First Scandlines ferry at Blohm + Voss

The ships are the 169m long and 24.8m wide Copenhagen and Berlin. It was not clear which ship had arrived Tuesday May 20^th because the name had been removed. The second ship is expected later this month.

A Scandlines order for the two ships was cancelled in 2012 after P+S Yards went bankrupt. The owner said the newbuildings were too heavy for their planned routes. They were parked at former P+S yard Volkswerft until earlier this year when Scandlines bought the €184 million pair back for a reported €31.6 million and said it was investing well over €100 million to make them lighter. B+V signed a letter of intent to do the job late April.

Scandlines said the ships would shed “several hundred tons” to bring them into line with owner weight and draught requirements not met by P+S Yards. It said modifications included structural, mechanical and engineering work and that “the upper passenger deck, the bridge and part of the crew area will be modified”. Earlier reports said two upper decks would be replaced by one deck, bridge and crew quarters and that this would save 780 tons. Cargo capacity of 96 trucks or 480 cars on 1600 lane metres will stay the same but passenger capacity will drop by 200 to 1300.

Elsewhere at Blohm + Voss Repair, work is underway on the 90,901gt

Queen Elizabeth

. She arrived less than a week ago in the yard’s giant Elbe Dock 17 for her first overhaul since commissioning in 2010. Local reports have said the overhaul, including scrubber installation, is costing €30 million.