Moby-Wonder

The 'Moby Wonder', which departed Porto Torres on the evening of Jan 14 and arrived in the port of Genova on Jan 15 at 3:00 Pp.m., has experienced another significant delay, this time of approximately eight hours. A technical defect on the ferry, which operated on the Genoa-Porto Torres route on March 13, forced the company to cancel two sailings, effectively cutting the port off from the Ligurian port. Passengers wererebooked on the Livorno-Olbia ferry, which departed on March 15 at 10:00 pm. On March 16, the ship was due to depart from Olbia and set course for Livorno. The crossing from Genoa to Porto Torres was delayed by more than three hours, which, together with the departure delay, resulted in an arrival eight hours after its scheduled arrival time. The Genoa Port Authority conducted an investigation to determine the cause of the technical malfunction. Normal service was expected to be resumed on March 17.

Under the orders of the Court of Milan, the 'Moby Aki' (IMO: 9299393), 'Moby Wonder', 'Moby Ale Due' (IMO: 9222522), 'Athara' (IMO: 9263655) and the 'Janas' (IMO: 9222534) were due to be sold at auction next week with a starting price of €229.9 million for the single lot. The 'Moby Aki' and the 'Moby Wonder' must be chartered back to Moby for a period of 15 years at a daily rate of €15,000 ($17,200) per day. Tihs came a few days after the Italian Competition and Market Authority (AGCM) ruled the Mediterranean Shipping Co’s stake in the operator could erode competition. MSC sold its stake in the Italian ferry operator after that. The MSC subsidiary Shipping Agencies Services bought the minority stake in Moby, which runs ferry services between the Italian mainland and the islands of Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica, back in 2022 when the operator was facing insolvency. But the AGCM opened an investigation in Nov 2024 due to competition concerns, as SAS also owns Grandi Navi Veloci, which competes on some routes with Moby. A link between Grandi Navi Veloci (also owned by MSC subsidiary SAS) which might lead to a deterioration in competition on routes where GNV and Moby were competing. The SAS will therefore sell its 49% stake back to the original owner Onorato Armatori in a deal accepted by the competition authority.

Danish ferry and logistics company DFDS has reached an agreement with the Italian ferry company Moby to acquire its the two combined freight and passenger ferries (ro-pax). The company decided to purchase the ships, the 2001-built Moby Wonder and the 2005-built Moby Aki, in order to expand capacity on the Amsterdam-Newcastle route. Moby will in turn acquire the two passenger ferries currently operating on Amsterdam-Newcastle, King Seaways and Princess Seaways, built in 1987 and 1986, respectively. The deal is expected to be completed in the second half of October 2019.

On Dec 17, 2010, at 1 a.m. the "Moby Wonder" was in collision with the container m/v "Delfino Bianco" nine miles est of Elbia. The "Moby Wonder" had on board 392 passengers and a crew of 66 as well as 190 cars and 40 trucks, and had sailed from Livorno at 9.40 p.m. The "Delfino Bianco" had a crew of 22 and nine passengers. The "Moby Wonder" suffered a gash of 6-7 metres between the cargo decks 3 and 4, the other vessel was damaged at the port side foreship. The "Moby Wonder" entered the port of Olbia at 7 a.m. On Dec 20 at 3 a.m. the ship reached Genova Drydock for repairs. Photo gallery: http://www.corriere.it/gallery/cronache/12-2010/moby/1/fotogallery-corriere-sera_1311ed0e-09d6-11e0-b36f-00144f02aabc.shtml#4