The cancelled Brittany Ferries ferry HONFLEUR is expected to leave her building yard at Flensburg under tow within weeks. According to German media reports, the ship will leave the FSG Shipyard at the end of October / beginning of November. Brittany Ferries cancelled the ship earlier this year following a series of delivery delays.
Current owner of HONFLEUR, Christian Siem, has reportedly decided not to have the ship completed at the German yard. It is not yet clear where the Norwegian owner intends to complete the ship. However, it is understood that Brittany Ferries has ruled itself out from acquiring the ship once completed.
France-based Brittany Ferries newest ship, GALICIA, is currently en-route to Cherbourg from China. GALICIA is the third Stena E-Flexer Ro-Pax ferry and the first to be completed for a company outside the Stena Sphere. The company, which is currently undergoing painful cost cutting measures as a result of COVID-19, has also ordered another two similar vessels from Stena RoRo.
Still No orders for German Yard
FSG currently has an empty order book and staff are currently employed by a transfer company following the start of insolvency proceedings earlier this year.
An order for two Ro-Ro ships which the yard was reportedly in discussions about a few months ago has yet to be signed. The relationship between Siem and the shipyards owner (through Tenor Holding) Lars Windhorst is also said to have cooled.
Former owner Siem has previously ordered a number of Ro-Ro ferries from the yard for chartering out to operators. The most recent of these, LIEKUT, is currently in Gdansk having not found any work since her delivery in March. A mooted takeover/merger of FSG with Russian-based Pella’s Sietas yard in Hamburg also appears to have stalled.
