Time to awake Thanet’s sleeping beauty?


30


The Port of Ramsgate has been slumbering since TransEuropa Ferries closed its passenger and freight service to Ostend, Belgium in May 2013 but officials and local politicians are working hard to revive it. According to local press


reports, Kent County Council cabinet member for economic development, Mark Dance, is in “early conversations” with a group who are devising a business plan to relaunch services from Ramsgate to Ostend.


At the Multimodal show in


Birmingham in late April, this was confirmed by the port’s harbour master and marine operations manager, Robert Brown, who said that three potential operators had been courted. He added that, as far as freight was concerned, Ramsgate would be particularly suited to the unaccompanied trailer sector at the market, for which the nearby port of Dover has only limited capacity. Port officials believe that several factors could give


Ramsgate its chance. One is


the uncertain future of the MyFerryLink service from Dover to Calais, which owners Eurotunnel has been told by the competition watchdogs to either sell or close down. Whatever its fate, many in the industry predict that the outcome will be accompanied by customary disruption by French port workers, which could make an alternative from a nearby port to a non-French destination increasingly attractive.


Höegh replaces UK office with agency


Höegh Autoliners has appointed a new agency in the UK and has closed its own office in Basildon, East London. Neptumar, based in Manchester, will be dedicated to Hoegh Autoliners and is a joint venture between Kestrel Liner Agencies and shipping, transport and logistics specialist. Menzell Doehle of Germany. In a letter to customers, Höegh’s head of region Europe,


Per Christian Mork said that the new arrangement was part of the process of creating a more agile and flexible organisation, adding: “We believe that this model makes us better suited to take care of the demands of our customers.” Neptumar will take over


commercial operations during the second quarter of 2015 and the office in Basildon will be


New ships will be biggest ever


Höegh Autoliners carried out successful trials of the hull of a new design of vessel in mid- May. New Horizon 462A will be the basis of the first in a series of six Post Panamax vessels that will go into service over the next 18 months. The New Horizon design is the world’s largest pure car and truck


carrier (PCTC) by capacity,


with a deck area of 71,400 m². The ship can carry 8,500 car equivalent units and has the flexibility to carry also high and heavy project cargo. Moreover, it will emit only half of the CO2 per transported unit, compared to a conventional car carrier.


closed down during the year. Mork said: “Our colleagues at


the office in Basildon have done a tremendous job serving the UK and Ireland markets for many decades and it is sadness we recognise that this change will see some leave our organisation in the months to come. We are however certain that the new set up will be well suited for future market demands.”


Issue 4 2015 - Freight Business Journal


///RO-RO Neptune: strength in diversity


Mediterranean and Black Sea operator, Neptune Lines handles a diverse range of cargo, mostly cars and other vehicles but also an increasing amount of project cargo on its routes serving the Black Sea and the extended Mediterranean, as far as the Atlantic Spanish port of Vigo and as far north as Novosibirsk in Russia. New bigger ships, with


hoistable decks, wider straight stern ramps and low loading angles allow a larger and more diverse range of cargoes to be handled. North Africa is an increasingly


important market for Neptune, and in particular Algeria, which has emerged as a regional transshipment hub in recent years, says marketing manager, Niki Dandolou. Algeria sucks in considerable quantities of Renaults (from Romania and Turkey rather than France these days) while Volkswagens emanate from Koper in Slovenia. Algeria has become a major


region hub “for a multitude of reasons,” she explains. “One is that there is virtually no local vehicle production – and also because it is used as a hub to feed other countries in the region.” Neptune has stopped calling in


neighbouring Libya, but traffic can still be fed overland from Algeria as and when required, and it is the most convenient place from which to do this. Algerian ports have issues


of their own, of course, but recent reorganisations have concentrated the ro ro trades on Mostaganem and Djen Djen, leaving other ports to concentrate on containers and bulks. This has greatly improved operations, says Dandalou, though there is still some congestion. Ro ro operations do generally


suffer less than lo lo when ports are congested or inadequate, though. Provided the ship can berth, cargo can always be discharged. Also, Dandalou


points out, ro ro operators tend to use the smaller and more specialised ports rather than the oſten congested major hubs. In Koper, a place which she confesses she had never heard of before joining Neptune, the line enjoys a 60% market share. She adds: “Of course, you


can’t avoid the bigger hubs altogether.” In Neptune’s home port of Piraeus, there has been a sharp drop in imports due to the economic situation in Greece, but the slack has been taken up by transshipments. The port is a favoured hub for vehicles, not least because of its favourable weather, and there is even talk of investment in new facilities, possibly through a public- private partnership.


Another twist to MyFerryLink saga


The Court of Appeal has upheld an appeal by a French worker’s cooperative that Eurotunnel’s acquisition of MyFerryLink should not be treated as a merger under UK competition law. SCOP (Société Coopérative de Production de SeaFrance), the workers’ collective that has been operating the MyFerryLink service on behalf of


its owner Eurotunnel, had


DFDS back to full strength on the Channel


DFDS Seaways has introduced the Malo Seaways to its Dover- Calais service, as a replacement for Dieppe Seaways and bringing its Dover/France fleet back to five ships Named in honour of the French


coastal city, Malo Les Bains north of Dunkirk, the vessel has been newly


refurbished and rebranded in the DFDS Seaways colours. There are a range of dedicated freight and commercial driver facilities on board including a restaurant, lounge and shower facilities. The ship has capacity for around


2,000 lane metres of freight. DFDS Seaways freight


sales director, Wayne Bullen, commented: “We’re very grateful to the Mayor of Malo Les Bains for allowing us to name our new ship aſter the city. We know how important our Calais service is to our freight customers and are delighted to be back up to two ships on this route.”


argued that when, in 2012, the companies acquired the ferries and assets of the former SeaFrance operation this should not be treated as a merger – an argument that has now been upheld by the Court of Appeal. In


June 2013 and the then


Competition Commission (the predecessor to the Competition


Markets


Authority) decided that a merger had occurred and that Eurotunnel was ordered to dispose of MyFerryLink. That decision was


challenged before the Competition Appeal Tribunal, which upheld the finding on competition, but said it would reconsider the question of whether the arrangements in this case met the statutory


definition of a merger. The CMA subsequently decided that it considered they did meet the statutory definition of a merger and that decision was then upheld by the Competition Appeal Tribunal, but has now been overturned by the Court of Appeal’s judgement. On 19 May, the CMA said that


it planned to appeal against the Court’s decision.


Work starts on Dunkerque terminal


DFDS laid the first stone for its new Dunkerque terminal on 22 April at ceremony attended by chief executive Stephane Raison, senior vice-president Carsten Jensen and district sub-prefect, Henri Jean. The work will increase terminal capacity as well as improve road access. Ship loading and loading times will be faster and security improved. The project is 10% funded by the Trans-European Transport Networks (TEN-T) scheme. The terminal services DFDS’s frequent


passenger and freight services to Dover.


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