Scandlines ferries hand-over delayed again

The Danish-German operator said just before Christmas that work on the first of the 169m ferries, Berlin, was “in its final stages” but that “unfortunately the ship’s comprehensive test programme is taking longer than expected”. It said there had also been “damage to the ship’s main switchboard” and that the Christmas holidays had contributed to the delay.

Communications manager Anette Ustrup Svendsen said however the conversion of sister ship Copenhagen was “still on schedule”. She also told The Motorship that the switchboard damage on Berlin had been caused by a water pipe leak.

Otherwise, all engine room and bridge work had been completed and tests had been satisfactory while the ship’s two new vehicle decks were now ready for service, Scandlines reported. Cable laying had been completed mid December but some interior work remained, it said.

Scandlines said it could not now give a definite new date for the handover of Berlin. It was clear however that this was unlikely before the New Year, along with that of sister Copenhagen. Berlin had been expected to leave the yard in October for service from November and Copenhagen “several months later”.

Scandlines says it has spent more than €200 million on the conversions. Each ship carries 460 cars or 96 trucks on two vehicle decks – double the current Rostock-Gedser route capacity.

The ships have Scandlines/Siemens Drive Technologies hybrid propulsion systems with ESS energy optimisation, Corvus battery packs of 2.7MW and AEC Marine closed-loop scrubbers.

Scandlines ordered them at the now defunct P+S Werften in Germany in 2010 and later rejected them as overdue, overweight and not to specification. After P+S went bankrupt Scandlines bought the 24,000gt ships back and has reduced their weight to about 22,500gt improving stability, draught and port access.