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Issue 8 2014 - Freight Business Journal


///NEWS


New company set to take over Harwich- Esbjerg route


Danish-owned Regina Line has unveiled plans to take over the Harwich to Esbjerg route, closed by DFDS on 29 September. The new operator says that its new service will start next Easter and will offer three return sailings a week, departing Harwich on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday with return from Esbjerg on Monday,


Wednesday and Friday. The


new company will


carry freight, as well as cars and passengers. Regina claims to offer the cheapest rates on the North Sea, starting at £240 for an unaccompanied empty trailer and £600 for a loaded, driver-accompanied unit.


http://www.reginaline.dk DFDS shuts Gothenburg route


DFDS closed its twice-weekly ro ro freight service between Tilbury and Gothenburg on 30 October. In a statement on its website, the Danish owned operator said the decision was due to the expiry of an agreement with Stora Enso to move paper products from Sweden to Tilbury. The move follows closure of DFDS’s Harwich-


Esbjerg service at the end of


September, which leaves


the south of England with virtually no direct ro ro links to Scandinavia. All DFDS’s direct services to Scandinavia are now centred on Immingham –


six departures a week to


Esbjerg, six to Gothenburg and two to Brevik in Norway.


(Scandinavia report – page 28)


Scotland-Continent link to continue


DFDS Seaways, the Scottish Government and Forth Ports have signed a memorandum of understanding to continue the Rosyth-Zeebrugge freight ro ro service – the only link of its kind between Scotland and Continental Europe - under the management of DFDS Seaways. The MoU is for “the


foreseeable future” and outlines the key efforts that each party is undertaking to ensure the future of the route following the introduction of the new sulphur regulations on 1 January. The service will continue


to offer three departures in each direction per week but infrastructure improvements at


the Rosyth terminal will allow double-stacking of containers on board the vessel, effectively increasing capacity. In signing the agreement with Scottish First


Minister


Alex Salmond and Forth Ports CEO Charles Hammond, DFDS CEO, Niels Smedegaard, said: “We have always been very committed to this route and we are very satisfied that with good dialogue with the Scottish Government and Forth Ports we were able to find a solution to maintain the service in light of the forthcoming sulphur requirements, which will pose enormous challenges for the transport industry.”


Rotterdam ahoy!


A group of Teesside youngsters have visited the port of Rotterdam, thanks to the High Tide Foundation. Eleven students from four schools across the region set sail, courtesy of P&O Ferries. The group spent two days in Rotterdam where they saw first-hand how one of the busiest ports in the world operates, as well as gaining an understanding of the many varied roles available in the maritime industry as a whole.


LD Lines closes UK/Spain routes


LD Lines closed its passenger and


freight service from


Poole to Santander and Gijon on 7 September while its Saint-Nazaire/Gijon


route


is “currently suspended” pending


negotiations to allow resumption of service.


With the formation of a joint company with DFDS to operate its remaining England/France routes in March 2012, this effectively marks the end of ferry operations by LD Lines, a subsidiary of the Louis Dreyfus Armateurs ship-owning group.


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