Samskip Makes Changes to North Sea and Baltic Reefer Services
28th September 2018
Samskip is restructuring the multi-purpose cargo and reefer services connecting North Sea and Baltic ports to Norway operated by subsidiary Nor Lines, in a move which it says adds capacity, frequency and new port options to the logistics mix.
The overhaul, effective from October 1st, 2018, will “meet rising demand for reefer and project cargo services southbound and increase capacity for conventional and project cargoes northbound along the Norwegian coast and beyond to Murmansk”, it says. Two existing multi-purpose service loops increase to three.
In the most obvious change, capacity on the three-ship Nor Lines service between Baltic ports and Norway will be expanded to four vessels, each with reefer/palletized and deck space, and 50mt heavylift crane capacity. However, the combined service will be split, with two vessel pairs operating separate schedules.
One pair will connect northern Norway with German and Dutch ports, focusing on frozen fish/project cargoes southbound and palletized/project cargoes northbound. The aim is to offer port combination flexibility, with norther Norway, and Murmansk and Archangelsk in Russia accessible direct from Germany and the Netherlands.
The other ship pair will serve importers and exporters in Danish and Polish ports, connecting with Western Norway in the Fredrikstad-Tromsø range, calling weekly northbound and prioritizing southbound calls for reefer/project cargo volumes.
Meanwhile, the entirely separate Nor Lines’ multipurpose liner service connecting the Netherlands to Western, Mid and Northern Norway weekly will add a call at the Dutch port of Velsen. The port’s Kloosterboer Velsen BV terminal is a center for cold cargo storage and distribution which offers effective shortsea links to the UK or Portugal.
The addition of Velsen as the first Dutch call is also expected to attract northbound palletized and project cargoes.