P&O Ferries has made a statement of commitment to their North Sea routes by announcing charter extensions for their current roro vessels.
The charter agreement with Bore Ltd for the NORSKY and NORSTREAM will continue for another three years. These two vessels are the mainstay of the Zeebrugge – Tilbury and Zeebrugge – Teesport routes.
P&O Ferries has operated the NORSKY and NORSTREAM since they were built in 1999. NORSTREAM moved to the Tilbury route in 2011 and NORSKY in 2013. The service moved to the new Tilbury 2 riverside roro terminal in May 2020.
Finnpulp charter extended
A separate agreement has been reached between P&O Ferries and the Grimaldi-owned Finnlines to extend the charter of the FINNPULP. The length of the FINNPULP contract extension is not yet publicly known.
Since February 2023, FINNPULP has operated a single weekly return sailing on the Zeebrugge – Teesport route for P&O Ferries. The vessel spends her remaining time operating a weekly return sailing on Finnlines’ growing Zeebrugge – Rosslare route.
FINNWAVE operates another two roundtrips to Rosslare, bringing to 3 the number of Belgium – Ireland sailings in each direction. P&O Ferries provides terminal services to Finnlines at Zeebrugge.
Reinforced Presence
Peter Hebblethwaite, Chief Executive of P&O Ferries, said:
“Our continued cooperation with Bore Ltd and Finnlines is in response to the importance of our North Sea routes to our customers, who are playing a key role in ensuring smooth trade between Europe and the UK.
“We’re delighted to be reinforcing our presence on our North Sea routes and ensuring our customers continue to receive great service and consistent sailings between Zeebrugge and our UK ports in the years ahead.”
P&O Ferries Press Release, 7 July 2023
Competitive market
This welcome news from P&O Ferries follows previous route closures by the company in the area.
However, the North Sea market remains highly competitive. Stena Line, CLdN, DFDS, Transfennica and Mann Lines all have a presence in the North Sea roro trade.
Earlier in the year, CLdN announced new services from Zeebrugge and Rotterdam to Teesport.
Meanwhile, DFDS recently moved their Sheerness – Calais roro service to operate from the Tilbury 2 terminal.
At the time of writing, P&O Ferries’ freight timetable shows;
- 3 sailings per week in each direction on the Teesport – Zeebrugge route.
- 8 sailings per week in each direction on the Tilbury – Zeebrugge route.
Further information on P&O Ferries’ freight services can be found at https://www.pofreight.com/routes.
