DFDS revamps service network from Norway, adding capacity and new call

DFDS has announced plans to shake-up its service network connecting the UK, Norway and continental Europe.

The revamp will, effectively, merge its Brevik-Immingham and Brevik-Ghent services into one triangulated loop.

And it will replace the service’s 19-year-old con-ro ship Lysbris Seaways, which has container capacity of 160 teu and side-loading capacity for ro-ro traffic, with the much larger ro-ro vessel Finlandia Seaways (pictured).

DFDS said the new vessel would allow the company to attract other cargo types beyond its core volumes of Norkse Skog paper.

It added: “In addition to containers and paper, DFDS will be able to offer sea transport for ro-ro cargo such as trailers, self-drives, machinery and a wider variety of project cargo.”

To support this, DFDS will add a new call at the Norwegian port of Brevik, triangulating its Norway routes between Brevik, Fredrikstad and Halden.

“With late-week departures from Zeebrugge and Immingham, and early-week arrivals in Norway, DFDS will offer the market a unique solution for all kinds of goods along the transport corridors,” it said.

However, the larger ship capacity and new Brevik call means the line will close its ro-ro service between Brevik and the Belgian port of Ghent from the middle of February 2019, although DFDS claimed this was due to a desire to serve Norway’s fish exporters.

“This will improve the current schedule from Brevik, with both an import and export call. The reduced transit time southbound will open the way for the export of fresh fish from Norway to the continent,” it said.