On Saturday 3rd April, 2021 at 0804 hrs the 109 metre High Speed Craft FJORD FSTR ( Hull 419 ) entered Grand Harbour, Malta during her delivery voyage which started on Friday 5th March, 2021.
In fact on Friday 5th March, 2021 FJORD FSTR started her journey to Hirtshals, Denmark from the shipyard in Balamban, Cebu where she was built. She will serve in the fleet of Norwegian shipping company Fjord Line, which operates ferry services between Norway, Denmark and Sweden.
Fjord Line commissioned Austal Philippines, which is part of Australia based shipbuilding company Austal Group, to build a 109 metre catamaran that can accommodate 1,200 passengers and over 400 cars. The new ferry will replace the older HSC FJORD CAT for the route between Hirtshals and Kristiansand in Norway, doubling the capacity of what Fjord described as the fastest route between the two countries. It will feature three different restaurants on board, a café, bistro, children’s area and a tax-free shop.
According to Austal Philippines, the ferry is the largest aluminium vessel ever launched in the Philippines and the largest, in terms of volume, she was built. “This impressive new ship for Fjord Line of Norway is the first of many large, high speed commercial ferries to be built at our expanded shipyard in the Philippines,” Austal chief executive officer David Singleton said in a statement last month. “We also have a 115 metre catamaran ferry scheduled for building at Austal Philippines later this year which will be another record build, as the largest vessel (by volume) to be built by Austal, worldwide,” he added. Austal Philippines president Wayne Murray said approximately 1,000 Filipinos were part of the team that built the HSC.
She was due to come before since she arrived at the Suez Anchorage awaiting her turn but due to EVER GIVEN aground accident she had to await her turn. On Wednesday 31st March she passed through Suez Canal.
She left Grand Harbour same day at 1626 hrs bound to Gibraltar arriving on Tuesday 6th April, 2021.
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Published – Saturday 3rd April, 2021
