Stena Line is to add a second ship to its Dublin-(Birkenhead) Liverpool freight route, while the ferry company has also defended its decision to axe its Rosslare-Cherbourg service earlier this year, reports The Irish Times.
The company’s only Ireland-France route, as Afloat highlighted, closed at the end of September following an extensive strategic review, and instead it is to focus resources on its six Irish Sea routes between Ireland and Britain.
One of its two central Irish Sea freight routes between Dublin and Birkenhead, currently served with two crossings a day, was introduced in February (Afloat adds, but of last year). The company has since been monitoring the important Ireland-UK trade link to gauge levels of demand from freight hauliers.
In an interview with the newspaper at the Stena Line HQ in Gothenburg, Sweden, chief executive Niclas Martensson said, “We started the route at the beginning of the year and have been seeing slowly if that was a good idea or not.”
“We have not announced this yet, but we will do it now: we have decided to add a second ship on that route because it is something we truly believe in.
“Because of that route, we have built a hub in Dublin. The more routes there are into one port, the more important that port will be for our freight-forwarding companies because they can then shuffle around their trailers in the most efficient way.”
Mr. Martensson said the introduction of the route had been welcomed by Irish haulers and exporters.
For more of the newspaper's coverage on the development to increase freight capacity on the core trade link and the reasons to close the continental line, click here.
