Tämän Fairplayn uutispätkän mukaan aluksien uusi omistaja Channel Ferries Ltd ei aio itse operoida aluksia, vaan ne tullaan muutostöiden jälkeen vuokraamaan Välimeren tai Pohjois-Euroopan liikenteeseen.
New ro-ro venture `won't run ships'
SOUTHAMPTON 07 September – Channel Ferries Ltd has been set up as a
ro-ro charterer and its first purchase has been the two ropaxes
Lubeck Link and Malmo Link, renamed Ropax 1 and Ropax 2. The new
company, which has a number of investors including some with shipping
experience, is being led by Simon Taylor. Until recently he headed
Channel Freight Ferries, a Clarkson's plc owned company that operated
a ro-ro service between Southampton and Radicatel in France. The two
ships are currently having some modifications made by Northwestern
Ship Repairs on Merseyside with the work due to be completed by the
end of the year. The ships were built in Sweden in 1980 and rebuilt
in Poland in 1990. They have capacity for up to 200 passengers and
3,150 lane metres for freight. Taylor told Fairplay: "This type of
ship does not come up very often and they are in short supply. We are
talking with a number of potential charterers in the North European
and Mediterranean areas. Channel Ferries is a chartering company; we
have no plans to operate our own service as has been speculated." He
declined to say how much they had been purchased for. "We are not
looking at any further purchases at present as we want to get these
first two operating." Clarkson's is acting as broker to Channel
Ferries.
