News

The Visemar (Visentini)-owned 'Ciudad de Valencia' left Campamento on Oct 14, 2026, enroute to Klaipeda for a charter to DFDS with an ETA as of Oct 21. has spent the past few weeks at a shipyard in Algeciras. The operator announced in April that the chartered RoPax would increase capacity, particularly for passengers, on its Karlshamn–Klaipeda route by replacing the 'Optima Seaways', which has only around a third of passenger capacity. The difference in freight capacity was less, with 2,566 lane metres compared with 2,300. Since its delivery, the 'Ciudad de Valencia' has been chartered to Trasmediterránea, which has become part of Baleària. It will be the newest Visentini version operated by DFDS. The 1999-built 'Optima Seaways' represented the first egeneration of Visentini vessels.

One day after DFDS took possession of the 'Volcán de Tamasite' on Oct 6, 2026, the ferry has been renamed 'Marhaba Seaways'. For the time being, the ship continued to fly the Spanish flag. The handover of the vessel by representatives of the Armas Trasmediterránea Group took place in the port of Algeciras. Built at the Barreras Shipyard and in service since 2004, the ferry “Volcán de Tamasite” marked a new chapter in the history of Naviera Armas.

Wallenius SOL has chartered the 'Lakeway Express' of Lakeway Link to add it to its Baltic schedule. She will serve a new long-term contract with Holmen Board & Paper that started on Oct 1, 2026, to carry Holmen’s board exports from Iggesund, north of Gävle which have been shipped by RoRo for many decades. She will sail weekly to Kiel, where Holmen’s board exports have an established logistics network. The first call at Kiel enroute from Iggesund was on Oct 12. Last winter, the ship underwent an extensive conversion to reduce her environmental footprint. The work included de-rating her main engine and fitting new propeller blades and a new bow bulb. The vessel is strengthened to ice class 1A. Holmen previously used the SCA RoRo service calling at the Kiel forest products terminal. The high-value coated board will be carried mainly on cassettes.

Brittany Ferries has chartered the 'Vizzavona' to serve the Cherbourg Rosslare route. The ferry, re-named 'Wexford', would replace the 'Norbay', which was on temporary charter to Brittany Ferries under French flag and crewed by French seafarers, in March 2027. Three weekly return crossings will made from Rosslare-Cherbourg as well as one Portsmouth-Cherbourg rotation. Tickets would be on sale by the end of October 2026. One year ago, directors promised that the 'Norbay' would be replaced as soon as was possible by a suitable ro-pax ship and that it would operate under the French flag. With the signing of the charter for the 'Wexford', it has met that commitment, with the ship completing Brittany Ferries’ network of long-haul routes to and from Ireland, adding valuable passenger and freight capacity alongside frequent, direct sailings to northern Spain, Brittany and Normandy by the 'Salamanca', 'Clipper', 'Armorique' and 'Pont-Aven', offering up to seven weekly return sailings between Rosslare and Cherbourg, two weekly return sailings between Rosslare and Bilbao, and two weekly return sailings between Cork and Roscoff.

The Smyril Line has chartered CLdN's 'Maxine' in order to maintain the Rotterdam–Faroe Islands–Iceland service until the Smyril Line's two newbuildings had arrived from China. The Smyril Line was using the CLdN-owned Distriport terminal in Rotterdam's Brittanniëhaven. The 'Maxine' is largest single-screw vessel ever to enter the port of Þorlákshöfn. Smyril Line has suffered a series of setbacks with its two newbuildings. First, the 'Akranes' had a shaft generator failure during sea trials. The 'Skipanes' suffered an engine room fire shortly after leaving China on her maiden voyage. She initially returned to Xiamen and then berthed at a Hong Kong shipyard, where the engine room was to be cleaned and repaired. Meanwhile, the 'Akranes' has completed her sea trials and will be delivered imminently.