Muted Irrational Exuberance
A former German coastal passenger ship has been salvaged in Gibraltar after sinking in the port over a year ago. The vessel, known as Irrational Exuberance, was raised by the heavylift floating crane Taklift 6 (1975/3,297) on 23 November 2008 and placed on the South Mole to be broken up.

Atlantic Vision's Canadian debut
Newly chartered for five years by Canada's Marine Atlantic, Atlantic Vision (2002/30,285gt), the former Superfast IX, passed through the English Channel early in December (pictured above) while en route to her new operators and a debut on their service between North Sydney, Nova Scotia, and Port aux Basques, Newfoundland.

Steam Packet profits criticism
Tynwald, the Manx Parliament, heard claims that the Isle of Man Steam Packet Co's charges were crucifying island businesses. The company's Australian owner Macquarie Bank was also accused of 'filling its boots' by trying to get as much as it could out of the system after paying in 2005 what was considered by some to have been an inflated price.

Ulstein deliver another X-Bow
Norwegian builder Ulstein Verft has delivered the 130m by 25m offshore supply vessel Viking Poseidon to Eidesvik Offshore of Bømlo, Norway. The newbuilding utilises diesel electric propulsion and is equipped with a 250-tonne crane, ROV garage and a helideck.

New lifeboat makes a splash at Barrow
The new state-fof-the-art Tamar class lifeboat Grace Dixon arrived on station at Barrow on 17 December 2008 to be welcomed by crew, station personnel and RNLI supporters. The new lifeboat had travelled from Plymouth via Padstow, Arklow, Bangor and Douglas beofre the final leg of the journey to her new station.

Stena cuts HSS crossings
With Irish Sea HSS services from Holyhead to Dun Laoghaire already reduced, Stena Line have now cut high-speed crossings between Stranraer and Belfast. But, as with the Central Corridor routes, there will be an increased North Channel emphasis on conventional craft.

Scilly Isles Ferry To Be Retendered
The Isles of Scilly Route Partnership has asked shipyards to retender for construction of a ferry to take over services from Penzance to St Mary's in 2011. Created in 2003, and now comprising representatives of Scilly and mainland local authorities and the Duchy of Cornwall, the Partnership said the response from European builders to original tender requests was 'disappointing' but remain optimistic a new vessel can be secured within two years.

Brittany Ferries upgrade Bretagne
Work has started on a €6 million two-month upgrade for Bretagne (1989/24,534gt), the first large cruise-ferry built for Brittany Ferries and now the fleet's longest-serving vessel. After taking over the Plymouth-Santander route in the run up to Christmas, Bretagne was dry docked at Brest for alterations to the self-service Restaurant and the creation of new TV, business and reading lounges.

Last traces of Riverdance gone
The last traces of the Seatruck freight ferry Riverdance were removed from Blackpoool beach in November 2008, ten months after the vessel was blown ashore in storm conditions after a sailing from Warrenpoint to Heysham.

Club Cruise founders
Dutch-based Club Cruise is to have its cruise ships sold off by a Norwegian loan trustee bank to recover monies after defaulting on three loans. In the 3rd quarter of 2008, the company posted a loss of €12.4 million, while also suffering losses the previous quarter following the failed Da Vinci project in which Club Cruise acquired the former Baltic ferry Finnjet with a view to converting her into a 1,600-passenger cruise ship, but ended up selling her at a loss to scrappers.

Oasis in the Seas
The largest passenger vessel ever built, Royal Caribbean's 360m-long Oasis of the Seas, was floated out from her building dock at the STX Shipyard in Turku, Finland, on 21 November 2008. During a 15-hour operation, 87 million gallons of water were pumped in to fill the dock in which Oasis has been constructed. It was almost exactly a year earlier, on 12 November 2007, that her keel was laid and, although 65 per cent of the ship is complete, all her interiors will now be fitted while she is in the wet dock. It will be another ten months before she is ready for service. Sea trials are scheduled to begin around June.

Brilliance goes to Dubai
Royal Caribbean's Brilliance of the Seas (2002/90,090gt) is to be homeported in Dubai in 2010 for a programme of 13 seven-day cruises. She repositions from Barcelona on 4 January 2010 and returns to Spain on 19 April. Costa Cruises has also increased its presence in Dubai this winter with both Costa Victoria (1996/75,166gt) and Costa Classica (1991/52,926gt), while AIDA Cruises is deploying AIDAdiva (2007/68,500gt).

Piracy to affect routings
Odfjell, the Norwegian chemical tanker owner, became the first operator to announce that, due to the piracy situation in the Gulf of Aden it was to divert its vessels following the hijacking of Sirius Star. All of the owned, managed and time-chartered ships are now to be rerouted around the Cape of Good Hope and east of Madagascar. The company admitted that by taking this course of action additional sailing time and significant extra costs would be incurred, which would be passed on to customers.

Box ship cutbacks
The Coscon, K-Line, Yang Ming and Hanjin Shipping Alliance (CKYH) implemented a 30 per cent reduction in tonnage over the winter on Asia North Europe services. The AES and AEN loops, each operated by eight 8,200 to 10,000-TEU vessels from Coscon, have been combined into a new service called CNEU, on which Coscon is deploying ten 9,469 to 10,000TEU container ships. The Alliance is also modifying its AES1, AES2 and AES3 routes, operated by K-Line and Yang Ming, to maintain the existing port coverage.

Largest VLOC driven by a 'heartbeat'
The Rongsheng Shipbuilding & Heavy Industries' Hefei yard has won the order to build the biggest Very Large Ore Carriers in the world, for Brazilian mining company Vale. The entire 'Chinamax' dozen, with a capacity of 400,000dwt, are contracted to be handed over in 2011-12.

Out with old, in with new
November saw major progress on the Type 45 programme and the beginning of the end for three of the Type 42 destroyers. As Dauntless, the second of six new ships, began sea trials off the west coast of Scotland, and Dragon, the fourth, was launched, three of the old guard left Portsmouth for the scrapyard. The barge-mounted modules of the sixth and final Daring class ship, the future HMS Duncan, also left the south coast for BVT's shipyard on the Clyde.

High-speed fleet ordered
The US Department of Defense has selected Austal as prime contractor for the design and build of its next generation multi-use platform. The Joint High Speed Vessel (JHSV) programme is worth a potential $1.6 billion if options for nine additional vessels are exercised between 2009 and 2013.

Medway Queen
The Medway Queen Preservation Society (MQPS) has signed a contract with David Abels (Shipbuilders) of Bristol for the construction of a new hull. The paddle steamer's old hull was dismantled, so Medway Queen will be all new but use the original fittings and engine, while some of the deck planking will be reused in the lower deck. The hull will be completed in spring 2010. MQPS has launched a £350,000 appeal to pay for the complete restoration of the Medway Queen's engines to working order in time for them to be placed into the new hull while in dry dock in Bristol.

MTB102 Trust takes over boatyard
The MTB102 Trust has taken over Newson's Boatyard in Lowestoft. It intends to continue to run the yard as a traditional wooden boat repair facility with the present highly skilled and dedicated staff, and build it into the UK Centre of Excellence. The yard will provide a permanent home for MTB102, the historic prototype Vosper motor torpedo boat which saw action during the Dunkirk evacuation.

Award-winning Huascar in Chile
The year 1879 was one of contrasts for the Peruvian Navy's iron-hulled turret ship Huascar. On 21 May she sank the Chilean corvette Esmeralda during the Battle of Iquique, but less than five months later, on 8 October, she was captured by the Chileans at the Battle of Angamos. Now, 130 years later, Huascar is kept afloat in pristine condition in the Bay of Concepcion at the Chilean naval base at Talcahuano as a memorial to the navies of Chile and Peru.