MOBY LEGACY arrives, MOBY VINCENT departs

By | 2024 Newsletter week 05 | No Comments

The 50-year-old ferry MOBY VINCENT (1.600 passengers and 920 lane meters capacity) has been sold for scrapping at Aliaga, Turkey.

The 1974-built vessel had been operating until autumn 2023 on the Livorno – Bastia route.  Her place will be taken by MOBY ZAZA for the forthcoming summer season.

The sale of the aged MOBY VINCENT is part of a renovation and cost-cutting plan launched by the Group, controlled by the Onorato family.  The ship should depart Italy soon.

Meanwhile, Moby Line’s brand new RoPax cruiseferry, MOBY LEGACY arrived at the port of Livorno on 28 January. The delivery voyage covered 14,000 nautical miles and took 32 days.  From 17 February the vessel will sail on the Livorno to Olbia route alongside her sister MOBY FANTASY.

Photo: Moby Line

FERRY SHIPPING

By | 2019 Newsletter week 23 | No Comments

Moby’s Fine from Italian Antitrust Authority to Be Recalculated

Italy’s Administrative regional court in Rome affirmed on Tuesday that the €29 million fine imposed in March 2018 to Moby by the Antitrust authority has to be recalculated.

The fine was the final result of an investigation which found that Tirrenia CIN and Moby, both controlled by Onorato Armatori, had been involved in aggressive anti-competitive conduct, aimed at hindering the growth of its competitors on the maritime links between Sardinia and Italy mainland.

The investigation followed a complaint filed by ro-ro shipping companies Grimaldi Group and Grendi together with the road hauliers Trans-Isole and Lucianu.

Moby Charters The Two Siem Ro-Ro’s For Eight Years

By | 2019 Newsletter week 18 | No Comments

Moby in its last financial report also revealed that both the newly built ro-ro ships ALF POLLAK and MARIA GRAZIA ONORATO (owned by Siem and chartered out to F.lli Onorato Armatori) were bareboat chartered to Moby for 8 years.

The overall financial commitment for the entire chartering period is:

EUR 45,726,000 for ALF POLLAK (15,660/d)

EUR 45,494,000 for MARIA GRAZIA ONORATO (15,580/d)

FERRY SHIPPING

By | 2019 Newsletter week 2 | No Comments

Moby Enters Bunkering And Automotive Logistics Business, While Selling Ro-Ro HARTMUT PUSCHMANN

In 2019 Moby will enter a pair of new business segments, different from the usual maritime transport of cars and passengers.

In a letter sent to the employees at the end of December, the chief executive officer Achille Onorato (photo) revealed that the group will soon be active in the field of bunkering and in the automotive logistics.

“This year we have invested in terminal operators, shipping agencies and we are going to do the same also in the bunkering business” Onorato revealed in his letter, further adding: “In a very short period of time we are going to offer bunker services. We at Moby should all keep in mind that the price of the fuel is the main enemy in our business”.

Furthermore, the CEO also added that the company he heads “is to enter a new business segment represented by automotive logistics” not giving more details.

Some sources familiar with the matter say that Moby recently recruited a person from the ‘Civitavecchia port workers company’ specifically skilled in new vehicle handling activity ashore.

Last but not least, the former president of the Sardinia region, Mauro Pili, publicly informed that Moby have sold the ro-ro vessel HARTMUT PUSCHMANN to the Polish company Unity Line for €17m. The Milan-based group denied this rumour while several ship brokers defined the news as “very likely”.

FERRY SHIPPING

By | 2018 Newsletter week 48 | No Comments

The already announced reverse merger of Moby into Compagnia Italiana di Navigazione (CIN) will be effective before the end of the year.

  • According to the related 2018/2023 business plan, the Onorato-controlled group will sell five unidentified ro-pax ships generating €305 million revenues and roughly € 145 million of capital gains.
  • Two smaller and older vessels are set for dismissal in 2019, further two modern units in 2019 and the last two ferries respectively in 2020 and 2021.
  • Some € 30 million will be also invested to install scrubbers on five ships before the end of 2019.
  • In the next few years the “new CIN” will charter-in some modern and higher capacity ro-pax units (most of them from Onorato Armatori) to be deployed on the routes linking Italy mainland to Sardinia and Sicily.

Onorato Armatori, company controlled by Vincenzo Onorato and his sons Achille and Alessandro, in few weeks’ time will take delivery of two ro-pax ships built from Flensburger shipyard, while further two ferries will be built in China by Guangzhou Shipyard International and set for delivery from 2021 onwards.

Cotunav Charters Two Ro-Pax Units From Moby

By | 2018 Newsletter week 48 | No Comments

The two ro-pax ferries SUPER-FAST BALEARES and MASSIMO MURA, in long-term charter to Moby, have been sub-chartered to Cotunav.

Both the units are already deployed on the North Africa – South Europe routes.

SUPER-FAST BALEARES, owned by Trasmediterranea, is being chartered for two months.

Route: Rades – Marseille

MASIMO MURA, controlled by CLdN, will be chartered until spring.

Route: Rades – Livorno – Genoa

Moby confirmed recently that the two newbuildings ALF POLLAK and MARIA GRAZIA ONORATO will be deployed on the Genoa – Livorno – Catania – Malta route.

ALF POLLAK will soon leave Flensburg for her delivery trip.

Moby Opens New Line From Italy To Corsica

By | 2018 Newsletter week 45 | No Comments

As from next June, Moby Lines will offer a new maritime route for passengers and cars linking the ports of Piombino with Bastia, thus competing with Corsica Sardinia Ferries. According to what is reported on Moby’s website, the new maritime service will be operated from 14 June  to 29 September 2019. The daily trip is expected to last 3,5h (day) or 7,5h (night).

The vessel likely to be deployed is MOBY KISS.

More Corsica for Moby Line

By | 2017 Newsletter week 44 | No Comments

Next year Moby Line will have more ferries on the Corsica routes. From the ports of Nice, Genoa and Livorno, up to five ro-pax ferries will be used to connect mainland France and Italy with Corsica. MOBY VINCENT, MOBY CORSE and MOBY ZAZA are regular visitors of Bastia. Next year MOBY KISS and MOBY NIKI will join them.
Genoa-Bastia and Livorno-Bastia lines are seasonal routes from March till September, with four departures per day.
Nice-Bastia has four weekly departures in low season, and daily departures from end of May till end of September.

Source: Ship2Shore – Photo: MOBY ZAZA © Mike Louagie