#CLdNexpansion - According to CLdN RoRo SA, the European short sea ro-ro operator have announced an ambitious expansion programme to add 12 new vessels to its fleet which is currently at 24 vessels and running more than 100 sailings weekly.

The operator headquartered in Luxemburg originally began on the core Continent / UK services in 1974. Since then they have steadily expanded their geographical presence into new markets in recent years, including Ireland, Sweden, Denmark and Portugal.

Afloat, adds the two Irish routes are Zeebrugge-Dublin-Esbjerg –Göteborg. The other is Rotterdam –Dublin-Killingholme-Purfleet-Leixoes.

CLdN have placed firm orders for two 8000 lane meter RoRo vessels, with a length of 235m, double the capacity of the majority of today’s larger short sea RoRo vessels and are also poised to place orders for further vessels of classes ranging between 4700 and 8000 lane meters. The orders will be spread across various yards, in Europe and in the Far East.

The first orders are described as ‘Game Changers’ by a Company Spokesperson, as they are of a innovative design, offering changeability and flexibility in their deck configuration, catering for the cargo blends of Trailers, Containers, High and Heavy cargoes, Cars, Vans and Trucks.

The design allows for the vessel to interchange between Short Sea RoRo services, where high manoeuvrability and economy is paramount and Deep Sea Trades, where endurance and a flexible and high stowage factor is required. The ships will have the “LNG ready” class notation, providing the option for a straightforward conversion to LNG propulsion.

CLdN currently handle on an annual basis, 1 million cargo units and 1 million new cars and vans and the new vessels will generate an additional 70% capacity over the next four years, allowing current trades to expand and new routes to be developed.

The expansion programme will allow CLdN to broaden the range of their services whilst also offering a very significant increase of capacity on their existing routes.

The new vessels will follow CLdN’s proven methodology of combining high utilisation container and trailer decks with additional car decks to service their automotive clients.

As CLdN offers in the main, integrated solutions, the Ports division C.Ro, will simultaneously invest Circa Euro 100 million on expanding its Terminals for the arrival of the next generation vessels.

Part of this investment will be aimed towards ‘value added’ services, tailored to customers needs, specifically the car manufacturing industry, whose requirements are clearly evolving at a very fast pace.

The first of these new vessels are due to enter service in Quarter 3 2017.