Bank Line name to disappear
As the China Navigation Company consolidates a number of its liner shipping services under a newly-incorporated umbrella entity, Swire Shipping, one of the outcomes will be the disappearance of the Bank Line name. The South Pacific service of the Bank Line was acquired by China Navigation Co in 2003 from Andrew Weir Shipping, and the latest move formalises an arrangement that has been in place for some time under which the Swire Shipping name was used to cover APIL, Chief Container Services, Crocodile Line, Indotrans, Indotrans Pacific and New Guinea Pacific Lines.

Par Docks to close
The commercial port of Par in Cornwall is to cease trading with the loss of nearly 200 jobs as part of cuts carried out by china clay company Imerys. The cuts at Par Docks are part of plans announced in July to make 800 workers redundant.The docks will stop being used by ships exporting clay.

Seatruck christens first of five
Seatruck Ferries celebrated the christening of Clipper Point, the first of five new ferries, at Astilleros de Huelva in Spain on 7 October. Sponsor Mrs Andrea Hobbs, wife of Seatruck CEO Kevin Hobbs, gave a speech in both English and Spanish. After a blessing by the local priest, the traditional breaking of a bottle against the ship's hull took place.

Record breaker's maiden call at Felixstowe
The arrival of Emma Maersk at the Port of Felixstowe on 4 November 2006 marked the fourth time a 'world's largest' container ship had docked there this year, following Xin Los Angeles in July, MSC Pamela in August and Gudrun Mearsk (the world's longest at the time). PoF spokesman Paul Davey said this would probably not be surpassed for a while with media interest considerable.
The bare statistics of the vessel make incredible reading: she is 397m in length (31m longer that Maersk's previous largest), 57m in beam (15m bigger than any other container ship), a maximum draught of 16.5m and a gross tonnage of 156,907 making her the largest container ship.
Built in the Odense yard, Denmark, the vessel is powered by a 14-cylinder Wärtsilä diesel from the Doosan Engine Co which delivers 110,000bhp. Five diesel generators produce 20,700kW and a combined gas/steam turbine generator of 8,500kW is driven by the main engine's exhaust. When she called at Felixstowe, the thousands of containers brought what is thought to be the largest single consignment of Christmas presents.

Catamaran for Orkney route
Pentland Ferries are spending over £7 million on a 64m catamaran to be introduced on the service from Gills Bay, Caithness, to St Margaret's Hope, South Ronaldsay, next summer. Founder and managing director Andrew Banks explained that the hull had already been bought from FBAM and work is now starting at their yard at Cebu in the Philippines on fitting out a vessel similar to the Dutch ferry Vlieland, delivered by FBAM in 2005.

Decision day for Transmanche
After the introduction of second newbuilding Seven Sisters on 2 November, the company to operate the Transmanche Ferries route between Dieppe and Newhaven for the next eight years will be announced soon.

New Seabourn sisters
Seabourn Cruise Line has placed an order for two ships from the T. Mariotti Shipyard in Genoa, at a total cost of $US500 million, for delivery in 2009 and 2010. At 32,000gt, they will be over three times the size of the three existing Seabourn ships, with 225 suites each, more than doubling the line's current capacity of 634 berths. With the highest passenger space ratio of any cruise ship at 71.1, they are being designed by Bjorn Storbraaten, who was also responsible for, amongst others, Silversea ships and Regent Seven Seas Voyager, Mariner and Navigator. The ships will have a length of 198m (650ft) and a beam of 26m (84ft). They will be powered by diesel-generated electricity and with twin screw propellers will have a service speed of 19 knots. Seabourn Cruise Line was established in 1987 by Norwegian entrepreneur, Atle Brynestad, who ordered three small luxury cruise ships from Seebeckwerft AG.

Blue Dream for Celebrity
Royal Caribbean has not wasted much time in swapping tonnage following approval by the relevant authorities of its acquisition of Spanish operator Pullmantur. Blue Dream will be transferred to Celebrity Expeditions in April and, following a month-long refit, will be renamed Celebrity Journey. She will assume Zenith's published programme of weekly cruises to Bermuda from Cape Liberty Cruise Port, New Jersey.

Hunters' exodus
The Royal Navy's Sandown class minehunters Ramsey and Blyth have evaded dismal Scottish weather for a while by leaving on a long-term deployment to the Arabian Gulf. The mine countermeasures vessels departed Faslane for Bahrain where they will be based for the next two to three years. Crews will be rotated on a six-monthly basis as the navy seeks to train as many sailors as it can on the latest 2093 sonar kit in the unique climatic conditions found in the region.

Back in business
One of the Royal Navy's most evocative names has returned to the Fleet for the first time in nearly two and a half years. HMS Ark Royal arrived back at her homeport of Portsmouth on 28 October following a £19 million refit at Rosyth that prepared her for a new primary role as a Commando Carrier, whilst still maintaining a strike capability.

Aker open-top
Norway's Aker Yards has developed a design for a new open-top (OT) container ship, to be known as the Aker CS 1500 OT series, for the worldwide feeder trades. To be made available in smaller and larger sizes (CS 1300 OT and CS 1700 OT) the new feeder ship will require no container lashing, thus cargo handling times in ports will be cut dramatically. High cell guides will be used to support the container stacks and boxes will be secured by utilisation of automatic twist locks rather than conventional lashing. Use of a forward placed deckhouse will increases the vessel's container capacity while creating better visibility, especially while navigating in small harbours and dense traffic.

All these stories and more in Ships Monthly January 2007