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Gotlandsbolaget has received a new charter for the 'Visborg' from the Spanish shipping company Balearia. Initially, the 'Visborg' will operate between Valenica, Palma and Ibiza, among others. The new charter is over a longer period of time.In May 2023 Gotlandsbolaget rent the ship to Balearia for traffic on a route between Almeria and Nador. In September, the charter ended, and after a short stopover for DFDS between Klaipeda and Karlshamn and a shipyard visit in Landskrona, the 'Visborg' arrived in Almería on Jan 1, 2024, en route from Landskrona. Gotlandsbolaget has signed a contract with Balearia for the charter. The ship management on the vessel will continue to be handled by Wallenius Marine. The 'Visborg' has had several charter assignments in recent years, including in DFDS Brexit traffic between Dunkirk and Rosslare. Through the charter mission, Wallenius Marine has started a recruitment for several positions on the vessel.

The "Ocean Majesty" is to be converted into a refugee home. The contracts of the 220 crew members from the charterer "Hansa Touristik" have already been terminated. The ship will then serve as asylum accommodation in Amsterdam, where it could bring in more money for the operator. Most recently, the "Ocean Majesty" was on a 21-day cruise to Greenland before returning to Hamburg on Aug 7, 2023. The 'Ocean Majesty' was detained in June 2022 due to serious safety deficiencies by the Swedish authorities. The current cruise had to be canceled at that time. The problems were presumably related to the long layup period from March 2020 to April 2022.

The 'Alfred' will continue to operate on the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services network for an additional six months. The vessel was chartered from Pentland Ferries in March 2023, for an initial nine months, but an agreement has been reached to extend the charter until the end of July 2024. It was expected that she will operate as a resilience vessel and also assist with vessel overhaul cover where required. This will help maintain resilience on the Clyde and Hebrides ferry network during the winter months and into the summer. The ferry can operate on a number of routes on the network and allows other vessels to be moved to minimise any disruption if necessary. Recent berthing trials has confirmed which ports she can operate out of and plans for her next deployment are now underway.

Balearia has chartered the "Honfleur" and is pending adaptation of the side ramps and painting it with the corporate image of the shipping company chaired by Adolfo Utor. The ship has been moored since Feb 2022, at the Nauta Gdynia in the port of Gdynia. Balearia has inspection personnel in Gydnia, and the intention is to have it in service next March. Chartered on time charter initially for six months, the ship built at the request of Brittany Ferries now has the Cyprus flag. Most likely, it will be used on the Huelva-Canary Islands rpute next summer, due to its high number of cabins and services on board, although Malaga-Melilla-Almería is also being considered. In any case, it is possible that Balearia will use it also on other lines, such as Barcelona-Palma, Barcelona-Ibiza-Valencia-Palma or Valencia-Ibiza. Built on behalf of Brittany Ferries at the Flensburger Schiffau shipyard and launched in Dec2018, the final assembly was not completed on time due to financial problems at the shipyard, which ended up declaring bankruptcy. There was even talk of the possible scrapping of her, although she was later finished at the Fosen shipyard in Rissa, where she arrived under tow in Oct 2020. Report with photo: https://www.puentedemando.com/huelva-canarias-probable-estreno-del-ferry-honfleur/

The municipality of Druten has again extended the charter of the 'Monarch Duchess', which is berthed at the Waalhaven. Since May 2022, the river cruise ship has been moored in the Waalhaven on the Veerdam in Druten, where around 130 Ukrainian refugees are temporarily accommodated. Initially, the municipality had chartered the ship for six months. Due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, the charter has been extended until the end of this year. Once again, the municipality has decided to extend the charter until March 15, 2024. The costs will be reimbursed by the government. The municipality realizes that the ship is not an ideal reception location. But because of the urgency, it is important that the Ukrainian refugees can stay here for longer. The atmosphere on the ship is still good and friendly. Most Ukrainian refugees are now well established in the municipality and the region. The majority have found work or are going to school.