Fleet Maritime

fleetMaritime: IRISH SHIPPING & FREIGHT

MARITIME I | 49

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

Volume 15, No. 5 Winter 2020

CMA CGM greatly expands its freighting options: Links Ireland with Dunkirk and onwards •

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apidly developing Shipping & Logistics group, CMA CGM has significantly improved its service offering to Irish traders. The recently established service, (BENI-1 route) developed under the Containerships’ brand, has now been expanded to a weekly rotation of four calls with the addition of Dunkirk to the schedule.

much of its Irish Deep-Sea traffic through the French Port. Announcing this new link, a spokesman for CMA CGM said: “CMA CGM Group believes that this service, mixing the Intra-Europe and ‘Deep-Sea’ container services of the group, will have excellent sustainability in the marketplace with shared space for both.

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With capacity for up to 900 x 20 ft containers, the MV Aila now sails from Cork on Tuesday, arriving Dunkirk on Thursday, then Rotterdam on Saturday, Dublin on Monday and returning to Cork on Tuesday.

The Aila has 200 reefer container plug-in points on board.

When introduced earlier this year the service was mainly focused on European door-to-door traffic and linked in with the Containerships’ European shipping network through Rotterdam. This was adding a further ‘Brexit-Beating’ option for Irish companies trading with Europe.

However, the introduction of Dunkirk to the schedule enables CMA CGM to feed

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It avoids congestion issues at major UK and European ports such as Southampton & Rotterdam Brexit issues from 1/1/21 in UK ports are bypassed Offers both dry (20st/40st/45PW) and Refrigerated containers (45RW) Provides excellent onward carriage by road/Rail and Barge into the European hinterland.

Dunkirk is a Refrigerated cargo hub for CMA CGM group, being an important distribution point for Caribbean & West Indies Bananas CMA CGM will reinforce the supply of 40ft Reefer containers into the Irish Marketplace in order to further support the export of Ireland’s top quality fresh and frozen products across the globe.

CMA CGM & CONTAINERSHIPS is also committed to environmental sustainability and has introduced the first of its 23,000teu (twenty- foot equivalent units) ships which is powered

by Natural Gas (LNG). The MV CMA CGM JACQUES SAADE made her first European calls this month to Malta, Southampton and Hamburg.

On her fi rst voyage she left the port of Singapore with 20,723 containers on board, substantially more than the previous world record lift.

Bringing the LNG powered fleet of very large container vessels into service is enabling CMA CGM to offer a very low carbon footprint for the door-to-door supply chain.

Additionally a fleet of smaller, 16,000 TEU vessels is currently under construction which will mainly be deployed on the Asia to Northern Europe routes. New vessels in the Containerships, European Short-sea service fleet are also LNG fuelled.

While CMA CGM has invested heavily in building new LNG fuelled tonnage in order to reduce the environmental impact of its fleet, its competitor, Maersk, has delayed ordering new vessels until it secures more clarity as to the most effective fuel and vessel design that would achieve a similar objective. The company has looked at the climate change objectives set out in the Paris Accord and other agreements and, having pointed out that tonnage built now could well still be in service in 2050, wants to be sure that it has the best answers.

Second loop added to Irish service Containerships has now introduced a second weekly loop on the BENI service. Weekly calls are made at Rotterdam, Cork and Dublin with the vessel sailing on an anticlockwise port rotation, the reverse of that on the existing BENI-1 service. Sailings from Dublin are on Sunday, Rotterdam on Wednesday and Cork on Saturday.

A representative of the Line said: “The two loops both run on a 7-day rotation FLEETMARITIME | Winter 2020

50 | MARITIME II acquisition of 30% of Groupe Dubreuil Aero by the company.

MS Aila

A statement from the company said: “The CMA CGM Group provides its recognised logistics expertise to contribute to the development of Groupe DUBREUIL Aéro cargo activity, notably through Hi Line Cargo, a subsidiary tasked with commercial distribution of freight on Air Caraïbes and French Bee’s aircraft s. The two companies boast modern fleets totalling 14 long-haul aircrafts including 8 Airbus A350s, a modern and particularly efficient asset capable of transporting between 15 and 25 tonnes of freight, in addition to its passengers and their luggage.”

and provide reliable connections to other Containerships services, via Rotterdam, to the Baltics, Canary Islands and Morocco.

They are further supported by intermodal solutions with the mainland continent.” The introduction of this service brings to three the number of services introduced within the last six months sailing direct to Cork

from Benelux ports; it follows the CLdN service from Zeebrugge and the ICL service from Antwerp.

CMA CGM partners in airfreight group In September CMA CGM Group Chairman Rodolphe Saade announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding for the

The CMA CGM group’s other interests include Freight Forwarder Ceva Logistics and it was a significant investor in Traxens in 2012. In 2019 CMA CGM bought 50,000 of the Traxens tracking devices for fitt ing to units in its ocean container fleet thus enabling the containers as smart containers. The company also partners in several Blockchain related services.

Stena Line re-builds and extends for Irish Sea vessels

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he introduction of Stena Line’s second e-Flexer vessel Stena Edda onto Belfast/Birkenhead Stena Estrid Floatthe Ceremony route has allowed the Line to retire the Stena Lagan and take her to the Sedef Shipyard in Turkey for a major re-build.

The Stena Lagan had been introduced onto this route chartered to Norse Merchant Ferries on her completion in 2005. The route was passed to Norfolk Line in 2008 and then to DFDS, before being taken over in 2011

by Stena Line. In 2006 Stena Lagan was joined on the route by her sister ship, now named Stena Mersey. Both vessels emerged from a long series-build of similar vessels at the Italian Viscentini Yard running from 1996 to 2020.

The re-build in Turkey will extend the ship from 186.5 metres long to 222 metres bringing her freight garage capacity up to 2,875 lane metres, up from 2,250 lane metres.

The re-build will also expand her passenger accommodation with 74 additional cabins taking her complement to 194.

With the Stena Lagan split in two, the fi rst part of a new 36 metre section was lifted FLEETMARITIME | Winter 2020

into place on 2 September. Th is fi rst block weighed 960 tonnes. Her bow was also removed and is being replaced with a new one that will allow the ship to be loaded both at bow and stern and at two levels.

Her original design had only allowed stern loading and at one level. The work is expected to be completed in January 2021 allowing the vessel to go back into service.

unextended Viscentini ferries. One of these, Stena Flavia, is rumoured to be re-deployed on the Rosslare/Cherbourg route enabling Stena to return the chartered Stena Horizon to her Italian owners.

Stena expects to receive its third e-Flexer, the Stena Embla from the Chinese builders in January and plans to put her into the Stena Lagan lengthening Belfast/Liverpool Stena Lagan -r ebuild Stena-RoRo service right away, so releasing the Stena Mersey to go to Turkey for a similar re-build to that undertaken on the Stena Lagan.

The pair of extended vessels will then be deployed by Stena on its Nynashamn, Sweden/ Ventspils, Lat v ia route displacing a pair of

MARITIME III | 51

New Chief Executive for Port of Cork

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he Port of Cork Company has announced that Eoin McGettigan has recently taken up the role of Chief Executive. He replaces Brendan Keating who has retired following eighteen years in the role.

Speaking about the retiring CEO and the new appointment, Port Chairman John Mullins said: “Brendan Keating made an outstanding contribution to the Port as Chief Executive since 2002. Brendan has seen the Port’s Strategic Development Plan fully recognised: the acquisition of Belvelly Port Facility (formerly Marino Point), the Inner Harbour Development at Bantry Bay Port Company, the marked increase in cruise business and the commencement of construction of the €86 million Cork Container Terminal in Ringaskiddy which will future proof the port. I have no doubt that Eoin will now take these projects and the business forward to further enable our growing economy.”**

Mearsk Nolanville

Looking forward to 2021 and beyond, Mullins went on to say: “Eoin will steward the company from the River to the Sea through the commissioning of key infrastructure in the lower harbour whilst making available former assets for critical residential and commercial development. Eoin’s property experience will be instrumental in ensuring that Tivoli will be one of the most exciting projects in the future for the company and for the City of Cork.’

Work is progressing towards completion of the Ringaskiddy container port and the company expects to open the facility in spring 2021. Th is will not only facilitate the regular deep-sea traffics through the port operated by Maersk and by Independent Container Lines, but also the short-sea container services currently operating from the upriver Tivoli terminal.

…and celebrates two Silver anniversaries

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n 1995 Stena Line moved its Northern Ireland service terminal from Larne to Belfast and in the same year opened its Dublin/Holyhead service.

The move from Larne has enabled the line to develop the Stranraer service to a level where, in 2011, the company could open a brand new Scott ish Terminal at Cairnryan, further down Lough Ryan and equipped to handle larger vessels than had operated up to that date. Th is allowed the line to introduce the Superfast vessels, Stena Superfast VII and Stena Superfast VIII. Since moving to Belfast, Stena took over Belfast/Heysham services from P+O and the Belfast/Birkenhead service from DFDS, becoming the most significant ferry operator of Northern Ireland services.

Stena Superfast VIi at Cairnryan

The Dublin/Holyhead service was initially introduced to meet a perceived shortage of freight capacity on the central Irish Sea corridor. The Stena Hibernia, operating on the Dun Laoghaire/Holyhead route was due to be displaced by the HSS Stena Explorer but at the time it was unclear whether that vessel or the port of Dun Laoghaire would cope with significantly more freight traffic.

The 1,700 lane metre Stena Traveller opened the Dublin-Holyhead route in 1995, operating on a twice daily round trip basis.

The route is now covered by the Stena Adventurer and Stena Estrid with a combined capacity of 13,000 lane metres over the four sailings each day.

3 million cars and 3.5 million freight units.

If all the vehicles carried over the time were laid end-to-end, they would, according to Stena, circle the globe.

Looking forward to 2021 and beyond, Stena Line has launched plans to re-introduce Duty-Free shopping on board the Dublin/ Holyhead and Rosslare/Fishguard vessels, when the Brexit transitional phase is completed. At time of writing there are some concerns expressed by Stena CEO Niclas Martensson, about the way in which traffic will run through Dublin Port when Border controls come into effect. He has expressed reluctance to shift the vessel schedules on the Dublin/Holyhead route in order to avoid congestion in Dublin Port.

Stena Line estimates that over the 25 years the Dublin/Holyhead route has operated, they will have carried 12 million passengers, Stena Explorer approaches Dun Laoghaire

HSS through Tall Ships

FLEETMARITIME | Winter 2020

52 | MARITIME IV

Drogheda Port welcomes new shipping route

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ollowing the introduction last February of a scheduled breakbulk shipping service linking the Drogheda Port with Antwerp, a further service has now been launched to the Italian port of Nogaro. Both services are operated

by Belgian owned Fast Lines based on use of its box-shaped short-sea vessels.

Nogaro is located close to Venice and Trieste and has direct links with the European rail network enabling the line to offer a full suite break bulk service.

Announcing the new service, Paul Fleming Port CEO said; “We are delighted to welcome these new services which will strengthen the strategic importance of Drogheda Port in supporting the Irish construction sector

PORT PORTALS Irish Ferries will move to a seven round trips a fortnight basis on its Dublin/Cherbourg service from the 1 January 2021. The schedule change is in response to an anticipated increase in demand from hauliers following the conclusion of the post-Brexit transition period and likely delays in Landbridge operations. The company has also extended its charter arrangement for the Ro-Pax Epsilon with the Viscentini Group until November 2021. Th is could be extended further if required.

Epsilon and Superfast

The installation of exhaust scrubbers on the Isle of Inishmore, which had been planned to take place during the vessel’s 2020 re-fit, will now be carried out in early 2021.

Brittany Ferries has taken delivery of its first e-Flexer vessel. The Galicia is chartered from Stena Ro-Ro and was built with internal layout and services designed to meet the requirements of Brittany Ferries in operation of services linking Britain and Spain. She will be introduced into service in Spring 2021. The company will charter a further two similar vessels on their completion and plans to operate these using LNG power. It was intended that its first LNG fuelled vessel would be the Honfleur, built at the German FSG yard, but the yard encountered severe FLEETMARITIME | Winter 2020

Fast Lines

and provide a seamless supply chain from Europe to Ireland in a post Brexit trading environment.”

Simon Mulvany, MD Fast Lines Ireland said; “We are always looking for new growth opportunities and as experts in shipping financial difficulties in the course of building the Irish Ferries W.B.Yeats, leading to late delivery of that vessel along with contract penalties. Building of the Honfleur was not completed before the yard closed and Brittany Ferries cancelled the contract. Irish Ferries did likewise with the contract for its planned Ulysses replacement vessel.

Brittany Ferries will switch its Rosslare based vessel from the Kerry to her sister ship Connemara following the completion of her charter with the company. The Connemara will operate a weekly Rosslare/Cherbourg round trip from March along with the regular Rosslare/Bilbao rotations. March 2021 will also see the opening of a second weekly round trip on the company’s seasonal Cork/ Roscoff service.

The Irish Maritime Administration was established within the Department of Transport in 2013 with the overall objective to integrate the planning, coordination and delivery of all maritime services to the Department. Considering recent developments in the maritime area the body has be reorganised and will now operate as the Irish Marine Directorate (IMD).

Responding to the Covid-19 pandemic and other significant disrupters in the maritime area, the Department of Transport has announced that it has been required to complete a new Statement of Strategy for the sector. It advised that this is required to: • “Review potential to expand passenger and cargo capability at all of our

goods in and out of Ireland to the continent these new services will form part of Ireland’s solution for Brexit. We will be providing an opportunity for existing and new customers to reroute their cargo flows in or out of Ireland.”

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ports, prioritising rail connections and interchange.

Work with the ports and ferry companies to increase the number of foot and cycle passengers.

Produce a longer-term plan setting out how, as a country, we will take advantage of the massive potential of offshore energy on the Atlantic Coast. This plan will focus on utilising our existing energy and maritime infrastructure.

Examine the establishment of an offshore maritime area as Ireland’s seventh National Park.

Bring forward Ireland’s first-ever National Marine Planning Framework. This will introduce a planning system for the development of Ireland’s maritime area.

Aggressively tackle the issue of waste, ghost nets and illegal dumping in the marine environment, through rigorous implementation of the Port Reception Facilities Directives and by requiring all Irish fishing trawlers to participate in the Clean Oceans Initiative, ensuring that plastic fished up at sea is brought ashore.

Fund the Tourism Ireland Regional Cooperative Marketing Fund, which seeks to encourage new access and maximise the potential of existing air and sea services to those areas outside Dublin. Examine the development of national tourism trails linking our ferry ports and rail network.”

The IMD has invited responses on these issues from interested parties.

Email: maritimestrategy@transport.gov.ie