FGS

26th April 2012

Another Fine Performance

#SEATRUCK NEWBUILD - With the announcement of Seatruck Ferries new Belfast-Heysham route to open in May, the company have in the meantime introduced a newbuild this week on the Dublin-Heysham route, writes Jehan Ashmore.

Seatruck Performance brings additional capacity to the route to Lancashire and becomes the third newbuild to enter the Irish Sea where her sisters are operating Dublin-Liverpool sailings.

She has a length of 142 m, breadth of 25 m and a capacity of 151 units, which is 35 more than the earlier 'P' Class ships which have shifted elsewhere on the Seatruck network.

The final fourth vessel Seatruck Precision as previously reported is currently under construction at the FGS Flensburg yard in Germany and is expected to make her debut on the Irish Sea in June.

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24th February 2012

Sister Powers On to Liverpool Route

#FREIGHT FERRY NEWS- Seatruck Power (2011/19,722grt) made her debut on the Dublin-Liverpool route last week, bringing an additional boost to freight capacity and follows her sister which only entered service in December, writes Jehan Ashmore.

The newbuild joins the leadship Seatruck Progress (see related report) on the central corridor service and another pair are due for completion by mid-year and are to be deployed on Seatruck's other Irish Sea routes.

The quartet, were all ordered from the Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft (FSG) yard in Germany. At 142m long, each of the 150-unit capacity newbuilds carry an additional 35 units compared to the 'P' class vessels, in which two of these vessels have been replaced from the Liverpool route.

Each sister has space for 2,166 lane freight metres spread across four decks, where on this particular deck hazardous and refrigerated cargo can be handled. They are also designed to carry rolling project cargo and heavy-lift items.

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22nd December 2011

Seatruck Newbuild Making Progress On Irish Sea

#FERRY NEWS -Seatruck Ferries newbuild freight-only ferry, Seatruck Progress carried out berthing trials in Dublin Port yesterday in preparation to her debut on the Liverpool route over the festive period, writes Jehan Ashmore.

This was the inaugural call to the capital, though she had sailed across Dublin Bay earlier this month (as previously reported - click HERE) during her delivery voyage to Liverpool from German shipbuilders FGS Flensburger.

At 142 metres long and with a beam of 24 metres, the four decked ro-ro vessel, offers more capacity to the routes existing pair of 'Point' class vessels, as she can handle an extra 35 trailer units (each of 13.5m) than the Clipper Point and Clipper Pennant.

In February, the newcomer's second sister out of four on order, Seatruck Power is set to join her on the central corridor route.

Seatruck are the only Irish Sea operator dedicated to the carriage of un-accompanied freight traffic, though the vessels can cater for driver accompanied units with a limited number of cabins.

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15th November 2011

Seatruck’s New Freight-Ferry to Make December Debut

# FERRY NEWS- Next month, Seatruck Ferries will introduce Seatruck Progress, the first of four new 5,300dwt 'Heysham' max freight-only vessels on the Dublin-Liverpool service, according to a report in LloydsList.com

Seatruck Progress was launched in August from the FGS Flenberg Yard in Germany, she has a capacity for 150 trailer-units, 35 more than the central corridors existing 'P' class sisters Clipper Point and Clipper Pennant with the extra lane metres totalling 2,166m coming from a fourth deck. The older sisters will both be replaced when the second newbuild Seatruck Power (for previous report click HERE) comes on stream in mid-February 2012.

Seatruck, which claims 20% of the Irish Sea market compared to just 3.7% in 2004, says it will transport 300,000 units in 2011 on its four routes: Dublin-Liverpool, Dublin-Heysham, Warrenpoint-Heysham and Larne-Larne. With the introduction of the newer larger vessels, Seatruck is aiming at the 45% of Irish Sea freight market that is still driver-accompanied.

Alistair Eagles, MD of Seatruck (Irish Sea) says that his company's share of unaccompanied freight volumes is set to grow in 2012, although the total Irish Sea ro-ro market is set to remain static next year, but better than a 1% decline in 2011.

Mr Eagles said: "We believe that our sector of the market — freight-only unaccompanied — will continue to grow. By offering pure freight services we can keep the costs down relatively lower compared with the combined passenger and freight ferry operators.

"We are seeing a switch away from driver-accompanied shipments because hauliers can save quite a lot of money."

Seatruck also benefited from a radical shake-up on the Irish Sea ferry market, with largescale withdrawals of capacity by DFDS and other changes, notably taking over the Dublin-Heysham route in February, to read more click HERE. The route is served by the chartered 120-unit Anglia Seaways which has accommodation for 12 drivers.

As for the remaining newbuild pair, they are scheduled for delivery from FGS during the first half of 2012 and deployed on yet-to-be announced routes. Like the new quartet, the same number were ordered of the 'P' class which entered service from 2008 onwards which included Clipper Pace and Clipper Panorama which currently operate 22 weekly sailings on the Warrenpoint-Heysham route.

Seatruck also operate Clipper Ranger and Arrow on Larne-Heysham sailings, where they each provide a capacity of 65 units and offer driver accompanied traffic with accommodation in en-suite cabins.

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1st November 2011

Seatruck Ferries Second Ro-Ro Newbuild Launched

#FERRY Two months after the launch of Seatruck Progress, the first of four ro-ro newbuilds for Seatruck Ferries, a second vessel was launched for the Irish Sea freight-ferry only operator, according to Heavy-Lift.

Seatruck Power joins her sister as part of a quartet of 142m long vessels which have 2,166 lane freight metres spread across four decks and capacity to handle 151-trailers. At around 23,000grt they will become the largest vessels to operate out of Heysham and will be designed also for rolling project cargo and heavy-lift items.

The remaining pair are due for delivery in June 2012 from the German shipbuilder Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft (FSG) located on the Baltic Sea, close to the Danish border.

Seatruck Ferries is a division of the Danish shipping giant Clipper Group, which operates four routes in the north Irish Sea. The company offer 80 sailings per week on four routes: Dublin-Heysham, Dublin-Liverpool, Warrenpoint-Heysham and Larne- Heysham.

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22nd August 2011

First Heysham-Max Newbuild Launched for Seatruck Ferries

The first of four freight-only ferries for Irish Sea operator Seatruck Ferries was launched last week according to The Motorship.

Measuring 18,920 gross tonnes the Seatruck Progrees built by Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft (FSG) in Germany is due for delivery in November with the final newbuild scheduled for completion in June 2012. The vessels are 142m long and have a width of 25m and with 2,166 lane metres, capable of carrying over 150 commercial vehciles spread across four decks.

The quartet of Heysham-Max class vessels are the largest ever vessels built to operate from the Cumbrian port which has determined the length of the new ships. Despite the restrictions imposed by the dimensions of the port, the optimum cargo-load of the newbuilds were achieved by positioning the deckhouse forward so to guarantee un-hampered loading of the upper decks.

Propulsion is from two MAN 7L48/60CR main engines of 2 x 8,000kW providing 21 knots. The powerplant is designed to meet rigorous emission and fuel consumption demands, according to FSG managing director Peter Sierk.

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