GSI shipyard has sent P&O PIONEER on sea trials. The large double-ended ferry has a capacity for 1,500 passengers and 3,658 lane metres. She will start to operate on Calais-Dover in 2023.
How will it work?
Drivers will still check-in as normal and will be allowed to embark on the next available ferry, this could be a DFDS or P&O vessel.
Sailing schedules have been re-planned: truck drivers will be able to get on a ferry every 37 minutes.
Exceptions: hazardous goods, plug ins, out of gauge vehicles, horses, pets, livestock.
Port of Zeebrugge: Growth of 3% in 2020
Zeebrugge stayed 100% operational during the pandemic. Roro traffic suffered because of the reduced handling of new cars. This drop was compensated by a strong growth in container traffic, LNG and solid bulk.
The port took a lot of initiatives to be Brexit-proof and invested twice as much into new infrastructure.
Modal shift: the port sees an important growth of rail connections, and estuary waterway connections went up 4.2%
CLdN
- Added a call in Zeebrugge on the route Leixões – Rotterdam, allowing cargo to be transferred to Esbjerg and Göteborg.
- Zeebrugge – Dublin: from 2 to 3 sailings with so-called “Brexit busters”
- Zeebrugge – Cork: new route
- Zeebrugge – Santander: ships VALENTINE en CELANDINE = +40% capacity
P&O Ferries
- End of ropax service Zeebrugge – Hull, means end of accompanied freight
DFDS
- Introduction of FLANDRIA SEAWAYS on 4 October 2020, Zeebrugge – Göteborg
Read the full report
https://portofzeebrugge.be/en/news-events/port-zeebrugge-3-growth-2020
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‘Illegal’ £35m State Aid For Ferries Faces Legal Challenge (writes The Telegraph)
CLdN is seeking a judicial review of Transport Secretary Grant Shapps’ decision to hand the £35 million to passenger operators Brittany Ferries, DFDS, Eurotunnel, P&O, Seatruck and Stena.
P&O Owners Say Government ‘Slow’ over Threat to Supply Routes
The head of Dubai-based DP World told the BBC that P&O needs £257m in aid to avoid collapse and has applied to the UK government for £150m of that.
The hotels and restaurants of Calais are dreaming about the return of the tax-free era, once the Brexit is a fact.
After the duty-free was abolished in 1997, Calais lost 40% of its tourist traffic. The city was used to have a lot of British day-trippers.
When Brexit was announced in April 2017, an association has been created under the name “Yes to Duty Free.” Some of its members include ferry companies DFDS and P&O, Eurotunnel and SEPD (Société d’exploitation des ports du Detroit).
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After the fire on FINLANDIA SEAWAYS, DFDS decided to stop its service between Zeebrugge and Rosyth, Scotland. (news 16 April 2018) P&O Ferries now announced their plans to lift capacity on the Zeebrugge-Teesport route by almost 25% within the next month, in order to create a gateway to Scotland.
How this increase in capacity will be realised is still kept confidential. P&O is understood to be looking at a different configuration of ships.
The company currently carries more than 100,000 freight units a year to Teesport from its continental hub at Zeebrugge. The 12 sailings a week service is provided by the BORE SONG and the MISTRAL.
Customers will benefit from P&O Ferries’ plans to increase the capacity of its ships combined with the introduction by PD Ports of a new rail service to Mossend in Scotland. The timetable of both services will be fully integrated so that freight can be moved from one to the other with minimal delay.
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Photo: BORE SONG in Zeebrugge © Mike Louagie