The TT fleet in 2022

3 hours for loading is much to much... - then i would try to find other solutions instead of TT, more or bigger ramps inside the ferries and in the harbour, bigger broad/wide of the ferry (the newbuildings has it in compare with the older ferries) that trucks can easy turn inside, more drivers in the port for to move the trailers etc. .
The problem is not the width; a) they are already broad enough to let lorries turn around easily, b) but they don't have to, as they load and unload via the bow in one port and the stern in the other. The problem with ROBIN HOOD is that the bow offers only a narrow one-lane bow gate and only to the main deck. That's why NILS DACKE doesn't have the same problem in Trelleborg (but probably on the Continent), as she is loading/unloading via the stern there.

PETER PAN actually has 3600 lane meters on four decks, so in spite of having gates even to upper deck, it does take time.

What definitely consumes time, especially on Stena Line's SKÅNE and MECKLENBURG-VORPOMMERN, but also on the TT-Line ferries, is the increasing number of piggy-backs without trucks, that has to be loaded and unloaded by the tug-masters of the port, even if they put in up to ten such tug-masters on one ferry.
 
You mean this with "piggy-backs" ?
"Distributions-Zugmaschine" oder "Terminal-Traktor"... :)

But if this takes to much time - it is just an organisation-problem. Then they need more staff for this work or more of this "Zugmaschinen" or more parking space for the trailers more nearby closer to the ferry that the time to drive back into the ferry again is shorter... . Theoretic any ship in harbour is loosing a lot of money every minute - so as faster the loading works so much better it is for the ferry company.

It is the same in a container-terminal, if you have higher number of more faster cranes everything will go faster, if you have double-cranes (who can lift 2 containers together) it will be faster, they have also automatically container-tugs without driver to bring the containers to the parking space.

The TT-newbuildings have ca. the double capacity of Nils Dacke/Robin Hood with 4600 lm - but if loading then takes some hours you can forget it... .

I am wondering also that there is since decades so bad service for passengers in the south-swedish and german ports. In other countries there are passenger-terminals similar like an airport-terminal normal or you can go via the side of the truck-ramp into the ferry also until the last minute before departure.
In Trelleborg you must be long time before departure at the check-in and then every passenger will be carried with a car to the ferry... - this is ridiculous and inefficient... .
Efficient and cheap boarding of passengers until the last minute before departure (this is a big point ! Every minute waiting in the port is lost time for the people !) is usually in south europe (and asia):
Directly inside behind the ramp the people get very comfortable up (and down) with 2-ways-escalators to the main-deck with reception.
No searching (and waiting for) of a lift / hiss between trucks as it is often in Scandinavia... .

Or better professionell with a passenger-terminal including bridges for walking directy into the ferries:
Small waiting-hall with ticket-office and 2 cheap bridges for 4 RoPax-ferries / fast ferries flexible use.
But in Trelleborg nobody (The city, the port, TT, Stena etc.) seems to be interested in a first positive "visit-card" if someone is arriving in Sweden... .
 
Det er nu åpenbart bestemt at den "gamle" NILS HOLGERSSON skal døpes om til AKKA. Det er første gang en TT-Line-ferge har et navn med kun ett ord.
 
??? Google says: AKKA = City in Marokko, people in south-east-Asia, mountain in Lappland
What has this to do with a ferry between Trelleborg and Germany/Poland ?

The "Akka von Kebnekaise" (= the goose from Nils Holgersson) in which TT is thinking, is not to find for people who have never heard from all this stuff... , is to much unknown.
So i think the name AKKA is far away... .
Many german people know "Nils Holgersson" - but how is the situation in Poland, Czech or Holland or in the Baltic ?
But AKKA is "without any sense" for the most people outside of Sweden... .

Why not "Astrid Lindgren" or other wellknown "heroes" of Sweden or also from Germany or Poland ?
Why not "Pippi Langstrumpf" ? Everybody in Germany know this girl. Also f.ex. "Karlsson vom Dach" is much more known in Germany as "Akka von Kebnekaise" - and the shortname Akka says nothing... . Furthermore "Emil von Lönneberga" would be better also... .
TT needs 2 new names, 1 also for the "old" Peter Pan from 2001. So i personally think that 2 of the 3 "Pippi / Karlsson / Emil" names are much better than Akka... .

Are there no big swedish (or german / polish) seafarers heroes similar as the spanish "Christoph Kolumbus" or the british "Sir Francis Drake" ?
These kind of names are names with "sound" - and everybody has heard the name before - also in other countries... .

What about the swedish king family ?
Very positive known also in Germany - so f.ex. "Princess Madeleine" or "Kronprincess Viktoria" would be good names also.
Similar names of king-family-members often before for other ferries was also used in other countries ("Princess Ragnhild" / "Kronprins Harald" - Color Line, "Konigin Beatrix" - Stena Line, the former "Prins Filip" ferry is just actually sold to Irish Ferries etc.).
 
Selma Lagerlöf, a Swedish author and Nobel Prize winner in Literature, wrote the geography novel book "Nils Holgersson's wonderful journey", where a boy in Southern Sweden is made extremely small and rides on the goose Akka all over Sweden.

Actually, now TT-Line lives up tp their claim that they name their ferries after flying fiction figures, which so far only has been true when it comes to NILS HOLGERSSON and PETER PAN. So maybe PETER PAN will be renamed TINGEL BELL?

Who claims that Cristoph Kolumbus was Spanish, and did he really call himself that or maybe Cristophorus Colon, as it says on his maison in La Laguna, Canary Islands?

Royal names were never the choice of TT-Line, and there you have a language problem: Kronprinsessan > Kronprinzessin > Crown Princess, Drottning > Königin > Queen, Konung > König > King &c, as you have with KARLSSON PÅ TAKET, which you call KARLSSON AM DACH.
 
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So you think that Akka is a good name ? Marinetraffic shows a big number of small boats with the same name.
Mhmm - the name of the ferry is not soooo important also - TUI has the stupid names "Mein Schiff 1/2/3/4/5" etc. - but the people are booking nevertheless... .

What about "your" names "Gösta Berling" and "Oliver Twist" from the timetables - also much better than Akka... .
Or as said "Selma Lagerlöf" and "Astrid Lindgren" sounds good or "Pippi Langstrumpf" and "Emil Michel Lönneberga".
 
Well, I didn't say that AKKA is a good name, but that it at least is a flying fiction figure, which TT-Line, every time they have built a new NILS HOLGERSSON or PETER PAN, has claimed was their name tradition, and then they have ended up giving the new ships the names NILS HOLGERSSON and PETER PAN respectively, again and again and again. None of their other names; OLIVER TWIST, ROBIN HOOD, GÖSTA BERLING, NILS DACKE, HUCKLEBERRY FINN or TOM SAWYER, are flying fiction figures, possibly MARY POPPINS, who flew with an umbrella. And MARCO POLO has certainly nothing in connection with their other names. They claimed it was after a previous chartered ship of the TR-Line, but that ship was called MARKO POLO and not MARCO POLO.

Personally, as AKKA and the present PETER PAN possibly will be put in on the Świnoujście line, I think they could have renamed NILS HOLGERSSON/AKKA STEFAN BATORY and PETER PAN GUSTAV VASA. Why? Because, like NILS DACKE, GUSTAV VASA is a name from a TT-Saga-Line ferry, and Gustaf Wasa was a Swedish 16th century king, like Stefan Batory was a Polish 16th century king.

Anyway, now they can keep the pictures on the funnels of AKKA, Akka is already in them, together with Nils Holgersson.
 
Actually, SIGISMUND would be an even better name for the present PETER PAN. He was King of both Sweden and Poland in the 16th century (and I believe a grand son of Gustav Wasa, not sure though, as I as a Scanian refused to learn Swedish history before 1658, until which year Scania was Danish).
 
I would prefer nearly all your names... - but AKKA - is it already confirmed ?

Have checked some departures in the first week of may TRE-TRA - but there is no "real" departure on sundays ?
25 hours no departure between 23:00 saturdays and 23:55 sundays ?
And the website of TT says for TRE-TRA "upp till 8 avgångar per dag"... (( https://www.ttline.com/sv/frakt/rutter/trelleborg-travemunde/? ))

For the route TRE-SWI it says "6 timmars korsningstid" - is right for only 1 departure of Peter Pan, one other dep. is 6:15 - all others are much longer... . Maybe that the "new" used Akka (=old Nils Holgersson) is planned for this route also, Akka can go a little bit faster than Nils Dacke for example.
 
AKKA is definitely confirmed and already in the timetables (AK) from 26th January. The name change will take place in Klaipéda 21st-26th January, as she then is in dock.

Yes, I believe (but it's just my guess) that both AKKA and the present PETER PAN will be the ferries going to Poland, Świnoujście and possibly also Gdynia, when the new Chinese built ferries have been put into service.

Out of curiosity: What's your mother tongue, ropax? As I understand you live in Spain, you used Zug-Maschiene in German for Tugmaster and now you quote Swedish.
 
Ok, yes, with the goose-picture it looks sympathic.

So in 2023 (?):
Akka, Old Peter Pan + Marco Polo : TRE-KLA + TRE-SWI (+ TRE-GDY) ?
New Nils Holgersson + new Peter Pan : TRE-TRA
Nils Dacke + Robin Hood: TRE-ROS
Huck Finn + Tom Sawyer out of the fleet in 2023, then 35 years old ?
This would mean more truck-capacity on all routes - only Pax-capacity to Rostock is a little bit small... .

I have heard, that TT should have promised in Poland to the authorities that they would use a new "Greenship" if they can start the new route from Gdynia. Because of this i hope still for the HONFLEUR... . IF TT can start the new route, Honfleur will operate this route mainly / mostly. But if TT can not start the new route TT will not buy Honfleur. Maybe they have actually a buy-option in stand-by with the owner SIEM ?

Honfleur is also brandnew, better interior than "normal" RoPax-Ferries, same LNG-technology as the chinese newbuildings and similar size and truck-capacity as Akka - but more cabins and Pax-capacity, full ok for a route to the big city region Gdansk/Gdynia - so Honfleur could also be called a "Greenship" also. ((And Marco Polo can be used as "Reserve/Backup-ferry" then))

If they would start the new route instead with one of the new chinese-built Greenships they would have 1 big ferry to less for TRE-TRA.
And any other new Greenships are not available now directly - so IF TT would start to Gdynia - it could be only with the Honfleur ?

(( I am german, living nearby Los Cristianos in Tenerife and can read very well Norsk and Svensk also, välkomna svar pa svensk/norsk här.
For booking of ferries the swedish websites of TT, Stena, Viking Line, Finnlines etc. has usually lower prices than the german websites - so i look always the swedish. ))
 
Efter opplysningen om at TT vil beholde MARCO POLO har jeg ikke en anelse om hvilke ferger som vil bli å gå på Klaipéda – kun at trafikken dit vil øke. Og antall turer til Świnoujście vil øke fra 9 til 15 pr. uke.

Interessant opplysning om TTs lovnad vedrørende Gdynia. De har virkelig et ønske om å seile Trelleborg – Gdynia! Gleder meg, som bor i Trelleborg!

Jeg tror imidlertid ikke at TT-Line kvitter seg med HUCKLEBERRY FINN og TOM SAWYER, som de har eid i hele deres levetid og vedlikeholdt godt, for å kjøpe en ferge, bygd på tre verft, og som bestilleren åpenbart ikke vil ha. MARCO POLO er ikke meget yngre (5 år yngre enn HUCKLEBERRY FINN og 4 år yngre enn TOM SAWYER), har skiftet eier to ganger og passer slett ikke i TT-Line-flåten, hverken i størrelse eller fordi hun kun laster over hekken – likevel har de tenkt å beholde henne.
 
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The question is: What happens now in Poland ?
- The old ferry terminal of Polferries in Gdansk is now free, maybe TT will/can rent this ?
Normally a city must be very interested for to have so many ferry connections as possible. And a connection to the city-region Malmö-Köbenhavn with a promised new Greenship would be very attractive also for the city of Gdansk.
- And what is in Gdynia ? In polish maritime websites i have found 2 different "official" reasons for that TT get no place there now:
1) Formal problems in the application of TT and
2) no place for TT and a better offer from Polferries
But is this correct ? The new terminal is built which a lot of EU-money also but to small already before opening as one media has written... .
But Gdynia is a very big harbour - maybe TT can rent another corner anywhere in the harbour ?
So if i would be TT - i would try to start to Gdansk, the terminal is older and has only 1 ramp but with Pax-bridges and Gdansk is much bigger and more interesting than Gdynia and closer to the highways to other cities.

I hold against you with the fleet:
Latest on 31.12.2023 Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer and Marco Polo will be out of the normal daily used fleet (= my personally opinion).
Maybe eventually they hold 1 of these as "Reserve/Backup-ferrry" in case of annual dockings, repairs, renovation etc. of the other ferries.
The promise of a greenferry was especially for the new terminal in Gdynia. Maybe if TT starts to any other place in Gdynia/Gdansk they can use also any older ferry... .
 
What happens now in Poland? Godt spørsmål. Hele budrunden virker veldig merkelig; 1) som du selv skriver, så burde enhver havn være interessert i så mange forbindelser som mulig, 2) man kan jo spørre seg om det er i samsvar med EU-regler å nekte noen å bruke terminalen, uansett om de har fått EU-tilskudd eller ikke, 3) TT-Line var jo faktisk allerede inne i bildet i forprosjekteringsfasen.

Begrunnelsen for å nekte dem er tåpelig 1) det burde ikke være snakk om "application" overhovedet, 2) det var Stena og Polferries som ble tildelt plass. For å være helt ærlig mistenker jeg et gammelt polsk tyskerhat her – TT-Line ville kjøpe Polferries, men ble nektet, og begynte da å sette inn NILS DACKE på Trelleborg – Świnoujście.

Ifølge havnedirektøren i Trelleborg overveier faktisk TT-Line å anløpe den gamle fergeterminalen i Gdynia. DFDS seilet jo København – Trelleborg – Gdánsk til Polen gikk med i EU, og tax-free forsvant.

Historisk ville jo faktisk polakkene åpne fergerute Świnoujście – Trelleborg i 1965 – der var jo en midlertidig jernbanefergerute 1948-1953 – men ble da nektet av Trelleborgs havn. Men det var på den tiden de svenske statsbaner kunne bruke Trelleborgs havn så meget de ville uten å betale havneavgifter, og fylte kaiene med dampferger og andre, som midlertidig var ute av drift.

...the fleet. Vel, det er jo hverken du eller jeg som avgjør det, men jeg tror ikke noe rederi har råd til å ha ferger liggende uvirksomme som "reserve". Ellers burde jo Stena virkelig ha beholdt SASSNITZ; STENA GOTHICA er håpløs på Trelleborg – Rostock-ruten och SASSNITZ selte jo faktisk på den ruten sammen med MECKLENBURG-VORPOMMERN og SKÅNE vinteren 2019/20. Men at TT-Line ikke er interessert i kjøpe HONFLEUR tør jeg nesten vedde på. Og når TT-Line velger å beholde MARCO POLO selv efter leveransen av de to nye fergene, har de åpenbart for få, og ikke for mange ferger, Da å erstatte HUCKLEBERRY FINN, TOM SAWYER og TOM SAWYER med kun HONFLEUR virkr ikke rimelig. Og til årsskiftet 2023/24 rekker de ikke å bygge noen nye ferjer.
 
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"Ifølge havnedirektøren i Trelleborg overveier faktisk TT-Line å anløpe den gamle fergeterminalen i Gdynia"
In this case TT need NO Greenship for this route, they can use any older ferry.
But i think that the old Polferries-terminal in Gdansk directly at the historic "Westerplatte" would be better than the old terminal in Gdynia... .
Everybody in Germany has heard from Gdansk - but nobody in Germany knows Gdynia... .
And the connection from the old Polferries-terminal to the mainroads in Poland is very easy and good - no lost time through the city of the Gdansk. Looks like "unlimited" size of ferries also is possible - only negative point is that there is only 1 ramp - so the ferry needs intern ramps and loadings can take a little bit more time.

With "my" new timetable for TRE-TRA (only with the 2 chinese newbuildings and 3 departures daily CIRCA 9:00/16:00/23:30) and WITHOUT any new route to Gdynia or Gdansk TT can sell Huck Finn + Tom Saywer + Marco Polo CIRCA from winter 2022/23.
So for this reason i think tha LATEST end 2023 all these 3 old ferries are gone IF TT do not start any new route.
I think that AKKA + the old Peter Pan can do all departures on TRE-KLA and TRE-SWI.
And they are faster and bigger than the actually mostly used ferries there.
Only IF TT starts a new route they need 1 of the oldest ferries also longer in the future OR another new / used ferry.

Every ferry more in the fleet costs a lot of money - so to have a "reserve/backup-ferry" is expensive - sure.
But in the last years often TTs ferries has technical problems with delayed or canceled departures or changed ferries, TT in tripadvisor is full of many negative reports especially from 2019/2020/2021... . Usually every ferry has a docktime in winter ca. 1 or 2 weeks - and if the reports are right also an intensive groundcleaning and refreshment of the interior of the TT-fleet is necassary... . And you can use this reserve-ferry also in the summer-holidays as additional "extra-ferry" on the strongest line.

Stena use mostly Stena Nordica and / or Stena Vinga as "flexible ferry" for drydockings etc. .
The Sassnitz and others was to old or/and to small and unflexible for this work - i don`t think also that the Sassnitz could go to the ports in the Irish sea f.ex. .
Brittany use actually the Cotentin in a similar way for drydocking-times and has only 1 normal round-trip per week.
But in the summer-holidays she will go 24/7 for to take so many trucks as possible for to have more space for british holiday-families on the other ferries to France.

If TT in the future will operate 4 routes it can make sense to hold such a ferry as "Reserve/backup/Extra-ferry".
If a fleet has reached a special size a reserve-ferry can make sense. TT has already the old ferries, so they must not invest. Just only maintenance and small crew-costs.

It would make sense try to start a cooperation with 2 or 3 ferry-companies together to share such an "extra-ferry".
F.ex. Viking Line, Irish Ferries and TT-Line. Or Tallink, Brittany Ferries and TT-Line.
So the annual costs will be shared, every company gets the ferry ca. 35 days between new year and eastern for drydockings-time of the fleet-ferries and in the other parts of the year this ferry is waiting on stand-by at an cheap central port/anchor f.ex. in Danmark.
The biggest (DFDS, Grimaldi-Finnlines-group, Stena) has own ships in the fleet for to find fast own solutions in case of technical problems or drydockings - but for the "mid-size-ferry-companies" with ca. 5 - 12 ferries a shared reserve-ferry can be a good solution. F.ex. the Barfleur or also Normandie from Brittany, the Isle of Inishmore or also Blue Star 1 from Irish Ferries or the Star or Atlantic Vision from Tallink could be a good shared reserve-ferry in the future with a number of cabins and space for cars and trucks. Maybe also small companies will pay a small part of the costs. What about the Finlandia from Eckerö f.ex. ? Or Holland-Norway-Line ? They have each only one 20 years old ferry - a technical problem in the summer-holidays would be a "Katastrophe" with many 1000 lost customers. So if f.ex. 3 mid-size-companies + 1 or 2 small companies share the annually costs it is not so much for each company.

For the discussion about the future of HONFLEUR - plaese go to the Honfleur-tread now.
 
TT-Line har allerede fire ruter; til Klaipéda, Świnoujście, Rostock og Travemünde. Og jeg blir mer og mer overbevist om at en femte kommer; til Gdynia (bl.a. dine opplysninger).

Jeg tror TT-Line trenger AKKA og nuværende PETER PAN på heltid til Świnoujście eller Gdynia og Świnoujście.
 
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