship now on the direct services rather than use the British Landbridge.

Lo-Lo containerships: Volumes, though down, have been enough to enable lines to keep services and schedules running normally, and there have been no health-related issues at ports or on-board ship. Unlike the ferries however, the container lines have an operational model in which they not only supply the vessel on which the cargo is shipped but also provide the container in which it is packed. Due to the closures of premises throughout Europe it has been more challenging to keep the container equipment in the right balance and lines have had to move many containers empty.

Deep Sea Shipping Services: In order to maintain the rates paid by shippers the major Container Lines started a programme of “blanking” sailings early in the New Year. Th is sought to limit capacity to a level that kept the vessels operating with minimal losses, but it disrupts the supply chains of many shippers.

There have also been major issues concerning the availability of appropriate containers due mainly to equipment being tied up at ports awaiting discharge.

Cruise Ship operations: These came to a complete halt at the start of the pandemic and are unlikely to resume until 2021 at the earliest. Th is will have a severe impact on the lines involved and on the partners on shore. Adding to the industry problems is the increasing resistance from many ports and cities to the servicing of some of the massive vessels and the strain that these put on the local city infrastructure. There are also pollution issues with these vessels.

In the next issue of “Fleet Maritime” we will develop the postCoronavirus scenario further.

MSC-Ambra FLEETMARITIME | Summer 2020

24 | MARITIME IV

PORT PORTALS CLdN has opened its first route out of Cork.

The Con-Ro service links Ringaskiddy with Zeebrugge where there are connections with the Europe-wide CLdN ferry and rail service network. The vessel deployed on the new service is the 1999 built Melusine, one of six sister ships owned by the Luxembourg based operator. She sails from Cork each Tuesday at 20.00, arriving at Zeebrugge on Thursday at noon, sailing for Cork again on Friday at 22.00, reaching Ringaskiddy at noon on Sunday. The vessel is worked at Cork on Monday.

The Melusine has capacity for up to 446 trade cars and 2,317 lane metres of freight. The line expects to ship substantial container volumes which are carried on board using Mafi-trailers.

Welcoming the new service Port of Cork Chairman, John Mullins, said: “Th is is a very exciting development for both the Port of Cork and CLdN. In these unprecedented times this direct freight link with Europe from Ireland’s primary southern gateway will reinforce the Port’s commitment to supporting businesses in the region and preparing for any eventuality Brexit may still bring.”

When announcing the new service CLdN also advised that the frequency of the Dublin/Zeebrugge link would now return to a three round trips weekly basis.

Fast Lines Belgium has launched a Liner service between its home port of Antwerp and Drogheda with the first monthly sailing taking place in March 2020. The service operates under the “Bel-Eire Lines” brand and targets all kinds of breakbulk and general cargo including steel products, bagged material, palletised goods and project cargo.

The company has operated into Drogheda since 2000 and has its own facilities at the port’s Tom Roes Point Terminal and at the Drogheda Town Quay with warehousing of up to 10,000sqm capacity.

FLEETMARITIME | Summer 2020

On 27 April Hyundai Maritime’s HMM Algeciras sailed from the Chinese Port of Quindao on her maiden voyage to Europe.

With a length of 400 metres and a container capacity of 24,000 TEU she becomes the largest container ship currently in service.

She is the fi rst of twelve sister ships to be completed by September 2020 for HMM. The owner claims that this fleet, along with the eight 16,000 TEU capacity vessels also under construction for the South Korean owner, will be amongst the most environmentally friendly vessels af loat.

Each vessel is being fitted with exhaust gas scrubbing equipment.

As of April 1 Hyundai, switched from membership of the “2M Alliance” a group in which they partnered operationally with Maersk and MSC, to becoming a full partner in “THE ALLIANCE”, along with Hapag Lloyd, Yang Ming and Ocean Network Express (ONE).

MSC has also commenced the introduction of a series of similar capacity vessels to the new Hyundai fleet. In early May two of the 23,750 TEU ships were deployed to call at US West Coast Ports to collect empty containers and return them to China for loading. These were, by a significant margin, the largest cargo ships to call at US West Coast Ports.

Brittany Ferries plan to return the chartered Kerry to her owners, Stena Ro-Ro, at the end of her current charter period later in 2020.

She will be replaced on the Rosslare services to Bilbao and Roscoff by her sister-ship, Connemara. That vessel will be displaced from the Portsmouth/Bilbao service by Galacia, the fi rst of three E-Flexer vessels currently under construction in China to

a Brittany Ferries specification, but under the Stena series order. Further delays in completion have been reported for Brittany Ferries’ first LNG powered vessel, the Cruise Ferry Honfleur, and she is unlikely to enter service until close to the end of 2020.

Irish Ferries plans to retain the chartered Epsilon for a further year. It remains unclear when its Cruise Ferry ordered from German builder FSG will be built and enter service.

FSG built the W.B. Yeats and, mainly due to extreme delays in delivery of that vessel, suffered major losses in 2019. Irish Ferries has, according to the company’s recently published results, put down a deposit of 20% (€33m) on the new order and is unlikely to switch the order to another builder until the fi nancial position of FSG is clarified.

Stena Line has advised that the planned lengthening work on the former Belfast/ Birkinhead ferry Stena Lagan has been deferred by six months due to the COVID19 outbreak. The work had been planned to be completed by July, at which time her sister ship Stena Mersey would have been taken out of operation on the Birkenhead route and have been extended. That work will not now start until the New Year when Stena’s third e-Flexer delivery, Stena Embla will take up service on that route.