Research ship named
A new £40 million Royal research ship, the RRS James Cook, was formally named by HRH The Princess Royal on 6 February at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton. RRS James Cook, the latest addition to the Natural Environment Research Council's fleet of oceanographic research ships, is one of the most advanced research vessels in the world and will carry scientists to some of the most challenging environments, from tropical oceans to the edge of the ice sheets.

Blue Star 1 takes over
Superfast X has been replaced on Superfast Ferries' thrice-weekly Rosyth-Zeebrugge passenger and vehicle service by Blue Star 1 from Attica Group sister company Blue Star Ferries. The new vessel on the route made her first departure from the Belgian port on 29 January and passied beneath the Forth Bridges to arrive in Scotland ahead of schedule the following morning.

Launch date for Govan
HMS Dauntless, the second of six new Type 45 destroyers on order for the Royal Navy, was launched in a blaze of publicity on 23 January. Despite cold and gloomy conditions, the event attracted more than 8,000 spectators, who watched the £700 million warship enter the river Clyde without mishap.

Nordkapp grounded in Antarctica
Ofotens & Vesteraalen DS cruise ship Nordkapp (1996/11,386gt) ran aground in Antarctic waters on 30 January at 1430 local time (1730GMT). One of the well-known Hurtigruten ships usually serving in Norwegian costal waters, Nordkapp was used for cruises in the Antarctic summer.

Brittany Ferries buy Normandie Express
The 91m catamaran Normandie Express, on charter for seasonal services from Portsmouth to Cherbourg and Caen for the past two years, has been bought by Brittany Ferries for EUR30 million from New Zealand owners Hi-Speed Catamarans. Completed in Tasmania during 2001, the 800-passenger/265-car Normandie Express is the prototype for Incat's Evolution 10b series, and opens 2007 services on 23 March with two Portsmouth-Cherbourg return trips daily Monday to Thursday and one each to Cherbourg and Caen on Friday, Saturday and Sunday until the end of October.

Sea Express 1 damaged in fog
Passengers and crew landed after collision in Mersey
The Isle of Man Steam Packet Company's catamaran Sea Express 1 suffered severe damage when colliding with Greek-flagged bulk cargo vessel Alaska Rainbow in dense fog while approaching the Princes Landing Stage in Liverpool after a crossing from Douglas on 2 February.

No interest in Swansea-Cork
Irish freight ferry service operator Celtic Link has no interest in taking over sailings from Southern Ireland to South Wales left in limbo by the decision of Swansea Cork Ferries not to run in 2007. Amid calls for the Irish Government to step in and secure the future of Swansea Cork Ferries, Celtic Link made it clear that, in the immediate future at least, they have no plans to consider taking on what is predominantly a passenger service.

Odessa heads to breakers
The former Soviet cruise ship Odessa (1972/13,758gt) has finally gone to Bangladeshi breakers after many years of lay-up. Construction began at the Vickers Barrow Yard in 1970, but a dispute between the owners, A/S Nordline, and the shipyard over costs ended up with the vessel being completed in Newcastle by Swan Hunter as Copenhagen. By the time the ship was delivered to Nordline, the company was having financial difficulties and sold her to the Black Sea Shipping Co in 1975.

Seabourn cancels Libya
Seabourn Cruise Line has cancelled calls to Libya by Seabourn Spirit (1989/9,975gt) and Seabourn Legend (1992/9,961gt) this year, following two cancellations in 2006, due to Libya's persistent refusal to permit entry to US passport holders. Holland America, which also cancelled calls to Libyan ports in 2006, has nine currently scheduled for this year and is monitoring the situation.

Majesty security scare
An item of cargo tested positive for C-4 plastic explosive on 9 January as it was being routinely screened prior to loading aboard Royal Caribbean's Majesty of the Seas (1992/73,937gt) in Miami. After the cargo had been re-examined six more times, the crate was detonated on the quayside, some distance from the ship, by the Miami-Dade bomb squad. Parts of the Terminal were evacuated and boarding was halted, although it resumed shortly afterwards. It was later discovered that the box contained sprinkler parts for use onboard.

Hawaii Superferry launched
The Austal USA yard at Mobile, Alabama, has floated out the first of two high-speed vehicle-carrying catamarans it is building for Hawaii Superferry. The 107m lead boat, under construction since June 2004, and which received her main engines last August, will be used for crew training before entering commercial service between Oahu, Maui and Kauai in July.

Fincantieri remains world's leading cruise ship builder
Italy's Fincantieri shipyard group continues to be the world's largest builder of cruise ships and Carnival Corporation remains its largest customer. In addition to Queen Victoria for Cunard, recently floated out at Venice, the order book at Fincantieri's Marghera facility alone includes the construction of a further four ships for three different Carnival brands: the 110,000gt Carnival Freedom for Carnival Cruise Lines, to be delivered this month, the 86,000gt Eurodam, prototype of Holland America Line's new Signature class, to be handed over in the summer of 2008, and two 92,700gt ships for Costa Crociere, the first for delivery in spring 2009 and the second in mid-2010.

Replicas on the blocks
Currently there are two projects for replica ships in the UK. Planned for 2009 is a replica of HMS Beagle, the vessel that took Charles Darwin on his travels in the 1830s. This £3.3m wooden barque will recreate Darwin's voyage, on which he started the intellectual foundations of his theory of natural selection. To be built in Milford Haven, she will recreate the 1831-36 circumnavigation with international crews of aspiring young scientists aboard, following the same course and making similar landfalls to those made by HMS Beagle when Darwin was aboard.

All this and more in the April issue of Ships Monthly on sale now.