Nanjing Jinling Yizheng’s shipyard delivered the last of the six-ship 6,695-lanemetre series, SCANDIA SEAWAYS, to DFDS on 6 January. The 237.4m long and 33m beam vessel is expected to leave its building place by the end of this week (week one), with an early February arrival in Northern Europe.
This month marks the first visit of the DFDS newbuilding team to Jinling Shipyard five years ago when the discussions for the newbuilding project were initiated.
The contract for the first two ships in what would eventually become a six-ship series was inked in the early autumn of 2016 and production of the first vessel started in August of the following year with the lead ship, EPHESUS SEAWAYS, delivered as GOTHIA SEAWAYS on 31 January 2019. EPHESUS SEAWAYS was followed by TROY SEAWAYS (built as BELGIA SEAWAYS) in May 2019, both vessels serving DFDS’s Istanbul-Trieste Eastern Mediterranean corridor.
The first two ships were followed by HOLLANDIA SEAWAYS and HUMBRIA SEAWAYS, both serving Vlaardingen (Rotterdam)-Immingham, the fifth ship being FLANDRIA SEAWAYS which currently operates between Gothenburg and Zeebrugge. SCANDIA SEAWAYS will also join DFDS’s North Sea network but the exact route hasn’t been officially announced yet.