Contributors this month

LOOKING BACK WITH PRIDE

Over the last few months Ships Monthly has

NEWS IN BRIEF

BIRKA GOTLAND The newly renamed vessel, originally delivered

Hunting for unexploded ordnance on the seabed

NEW ROLE

Taking dredgers to work

SEMI-SUBMERSIBLE

New for Smyril

RO-RO CARGO

Furetank orders more Vingas

NEWBUILDS

Singapore sets tonnage record

PORT NEWS

World’s oldest

CABLE LAYER

Three sails to be retrofitted

WIND ASSISTANCE

Steamer trips

SHIELDHALL

Former Mersey ferry set for new role

ROYAL DAFFODIL

Work begins on Wingfield

HUMBER PADDLER

A new life for S.A. Agulhas

POLAR RESEARCH

Bridgemans complete Isabelle purchase

FERRY SALE

Old Mormac ship scrapped

HISTORIC SHIP

New ASD tug

DAMEN DESIGN

Chemship’s wind Challenger

TECHNOLOGY

NEWS IN BRIEF

ISLANDS TICKETING Scottish inter-island operator Orkney Ferries, owned

Harland and Wolff plan Scillies route

ISLES OF SCILLY

Storm Henk hits services to the Isle of Wight

SOLENT CROSSINGS

FERRIES IN THE NEWS . . .

ULYSSES Irish Ferries broke new ground in January

Glen Sannox finally starts trials

CAL MAC

Stena Line begins Liverpool-Dublin freight link

IRISH SEA

On the move

ARMORIQUE After a winter break, the 29,468gt Brittany

NEWS IN BRIEF

VIRGIN VOYAGES Virgin Voyages has cancelled its 2024-25

Another health scare with homeports moved

NCL

More mega ships on the way

ROYAL CARIBBEAN

Another failure

AMERICAN QUEEN

Epic world cruise lasting 274 days

ROYAL CARIBBEAN

Chinese in the market

INDUSTRY NEWS

One named and one ordered in Carnival merry-go-round

CARNIVAL CRUISES

NEWS IN BRIEF

ROYAL NAVY HMS Richmond has replaced HMS Diamond

Russia’s Black Sea losses grow

UKRAINE WAR

Refurbished frigates return

FRENCH NAVY

Steadfast Defender 24

NAVAL EXERCISE

Substitute aircraft carrier saves the day

ROYAL NAVY

Evolutionary LPD delivered

US NAVY

Greece looks to the stars

GREEK NAVY

NEWS IN BRIEF

DANAOS EXPANDS ORDER Greek shipowner Danaos has ordered

James Fisher ready for more tankers

NEW TANKERS

Swire ship sold for New Guinea Islands service

NEWBUILD

ONE orders 12 alternative-fuelled boxboats

CONTAINER SHIPS

Arkas starts new link to US market

CONTAINER SHIPS

Longship orders

SHORT SEA TRADES

World’s box fleet at 30 million

INDUSTRY NEWS

From bulker to juice carrier

JUICE CARRIER

Megamas

CABLE LAYERS

Eight energy efficiency bulkers on the way

BULK CARRIERS

Ammonia power developed

BULKERS

Indian-built hybrids for ESL

COASTERS

NYK orders twin-engined LNG carriers

LNG CARRIERS

Ammonia-powered world first

CONTAINER SHIP

Orange order

CABLE LAYERS

Heavylifter delivers tugs

ELECTRIC TUGS

PICTORIAL

Have you an outstanding photo that would grace our gallery? Send your image to Ships Monthly for inclusion in these pages, which showcase the best in ship photography around the world

ACONCAGUA AND TENO

CHILEAN LINE’S TRUE OCEAN LINERS

BLUE FUNNEL’S ‘P’ CL ASS VESSELS

Mike Dovey recounts the careers of Blue Funnel’s ‘P’ class ships, which were a groundbreaking design in the 1960s, but which quickly became redundant when the container revolution took over world trade routes.

50-YEAR MILESTONE FOR LOCH RYAN PORT

Russell Plummer looks back at over half a century of growth for ferry travel on two routes from Cairnryan in Scotland to Belfast and Larne in Northern Ireland, recounting Irish Sea North Channel ferry crossings which go back over a century from the time Stranraer was first developed as Loch Ryan’s major ferry port.

Stena Line introduce route’s largest ferries

Stena’s move from Stranraer to Cairnryan in 2011

PONT-AVEN AT TWENTY

George Holland looks back over the first two decades of service given by Brittany Ferries’ flagship Pont-Aven.

200 YEARS OF SERVICE

Nicholas Leach looks back at 200 years of life-saving by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, which marked its long and illustrious history in early March with a celebration at Westminster Abbey and a series of events around the United Kingdom and Ireland.

MARITIME MOSAIC BALTIC FAST CRAFT

John Pagni turns back the clock with photographs of some of the fast craft which once operated from Helsinki to Tallinn.

THE MODERN ITALIAN NAVY

This unusual overhead view of the Italian aircraft

SHIPSPOTTING

The Grimaldi Group is owned by the Grimaldi family and headquartered in Naples, Italy. The Group operates a large fleet from ro-ro, multipurpose, and con-ro ships, to PCTCs, ro-pax and cruise ferries. This selec tion of images focusses on their distinc tive yellow-hulled vehicle carriers.

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CHARTROOM

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