News

On June 8, the 'Argyle', serving on the route Wemyss Bay-Rothesay, suffered technical issue with the aft main engine, which needed to be investigated. As a consequence, the scheduled departures from Rothesay at 1:00 p.m., 3:00 p.m. and05:00 p.m. and fromtWemyss Bay at 2:05 p.m., 4:05 p.m. and 6:05 p.m. had to be cancelled. After the issue was resolved and folliowing a sea trial, the vessel finally resumed its service with the scheduled 7:00 p.m. sailing departing from Rothesay.

The 'Glen Sannox', serving on the route Troon-Brodick, suffered a technical issue with the passenger gangway on June 5, which was currently unavailable. As a result foot passengers were required to embark and disembark via the car deck at Troon. This meant a delay for foot passengers disembarking the vessel. Bus connections in Troon have been made aware and were awaiting passengers. Contractors will be attending on June 9, after service, to look at carrying out a temporary repair to the gangway, with plans for a permanent fix made a priority. Due to an issue with the 'Glen Sannox' starboard main engine the sane foremidday, the vessel had to operate at reduced speed. The issue has since been resolved, and the vessel was operating at full speed again, but arrival in to Brodick was at risk to be delayed. On June 8, the issue has been resolved, and traffic was loaded for the 12:40 p.m. sailing departing Troon.

Hapag-Lloyd continues to develop its position in Africa and launches the new MIAX (Middle East-India-Africa Express) service – which will offer direct connections and fast transit times between South and West Africa, the Persian Gulf, India, Colombo (Sri Lanka) and La Réunion. Hapag-Lloyd has entered the African market about twelve years ago and has since then seen steady and significant growth in transported volumes to and from Africa."With the new MIAX service our customers will now benefit from an even wider range of fast and flexible direct connections," says Dheeraj Bhatia, Senior Managing Director of Hapag-Lloyd's Region Middle East.The MIAX service will be connected to the Global Mainline Network via the key ports of Jebel Ali (Dubai) and Colombo. Hapag-Lloyd will jointly operate the MIAX service with it's THE Alliance partner Ocean Network Express. A total of nine ships with a capacity of 2,800 TEU each, including five provided by Hapag-Lloyd, will be deployed for the new service.

Gas infrastructure along Russia’s Northern Sea Route is set to get a Japanese upgrade with news Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) have signed a cooperation agreement with Novatek to develop LNG transhipment projects in Kamchatka and Murmansk. The projects will construct floating storage units (FSUs) to tranship LNG cargoes from ice-breaking LNG ships to conventional LNG ships. The FSUs will be located in Kamchatka and in Murmansk and will be used for the transhipment of LNG cargoes produced by Novatek’s Yamal LNG Project and Arctic LNG 2 Project, two of the largest gas developments in the world.

On June 9, 2025, the 'Lord of the Isles', serving on the route Mallaig-Oban-Lochboisdale, has been removed from service until June 13, due to a mechanical damage which has caused a water ingress into a void tank and needed to be investigated. The vessel transited south to Kennacraig for repairs on June 10 and 11.

The 'Hebrides' will be removed from service from June 30 to July 3 in order to allow inspection of the bow visor. During this period, the'Alfred' will operate an amended timetable on the Little Minch route. The 'Hebrides' had suffered two cracks in her bow visor starboard arm. Due to location of these cracks, the visor cannot be operated, and CalMac was unable to operate it until a full inspection has been conducted. As a result, the vessel is currently operating stern loading only which is increasing turnaround times resulting in service disruption including cancellations. During this period, vehicles towing caravans/trailers, coaches and commercial vehicles will be required to reverse either on or off the vessel. The 'Alfred' will operate an amended timetable on the Little Minch route during the inspections. Timetables are being finalised and will be shared as soon as possible. The following sailings have been cancelled as a result of the amended timetable: June 13, 20 & 27 Departure Lochmaddy – 8:40 p.m. Arrival Uig – 10:25 p.m. Departure Uig – 10:40 p.m. Arrival Lochmaddy – 12:25 a.m. The inspection will take place at Stornoway, and a repair plan, including any temporary repairs, will be agreed. A full repair will not take place until the vessel’s next annual overhaul in early 2026. As part of the inspection, CalMac will look at what temporary repairs can be completed, and this will inform deployment and timetables from July 4 onwards. There are six hatches that need to be removed to allow a full inspection of the bow visor, with this work taking 12-14 hours per hatch. This means it is not possible to conduct the inspection while the vessel is in service.

The Port of Los Angeles has announced a development opportunity for an Outer Harbor Cruise Terminal at Berths 46 and 50, with plans to release a Request for Proposal (RFP) later this fall. The proposal is intended for cruise lines, terminal operators, and real estate developers interested in creating a new state-of-the-art cruise terminal in a prime location for expansion of west coast cruise travel at America’s busiest port. Located on the south end of an extensive LA Waterfront development, the proposed 13-acre site offers unique panoramic views of the coastline and Catalina Island. The area is currently used as a concert venue, special event site, and temporary berth location for cruise ships.

The Chinese Guangzhou Shipyard International (GSI) sees its order intake for ro-pax ferries further increase following a long-awaited double order from P&O Ferries for a next-generation of Dover-Calais shuttle ferries.

The 'Caledonian Isles' will undock 24 hours later than planned on June 8. The unsettled weather meant the rudder works will be completed 24 hours later than planned. High winds caused a 12-hour delay in entering the drydock. Continuing unsettled weather now meant it has taken longer than planned to install the rudders due to the impact on cranes being able to safely operate. Therefore, the current plan is to flood the dock on June 8 and exit. Necessary checks will be carried out alongside at James Watt Dock throughout the day. MCA are due to attend on June 9, before sea trials begin in earnest on June 10 for three days. This will include berthing trials at Ardrossan and Brodick. This means a phased return will begin on June 13 and continue through June 14 with a full return to timetable on June 15. The ferries 'Glen Sannox' and 'Alfred' continued to operate Troon-Brodick until June 13. All customers with impacted existing bookings between June 12 and 14 June were contacted. After the successful completion of sea trials, and on return to service, the 'Caledonian Isles' will operate to and from Ardrossan with the following timetable: June 13: Departure Ardrossan – 09:45 p.m. Arrival Brodick – 10:40 a.m. Departure Brodick – 11:05 a.m. Arrival Ardrossan – 12:00 p.m. Departure Ardrossan – 12:30 p.m. Arrival Brodick – 1:25 p.m. Departure Brodick – 1:55 p.m. Arrival Ardrossan – 2:50 p.m. June 14:: Departure Ardrossan – 09:45 a.m. Arrival Brodick – 10:40 a.m. Departure Brodick – 11:05 a.m. Arrival Ardrossan – 12:00 p.m. Departure Ardrossan – 12:30 p.m. Arrival Brodick – 1:25 p.m. Departure Brodick – 1:55 p.m. Arrival Ardrossan – 2:50 p.m. Departure Ardrossan – 3:20 p.m. Arrival Brodick – 4:15 p.m. Departure Brodick – 5:30 p.m. Arrival Ardrossan – 6:25 p.m. From June 15. the 'Caledonian' Isles' will resume its timetabled service. https://www.calmac.co.uk/en-gb/route-information/ardrossan-brodick/#/

The 'Loch Portain', serving on the route Berneray-Leverburgh, left Gourock and has entered a dry dock of the Dales Marine Services in Greenock on June 3 in order to carry out works on the vessel propulsion units. During this period, which was expectred to last until June 9, the ferry 'Loch Bhrusda' was inserted to operate on the route. The 'Loch Portain' departed from Greenock again after completion of repairs on June 8, en route to Gourock. The 'Loch Portain' was expected to resume its service on June 10 with the 5:20 p.m. sailing departing Berneray. As a result of this, the 'Loch Bhrusda' was operating an amended timetable: http://calm.ac/23

With the successful start an important milestone has been reached in the execution of the contract to operate the tugboat fleet for Fortescue Metals Group (Fortescue) in Port Hedland, the world’s largest bulk export port on Australia´s west coast. The fleet consists of eight new ART 85-32W and one RT80-32 Rotortugs®. Six of them are Fortescue owned, three are owned by KOTUG, which are chartered directly to Fortescue. KOTUG manages the entire contract.

The Ports and Maritime Organization of Iran is going to sign a contract with the private sector on Tuesday for the construction of Iran’s biggest mechanized mineral terminal at Shahid Rajaee Port, the deputy head of PMO announced on Monday. Ali Hassanzadeh added that the contract is worth 50 trillion rials (over $430 million). The terminal’s capacity will reach 50 million tons per year upon the completion of the project, which will be carried out in three phases, covering 180 hectares of land, each spread over 60 hectares. It will be the biggest mineral terminal in the Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman, and mark a major development in Iran’s mining industry, considering its considerable mineral capacity, Mehr News Agency reported.