Ferry Company to Deploy Bigger Ships to Cater to Increased Freight Demand

UK – NETHERLANDS – In response to demand on their route from Rotterdam (Europoort) to Harwich, Stena Line is to increase capacity by changing to larger ships. The current RoRo ships, the Capucine and Severine, which currently operate twice daily from Europoort in the Netherlands and Harwich in the UK, will be replaced by larger vessels, the RoRo ships MV Misada and MV Misana, when their present charter contracts expire in January 2018. The overall freight capacity of the route will be increased by some 20% with the change.

The decision coincides with the expected completion of a second berth in Europoort, part of a significant investment programme in the port to develop it into a multipurpose freight transport hub. The capacity expansion is also linked to Europoort developing as a rail freight connection point to and from the UK. Annika Hult, Trade Director at Stena Line North Sea said:

“I am very pleased to announce that we will now take the next step in the strategic development of our Rotterdam - Harwich route. We have seen a strong growth in the transport market to the UK over the past several years and we are currently trading at very high utilisation on this route. This has been further fuelled by freight volumes arriving to Europoort by train. The current rail connections between Poznan, Poland and Europoort, which changed ownership earlier this year, are running very well. We believe that this combination of rail and RoRo transportation will only increase in the future.

“We have seen a strong growth in the transport market to the UK over the past several years and we intend to maintain our strong position on the Continent – UK market. We want to be in the best place to care for the business needs of our most important relations, our customers. With this tonnage change and capacity increase we clearly show that we will be keep on providing a reliable service where we can meet future demands. Europoort continues to develop as a key freight hub for Stena Line and we are confident our customers will react positively to our further expansion.”