BOTNIA SEAWAYS will be the new dedicated vessel restarting the temporarily suspended DFDS Calais-Sheerness route as from Monday 14th March, leaving Calais 23:59.
Calais <> Sheerness Schedule
Departs Sheerness : Tuesday – Sunday 11:00 hrs
Departs Calais : Monday – Saturday 23:59 hrs
“In spite of Covid-19, Brexit, and supply chain bottlenecks, we delivered a strong result for 2021. In 2022, we look to raise both revenue and earnings more than 20%,” says Torben Carlsen, CEO.
OUTLOOK 2022
“As we strive to provide continued commitment to our valued customers, we are very pleased to announce that the Calais – Sheerness service is to be reinstated, with a date to be confirmed.” Source: DFDS
The unaccompanied freight route which was started last summer, suspended with effect from Saturday 15th January 2022.
Following the completion of the acquisition of HSF Logistics Group, and consolidation of the company from 14 September 2021, the Logistics Division was, as previously announced, reorganised in two new business units: Dry Goods and Cold Chain.
The cold chain logistics activities embedded in DFDS’ three former Logistics business units – Nordic, Continent and UK & Ireland – were merged with the HSF Logistics Group to form the Cold Chain business unit. The remaining activities of the former business units are organised in Dry Goods.
Comparative figures for Q1-4 2020 and Q1-3 2021 for the new business units have been restated accordingly and are disclosed in the table below.
“Owing to operational difficulties the unaccompanied service between Calais and Sheerness will be suspended with effect from Saturday 15th January until further notice, with the last departure being from Sheerness at 11:00 hrs on Friday 14th January,” writes Freightlink on its website.
DFDS and Godby Shipping have established a long-term co-operation with Godby Shipping buying the two storo sideport vessels LYSVIK SEAWAYS and LYSBRIS SEAWAYS and chartering them back to DFDS for a period of minimum three years.
Both vessels will continue in their present trade mostly serving Norske Skog forest product shipments out of Norway to UK and continental Europe.
DFDS took delivery of AURA SEAWAYS [MarineTraffic], which was built at Guangzhou Shipyard International. With 4,500 lane meters, she will by far become the largest DFDS RoPax ferry in terms of cargo capacity.
AURA SEAWAYS fulfils the new design standards of EEDI, and the CO2 emissions per trailer are more than 20 % lower than on the vessels currently trading on the intended routes Karlshamn-Klaipeda and Kiel-Klaipeda.
Freight: total volumes in November 2021 were 5.4% below 2020.
Passenger: the total number of passengers in November 2021 was 84.0% above 2020.
On 1 January 2022, UK customs procedures become more stringent. (*)
As a result, freight customers demand for earlier arrivals into the UK, and improved frequency. Therefore, DFDS and CLdN have entered into a Space Charter Agreement.
DFDS and CLdN will each provide one additional vessel, on a rotation Rozenburg – Vlaardingen – Killingholme from Sunday through Friday.
“At the moment we do indeed arrive at Killingholme at 07:00, but the early arrival (at 05:00) of this additional sailing makes all the difference for customers as it allows them to do an extra trip in the UK, which is very interesting given the traction problem there,” says a CLdN spokesman. “In addition, the earlier arrival is important for certain product groups.”
In Rotterdam, customers will have the possibility to load and discharge cargo in either Rozenburg and/or Vlaardingen.
DFDS and CLdN will continue operating all sailings independently including all related commercial activities.
This additional service will start on 11 January 2022.
Extra advantage: by going to C-Ro’s terminal in Killingholme, any congestion at DFDS’ terminal in Immingham will be relieved.
(*) [BOM, border operating model, explained by Dutch Government]
Remarks