DFDS in Ferry-Swap Agreement with Moby

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.

DFDS will subsequently bareboat-charter King Seaways and Princess Seaways from Moby until January and February 2020, respectively.

Meanwhile, the acquired ferries from Moby will be refurbished to suit the Amsterdam-Newcastle route. This includes commercial and technical investments on board as well as port investments. The refurbished ferries are expected to be deployed on Amsterdam-Newcastle during the first quarter of 2020.

The expected completion in October 2019 of the sale of the two ferries is estimated to entail an accounting profit of around DKK 100 million (USD 14.77 million) to be recognised in the fourth quarter of 2019. The full-year outlook for special items is thus increased to DKK 70 million from previously DKK -30 million, DFDS explained.

The investment in the renewal, including proceeds from the sale of Princess Seaways and King Seaways, is expected to amount to around DKK 1 billion of which DKK 650 million is expected to be paid in 2019. The remaining DKK 350 million is expected to be paid in 2020. The investment includes a substantial investment in refurbishment.

The investment outlook for 2019 is therefore changed to around DKK 3.4 billion from previously DKK 2.8 billion.