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DFDS on April 1, 2026, announced an agreement to charter the 'Ciudad de Valencia' from Transmediterranea for the Karlshamn-Klaipeda route. This is to replace the 'Optima Seaways', which currently operates on the route in September. The vessel will almost triple passenger capacity compared to the ship it replaces, while also providing additional freight space. This upgrade will enhance service reliability for customers and support DFDS’s continued growth in the Baltic Sea region.

The £1 million per month charter of the 'Alfred' from Pentland Ferries was due to expire on Feb 28), leaving CalMac with less resilience across the ferry network. The catamaran was due to head for an annual overhaul after having its charter extended several times over the past three years. There have been discussions about extending the charter again, potentially to cover gaps on other routes, like the Oban–Barra, where the 'Isle of Lewis' wass in extended dry dock stay. But Transport Scotland has stated that no extension has been agreed. The official charter expiry date ca,e as the new Turkish-built ferry 'Isle of Islay' arrived in Greenock on Feb 22. The new ferry was due to enter service in March, which CalMac hoping this would reduce the need for the 'Alfred’s continued hire. Originally announced in March 2023 as a nine-month charter to CalMac, the catamaran's charter has been extended on numerous occasions to provide backup for ferry services, including those in the Western Isles. The cost of the charter since May 2023 has reached more than £17 million, £3 million more than Pentland Ferries paid to buy the vessel outright in 2019. Meanwhile CalMac has announced the need for additional steelwork on the 'Isle of Lewis', so the company was reviewing deployment plans between early March and the end of May. Steel wastage was discovered on top of a fuel tank. This needed to be repaired to get the necessary regulatory approvals to return to service, and a temporary repair was unlikely to be possible. The drydock operator has advised that the timeline for the work could be up to three months. Fuel has been drained from the tank, and there was equipment including the sewage treatment plant, ballast pumps, fire pumps and associated pipework that needed to be removed to complete the steel renewal. The removal, reinstatement and commissioning of this equipment contributes to the timeline. The 'Isle of Lewis' will therefore not be available for the remainder of winter or the start of the summer timetable, and her overhaul was going to run through the 'Hebrides' (Feb 27-April 13), 'Loch Frisa' (March16-April 7) and 'Finlaggan' (April 20-May 8) planned overhauls.. However,. the 'Caledonian Isles' has returned to service this week, providing five returns per day between Ardrossan-Brodick. Works on the 'Glen Sannox' were virtually complete as well.

AS Tallink Grupp has signed a charter agreement under which the 'Superfast IX' will be chartered to the Hibernia Line and serve between Boulogne and Cork . A suitable replacement will be sought for the ship that has so far been operating on the Paldiski–Kapellskär route. The 'Superfast IX' was not the most suitable vessel for the route due to its large passenger capacity. The operators were looking for a replacement vessel of appropriate size and configuration. The vessel handover will take place on May 1, 2026, in the port of Tallinn. Until then, the 'Superfast IX' will continue to offer a fast travel option for cargo transportations and passengers with vehicles between Estonia and Sweden. The charter agreement is valid for three years, with an option to extend for an additional two years. The agreement also includes a purchase option for the vessel. Before departing from Estonia, Superfast IX will undergo scheduled maintenance at the Turku Repair Yard in Naantali, Finland, from April 3 to April 18.

The 'GNV Atlas', equipped with 257 cabins, has been employed as an accommodation vessel in the port of Filyos from the start of Feb 2026 for a period of six months. The vessel will house personnel working on the development of Turkey’s Sakarya oil field. The ferry was most recently operated by GNV on routes between Spain/France and Morocco.

The ' Arrow' has been taken on long-term charter by the UK-based international infrastructure group Balfour Beatty to provide dedicated logistics support for SSEN Transmission’s Lewis Hub and Western Isles High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) Link in Scotland. The charter of a dedicated vessel for the project will not only strengthen project delivery, but will also help safeguard Caledonian MacBrayne's (CalMac's) existing Stornoway-Ullapool ferry service. The ship was currently coming to the end of a 12-month charter to DFDS, with the charter expiring on March 24, 2026. The Lewis Hub is a major energy project that will connect Scotland's Western Isles to Great Britain's mainland transmission network for the first time, using subsea cables. The Lewis Hub is a key part of the Western Isles HVDC Connection Project to establish a high voltage subsea and underground transmission link. A “release mechanism” in the charter will allow the ' Arrow' to be used by other companies when not required by SSEN Transmission, boosting resilience across the island’s essential lifeline ferry network, including during drydocking and scheduled maintenance of CalMac’s 'Loch Seaforth', which maintains the Stornoway-Ullapool link. The charter of the ' Arriw' followed close co-operation with Stornoway Port, Comhairle nan Eilean Scar and Ullapool Harbour Trust, with additional support from Transport Scotland, Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL) and CalMac, working together to identify freight solutions that avoid adding pressure to existing ferry services.