DFDS has entered into an agreement with Italian ferry company Moby to exchange two passenger ferries, with the focus of raising the onboard customer experience and capacity, for both passengers and freight customers.

Moby will acquire the two passenger ferries currently operating on the Newcastle to Amsterdam route, King Seaways and Princess Seaways, built in 1987 and 1986, respectively.

At the same time, DFDS will acquire two passenger ferries currently operated by Moby, Moby Wonder and Moby Aki, built in 2001 and 2005, respectively. The ships will be renamed when they join the fleet. The names are yet to be decided.

The ferries are expected to be delivered in the second half of October 2019 and will undergo significant refurbishment, including commercial and technical investments on board as well as port investments.

DFDS will subsequently bareboat-charter King Seaways and Princess Seaways until January and February 2020.

Kasper Moos, Vice President & Head of BU Short Routes & Passengers at DFDS said: “The new ferries are ideally suited to our Newcastle to Amsterdam route.

“They will provide our passengers with modern onboard facilities and with more car-deck capacity, the new tonnage will allow DFDS to increase passenger revenue by fulfilling the growing demand for high yield car passengers.

“To freight customers, we will be able to offer increased capacity that can remain constant throughout the entire year”

DFDS’s freight capacity is expected to increase around 40% on a full-year basis and car capacity increasing around 5% on a full-year basis.