Corrib makes a splash
On 31 May the German shipyard Ferus Smit in Leer completed the 105m Cathy Jo for Irish owners Corrib Shipping Group. The 6,000dwt newbuild has capacity for 242TEU, with 138 mounted on the deck. Cathy Jo is the fifth vessel in the Corrib fleet and represents a major boost for the Irish shipping industry. The vessel is powered by a MaK 8M25 main engine that generates 2,640KW giving a service speed of 14 knots. The management and implementation of the newbuild was conducted on behalf of Corrib by Maritime Management.

Rotterdam comes home
A dream for many became reality on 4 August when the veteran passenger ship Rotterdam arrived in the Dutch port where she was christened on 13 September 1958, almost exactly 50 years ago, to take up a new role as a museum ship and conference centre.

Wine moved by wind power
The schooner Kathleen & May embarked on a historic voyage carrying 30,000 bottles of wine, equating to 23 tonnes, from Brest to Dublin. The vessel had attended the Brest '08 maritime festival and departed on 20 July to reach Dublin four days later, undertaking the passage mostly under sail. This was the first cargo stowed in the hold of the 108-year-old vessel since 1961.

Grand designs
Aker Yards Turku revealed three of the seven design themes for Royal Caribbean Cruise Line's newbuilding Oasis of the Seas, the largest passenger ship ever built which will be 220,000gt when handed over in late 2009. She will be followed by sister Allure of the Seas at a total cost of €2 billion.

What next for Princess?
The sudden departure in August from the Tyne of Tuxedo Princess, originally the car ferry Caledonian Princess, for delivery to Piraeus, Greece, and anticipated resale for scrap, leaves a question mark hanging over another former Sealink car ferry under the same ownership. Tuxedo Royale, built by Swan Hunter as Dover in 1965 and later converted into Earl Siward, is lying out of use at West Hartlepool.

Wightlink to see the Light
As Wight Light, first of Wightlink's three new car ferries for the Lymington-Yarmouth service, finally left Croatia to start a three-week delivery voyage to the Solent in early August, calling en route at Palermo, Gibraltar and Vigo, objectors to new vessels suffered a major setback.

Macquarie snap up Condor
Early in August, Condor became the third British ferry operation to be bought by an affiliate of Australian bankers Macquarie. Already owners of Wightlink and the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, Macquarie used its European Infrastructure Fund II to purchase Condor Group owner Admiral Holdings from the Royal Bank of Scotland for an undisclosed figure.

P&O's new Dover ships
P&O Ferries signed a €360 million contract with Aker Yards on 8 August for construction of the Dover-Calais route's largest ever passenger and vehicle ships. The 49,000gt twins, due for delivery in December 2010 and September 2011, will carry 2,000 passengers with space for 180 freight units on two decks, plus 195 tourist cars.

Pacific Sun battered
42 passengers required medical treatment aboard P&O Australia's Pacific Sun (1986/47,262gt) after the vessel rolled sharply in mountainous seas and 50-knot winds 375 miles north of Auckland on 30 July. The vessel was on the final leg of an eight-day South Pacific cruise between Vanuatu and Auckland with 1,732 passengers and 671 crew on board when she encountered a heavy storm, which had earlier lashed New Zealand. Her arrival at Auckland was delayed by 24 hours.

Piraeus bumps and scrapes
Pullmantur's Zenith (1992/47,255gt) collided with the docked The Aegean Pearl (1971/16,710gt) of Golden Star Cruises while approaching her berth at the Piraeus Passenger Terminal on 28 July with 1,819 passengers and 619 crew, at the end of a seven-day cruise from Venice. No injuries were reported and Zenith emerged with only a minor dent to her starboard bow and was allowed to sail later.

Rickmers-Linie continues fleet expansion
Hamburg-based Rickmers-Linie have become specialists in the global transportation of heavy lift and project cargo in addition to break-bulk cargo. The line already has ten new multi-purpose heavy-lift vessels on order, and has now placed an order for a further four similar vessels. The latest four vessels have been ordered from Wuhu Xinlian Shipbuilding Co Ltd by the Rickmers Group Co, Polaris Shipmanagement Ltd and will be taken on long-term charter by Rickmers-Linie.

Hello CMA, goodbye ANL
The CMA-CGM Group of companies appear to be coming under one corporate identity. Two newbuildings operating for the group are entering service under new colours and flags. At the end of May ANL Wangaratta (2008/39,906gt) departed Melbourne on her maiden voyage. Completed at the Dalian Shipyard in China, she appeared in CMA-CGM colours and it appears that this is now going to be standard for all CMA-CGM Group companies, so the ANL funnel will gradually disappear.

LCS displays potential
Israel has selected Lockheed Martin's Littoral Combat Ship design for its future naval combatant. The announcement of a potential export order came as the prototype began builder's trials on Lake Michigan. Israel is said to have considered both versions of the LCS and opted for the conventional steel monohull as it is better suited to their requirements for a more heavily-armed warship.

Victorious return
HMS Victorious has returned home to Scotland for the first time in three and a half years after completing a Long Overhaul Period (Refuel). She is the second of four Trident-armed submarines to undergo a comprehensive refit and refuel by Babcock Marine at Devonport. Work on the 16,000-tonne submarines is being carried out in a specially converted dock as part of a £5 billion contract to overhaul the UK's strategic deterrent fleet with HMS Vigilant next to begin her LOP(R).

Meet your Navy
Good weather over the last weekend of July meant around 35,000 visitors attended the three-day 'Meet Your Navy' event at Portsmouth Naval Base, the largest event held there since Trafalgar 200 in 2005. A wide variety of ships were open to the public, with 11 Royal Navy vessels including aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious (R06) and amphibious landing ship RFA Largs Bay (L3006) on hand.

Another T-AKE delivered
The US Navy has taken delivery of USNS Robert E. Peary (T-AKE 5) from San Diego's General Dynamics NASSCO shipyard as the fifth ship of the Navy's T-AKE dry cargo-ammunition ship programme. Like her sister ships, USNS Robert E. Peary makes use of an integrated electric-drive propulsion system and has a cargo capacity of more than 10,000 tons. The vessel's primary mission will be to deliver food, ammunition, fuel and other provisions to American combat ships at sea.

First Unimax ore carrier
Japan's K Line has taken delivery of the 297,351dwt Grande Progresso, the first of a trio of 'Unimax' ore carriers it has ordered from Universal Shipbuilding Corporation based on long-term charters to Tokyo-based JFE Steel Corporation.

All this and more in the October 2008 issue of Ships Monthly now on sale