TT-Line has taken out a €30m ($32m) loan with Frankfurt-based KfW IPEX-Bank to pay for a second ‘green’ ropax ferry built by China Merchants Jinling Shipyard.
The German ferry owner ordered the 800-passenger newbuilding Nils Holgersson from the Chinese yard in 2018 after ordering the twin Peter Pan that same year. Both vessels were delivered in 2022.
Both ferries, which sail the Baltic Sea between Sweden and Europe, are equipped with LNG-fuelled engines built by MAN Energy Solutions.
They also have heat-insulating windows, 32 charging stations for electric cars and low-friction underwater coating, TT-Line said.
“We are pleased to be able to support their commitment to environmentally friendly and sustainable ferry transport”, KfW IPEX -Bank board member Andreas Ufer said in a statement.
“With this financing, we are once again underscoring our commitment to supporting our customers in their transformation to CO2-efficient shipping.”
TT-Line owns eight ropax ferries that offer transit service across the Baltic Sea between Germany, Sweden, Poland and Lithuania.
TT-Line ordered two large, fast ropaxes at Germany’s Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft (FSG) in 2020, but both sides agreed to cancel the order for the 48,000-gt ships, which were to be delivered in 2021.
The ferry owner instead signed a memorandum of understanding with Finnish shipbuilder Rauma Marine Constructions with target dates of late 2022 for the first ship and late 2023 for the second.
That deal was finalised in 2021 after months of uncertainty swirled around the contract, which Rauma Marine had tried to land since 2018.
