Stena Line Boosts Rotterdam-UK Capacity By Adding Larger RoRo Vessels
29th September 2017
Stena Line is to strengthen freight network on the North Sea between Rotterdam and the UK.
Earlier this year Stena Line announced an increase to freight capacity on the Rotterdam (Europoort) to Harwich route in January 2018 by replacing the current two RoRo vessels with two larger ships. The company is now to do the same between Rotterdam-Killingholme in January 2018. Stena Line will consequently increase their total capacity from Europoort by some 20%.
A decision has now been taken to introduce a larger RoRo vessel on the North Sea to replace a current chartered ship, the Caroline Russ, when its contract expires in January 2018. Stena Line will furthermore reposition the RoRo ships between the Europoort routes to further optimize the available capacity. Between Rotterdam and Killingholme, which Stena Line started with one vessel in 2014 and which has daily departures since 2016, MV Misida and MV Misana will operate. The new ship will be introduced next to the Stena Scotia on the route Rotterdam–Harwich in January 2018.
Annika Hult, Trade Director at Stena Line North Sea said: “ 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 utilization on both routes. We further see a good development in freight volumes arriving to Europoort by train. We believe that the combination of rail and RoRo transportation will only increase in the future and our vision is that Europoort will develop into a key rail freight connection point to and from the UK.”