Pierre-Antoine Villanova, CEO of Corsica Linea
New Horizons For Attica Group, With The Acquisition Of Hellenic Seaways
Last week Ferry Shipping News paid a visit to Athens and despite being extremely busy, the CEO of Attica Group Mr Spiros Paschalis (photo) made time early in the morning to give us an update on the developments of Attica Group.
Mr Ragnar Johansson, managing director SOL Lines
Although Swedish Orient Line, or SOL, exists since 1911, it is only recently that the Swedish company started a liner service. In 2010, one of its five divisions –SOL Continent Line– began to operate a regular ro-ro service between Helsingborg and Travemünde. Now SOL Continent Line has expended significantly, and has become a main player in the ro-ro liner business.
SOL Continent Line’s managing director Ragnar Johansson invited us onboard ro-ro vessel SCHIEBORG in the Belgian port of Zeebrugge, where we could witness how the ship was jam-packed with cargo.
Ferry Shipping News (FSN) visited the Polferries Headquarters in Kolobrzeg for a meeting with CEO Piotr Redmerski. He expressed optimism for the future development of Polferries. One newbuilding is ordered and construction will start in Szczecin, December 2017. Building time will be 30 months. This ferry could be a prototype for more to come, serving the Polferries network.
During the last 5-10 years the passenger and especially freight traffic have seen a very big increase. This is in line with the strong development of the Polish economy.
The owners of Polferries, the Polish government, wanted to sell out and privatise the company some years ago. However, today the same owners will develop Polferries. FSN believes that later the other Polish State-owned Unity Line will also see investment in new tonnage.
Parallel with this, Poland will invest in a development of their ship building industry.