TruckandTrackJune2017.indd

65 / 84

June/July 2017 Truck and Track 65
PORTS
Forth Ports’ London Container Terminal
at Tilbury Docks, on the River Thames
in Essex, has secured a four-year
agreement with SCS Multiport BV
of Amsterdam to handle the newly
upgraded Amsterdam-Tilbury service.
The upgrade comes on the back of long-
term commitments from a number of
cargo owners reflecting the success of
the service to date.
Sothethree-times-a-weekshuttlebetween
Amsterdam and London’s principal Port –
Tilbury – will see a 50% capacity upgrade
with the arrival of the Pengalia, a 700
TEU vessel. The service will carry cargo
including construction materials, bricks,
cocoa, foodstuffs and animal foods.
The announcement follows the news
that Tilbury has secured a new, fast-
transit reefer and dry cargo service from
the specialist reefer operator Seatrade
covering Pacific, New Zealand, Peru and
East Coast USA.
This Meridian service will operate
with eight 2500 TEU capacity vessels,
trimming nine days off the existing NZ–UK
connection.
It will see large volumes of apples, kiwi
fruit, frozen goods and wines coming from
New Zealand and fruit, vegetables and
frozen fish from Peru and US East Coast.
The rotation will be: Rotterdam, Dunkirk,
Radicatel (Le Havre), Papeete, Noumea,
Nelson, Napier, Tauranga, Callao, Paita,
Philadelphia, Zeebrugge and Tilbury.
New 4-year deal on Amsterdam-Tilbury service
Tilbury Docks
DFDS has ordered a further two new freight vessels, meaning
the business will be operating four large ro-ro ships to freight
service customers across the North Sea by 2020. Last year
DFDS signed a contract with the Chinese shipyard Jinling for
the construction of two ro-ro ships which, with their 6700
lane metre load capacity and space for 450 trailers, are DFDS’s
biggest ever ships. Now DFDS has announced that another two
of these large ships have been ordered for delivery by 2020.
DFDS CEONiels Smedegaard comments: “The ships formpart of our
new building programme that underpins our ability to deliver the
transport capacity required by our customers and our continuous
pursuit of efficiency improvements.”
The ships, like their sister ships, are the first DFDS-owned vessels
built according to the new IMO EEDI (Energy Efficiency Design
Index) Regulations, which set significantly lower limits for energy
consumption and emissions in relation to the ship’s capacity and
engine power. Overall they will reduce energy consumption and
emissions by more than 25% per transported trailer compared to
current standards.
Smedegaard describes the technology further: “As the ships are
also being built with a scrubber and equipped with a ballast water
treatment system and a number of energy-enhancing initiatives,
they represent a whole new generation of environmentally friendly
ro-ro ships.”
The first two of the new ro-ro ships are expected to be delivered in
early2019, and the freshones inearly2020. Peder Gellert Pedersen,
Executive Vice President and head of DFDS’s shipping network,
reports: “The ships are equipped with a unique ramp system, with
three independent stern ramps and internal ramps on each side.
“This means that they can be loaded and unloaded in a very short
time, so they can offer the combination of greater efficiency and
capacity that can support our customers’ growth in their trade
across the North Sea and enable them to better service their own
customers.”
For further information about DFDS, or to find out about the latest
sailing times, fares and offers across all routes from the UK, visit
u can also find out more on Twitter @DFDS_UK
and at the company’s Facebook page
DFDS orders two more ro-ro
freight vessels for North Sea
DFDS has reported a strong start to 2017, with revenues for
the pan-European ferry and logistics company up 4% in the
first quarter of the year. In an indicator of strong underlying
economic trends, freight volumes and UK-Continental trade
continue to grow, and the company reports a 10% increase
in shipments on its North Sea freight routes and a 3% rise in
freight on its cross-Channel routes fromDover to France.
First quarter revenues for the group were €432m (£363m),
compared with €414m (£348m) for the first threemonths of 2016.
This helped the company to its best-ever first quarter result.
Freight volumes across the company’s route network, including
services from the UK to Holland, France and Scandinavia, were
up by 7%. This helped its
Shipping Division to a first
quarter profit of £42m,
despite lower levels of
passenger activity during
the off-peak season.
Pictured here, Kasper Moos,
Vice-President for DFDS
in the UK, commented on
the figures: “We continue
to deliver solid results
despite challenging market
conditions, and we’re
delighted to have recorded
our best-ever first quarter.
“Our continuous improvement is driven by hard work, an intense
focus on the needs of our customers and our efficient operating
model, as well as major investment programmes to improve the
experience for customers in the freight and passenger sectors.
“We’ll continue to invest in our digital capabilities andwork to grow
our business, and we’re looking forward to adding two new-build
ro-ro ships to our North Sea fleet later this year.”
DFDS reports a positive outlook for growth in the remainder of
2017, with the business on track to deliver a further improvement
on the record full-year earnings achieved in 2016.
Kasper Moos of DFDS
DFDS achieves its best ever
1st quarter result
LOADS MORE
TRUCKS & TRAILERS
01543 420 121