Some 141 staff members of former Scop SeaFrance will not get any further severance. This is what the Court in Calais decided.
DFDS said that the staff promised not to bring nor DFDS, and neither Eurotunnel, to Court, in exchange for individual severance agreements. The Court followed this logic.
The workers can still decide to appeal against the decision.
DFDS will sell two combined freight and passenger ferries, KAUNAS SEAWAYS (1989) and VILNIUS SEAWAYS (1987) to Ukrferry. The former train ferries have been on time charter to Ukrferry for several years, for deployment on routes in the Black Sea. Delivery of the ferries is expected in July. The sale will affect the employment of around 70 crew members that DFDS will seek to employ in its own route network.
Ukrferry already owned the sistervessel GREIFSWALD. The fourth vessel in the series —PETERSBURG–, is owned by Black Sea Ferry & Investments (Baltic Fleet LLC). She is arrested and docked at Paljasaare, Tallinn, since late April.
DFDS lacks digital experts. “We simply have a hard time recruiting the IT experts we need, even though new colleagues will immediately be involved in tasks that really matter to people and trade. The tasks we can offer are probably among the most meaningful and exciting an IT developer will get,” says Henrik Holck, EVP, People and Ships.
U.N. Ro-Ro, now a DFDS company, has made its first call to Port of Patras. The first vessel was the UN PENDIK, coming from Istanbul, and going to Trieste.
Initially, four weekly calls have been scheduled for Patras, two per direction.
Photo: U.N. Ro-Ro
On 8 June, Volvo announced that the last of its successful V60 models had been assembled at Volvo Cars’ assembly line in Ghent. Over the last 18 months DFDS transported the supply of V60 bodies from Volvo Cars’ factories in Gothenburg to the assembly line in Ghent; some 325 trailer loads a week. The production of the new Volvo V60 SPA model will begin in a few months. DFDS has a new contract for the transportation of 250 trailer loads per week.
In Ghent, the DFDS ships are nicknamed “The Volvo Boats”
Photo: DFDS
DFDS has ordered one additional ro-ro newbuilding for delivery in the first half of 2020 from the Chinese Jinling Shipyard.
The newbuilding is similar to the four previously ordered ro-ro’s and likewise designed to carry 6,700 lane metres of freight equivalent to around 450 trailers.
DFDS’ fleet renewal programme also includes two ro-pax ferries to be delivered in 2021 for deployment in the Baltic route network.
In addition, one chartered ro-pax (from Stena RoRo) will be delivered in 2021 for deployment on The English Channel routes.
DFDS completed the acquisition of U.N. Ro-Ro after all relevant authorities approved the transaction. The deal was completed on June 7.
Selçuk Boztepe, CEO of U.N. Ro-Ro and now Head of a new Mediterranean business unit in DFDS’ Shipping Division said:
Photo: U.N. Ro-Ro
The Turkish competition authorities have approved the purchase of 98.8% of the shares of UN RoRo by DFDS.
Now DFDS has to wait for the approval of Italy, Germany and Austria too. The final completion of the DKK 7.1 billion transaction is expected before July.
A ferry service from Rosyth is not dead in the water, according to a local Member of Parliament. DFDS recently decided to pull the plug from the Zeebrugge – Rosyth service.
DFDS Q1 Review: Strong Logistics Performance In Q1
“Both growth and earnings were ahead of expectations in Q1 and our full-year growth expectation is now raised to 4% and to 10% including U.N. Ro-Ro. European growth is robust and continues to support our ferry routes and logistics activities. Our continuous improvement projects are on track and will also contribute to earnings this year,” says Niels Smedegaard, CEO.
Some highlights:
Outlook 2018
Click on the image to start the download of the report.
