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Issue 4 2015 - Freight Business Journal


///RO-RO


Sulphur fog liſts from the waters of North Europe


A few months ago, all was doom and gloom in the ro ro and ferry market. New emissions regulations seemed set to change the shape of short-sea shipping, with dire predictions of wholesale switching away to land transport as shipping services became too expensive. But now that the new rules are actually in force, things have settled down again and the industry is daring to talk about expansion again. Some operators are even beginning to experiment with alternative fuels.


Settling down aſter SECA


Aſter the uncertainties of the past 12 months, the ro ro freight market is thankfully settling down again, says Stena Line’s group freight director, Björn Petrusson. The new sulphur emissions


control area (SECA) came into force as scheduled at the beginning of 2015, and while it has necessitated a move a way from traditional heavy marine oil to more expensive diesel, “it has not led to any significant modal shiſt away from our ferries, even on those routes that are paralleled by motorways.” The fact that fuel prices


generally have fallen in line with the reduction in global oil prices seen towards the end of last year, combined with an early and clear communication with the customers, has kept Stena Line’s freight decks full, Petrusson points out. However, road haulage is now


facing other cost pressures not related to fuel, notably the driver shortage and the imposition of minimum wage legislation in Germany and other countries. Meanwhile, Stena Line has


made its first early steps towards alternative-fuelled ships, launching what it says is the world’s first methanol powered ferry,


Chief executive Carl-Johan


Hagman said that the new technology would transform the shipping industry’s environmental impact into something “completely different to what the industry has seen before.” Stena Line says that methanol is


a biodegradable, environmentally friendly and cost efficient fuel that reduces the emissions of sulphur and particles by 99 percent. The Stena Germanica is in fact a dual fuel vessel – methanol is the main fuel, but there is the option to use marine gas oil as backup. The €22 million project has


the


Stena Germanica, on the Kiel– Gothenburg route on 26 March. The 52,000-tonne, 15-year old cruise ferry re-entered service aſter a couple of months’ down time while conversion work was being carried out at a shipyard in Gdansk, Poland.


received support from the EU’s Motorways of the Seas initiative. Björn Petrusson points out that


it is early days yet, as the methanol installation is currently on just one of the Stena Germanica’s four engines, though the plan is to progressively convert the other three to the new fuel as experience is gained. And with the experiment


barely a week old in early April, it is far too early to say what Stena Line’s longer term plans are for alternative fuels. “At the moment, it’s a technical


project and we will need several months to evaluate it,” he told FBJ. “However, methanol does have its attractions, not only for reducing sulphur emissions as required by the new SECA rules, but also for future demand on nitrous oxides, particulates and in the longer term, carbon dioxide.” Meanwhile, some ferry markets


remain quite soſt, notably Russia and the East, which inevitably is affected by politics. “Demand there is weaker due to currency devaluation,” Petrusson states. “However, it is our only real problem area at the moment – the rest of Europe is looking great.” The UK, in particular, “has been the engine of growth for the past couple of years” with a lot of capacity on the North Sea


routes from Hoek of Holland to Harwich and from Rotterdam Europort to Killingholme. Growth is also returning to the Germany- Scandinavia corridor, “a long awaited piece of good news,” he adds. For the moment, Stena Line can


add capacity by getting more trips out of existing ships, so there is no need to rush to the shipbuilders’ yards. It’s also possible to add capacity


through new partnerships, along the lines of the cooperation with UK-based Mann Lines which happened towards the end of 2014. Under this, UK and Europe to the Baltic freight ro ro operator Mann Lines has signed a cooperation deal under which Stena’s RoRo arm has chartered the ro ro vessel Stena Foreteller to Mann Lines from January 2015 for its service between Harwich, Cuxhaven, Tallinn, Turku and Bremerhaven. Mann Lines itself is offering a fixed


space charter to Stena Line on its vessel and will act as a sales agent for Stena Lines’ route network, helping to increase cargo flows for both companies and giving Mann Line a new link to and from the Benelux countries, while using Harwich as a transshipment point


between the Continent and Russia. “I could see us doing similar


deals with other operators, especially now that the new focus at Stena Line is on shipping logistics” Petrusson says. He stresses that Stena Line has no intention of getting into the door to door market though. Instead, its interests are more on the rail side, vehicles, project cargo and mafi trailers. Stena Line has now developed


quite a network of rail services linking inland Europe with its ferry terminals. For example, there is a train six days a week from Poznan to Rotterdam Europort, from where regular ferry links operate to both Harwich (daily) and Killinghome (currently three days a week). “That gives us a fantastic product from Poland to the UK and Ireland,” Petrusson points out.


back to full strength Brittany Ferries


Brittany Ferries’ fleet will soon be back to full strength with the return of the Barfleur, which is having exhaust scrubbers fitted, and the Etretat, for stabiliser repairs. As luck would have it, the problems with the Etretat occurred at a time when vessels were already being withdrawn for scrubber fitting to bring them in line with the new Marpol limits for sulphur emissions, so the Poole-Cherbourg route had to be temporarily withdrawn for ten weeks, with traffic diverted


to other other services such as Portsmouth-Cherbourg. However, salvation is on the


way in the shape of the latest addition to the Brittany fleet, the Baie de Seine in mid-May, points out sales manager UK & Ireland Steve Aldred. The new capacity – the Baie de Seine has space for up to 84 trucks in theory - will allow a service to Spain every day of the week and the Portsmouth-Le Havre service - currently Mondays to Fridays only - will go daily.


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