P&O Ferries reported on 20 November 2017 carrying almost 15,000 units on its new dedicated lift unit freight service between Zeebrugge and Hull since the launch in May.
The route has seen 14,804 lift units transported across the North Sea in the first six months of operation, with October being the most popular month to date with 2,771 units accounted for.
P&O Ferries has chartered the 118 metre Elisabeth to service the route. The 5,000 ton container ship makes three round-trips per week between Zeebrugge and Hull, complementing P&O Ferries’ existing combined tourist and freight service between the Belgian port and the Humber.
Nick Pank, Head of Freight – North Sea at P&O Ferries, said: “We are delighted that so many customers have viewed the new dedicated freight service between Zeebrugge and Hull as being a match for their transport requirements. They have told us that service reliability and our Zeebrugge hub rail connectivity is vital to their businesses.”
“The service offers fast and efficient turnaround times in both ports, with our expanded Zeebrugge terminal having optimised handling at our freight gate to help customers’ delivery commitments. We carry all types of lift units on the new service including containers and swap bodies, with popular cargoes including household goods, wine, chemicals and food products.”
Zeebrugge is the ferry and logistics company’s main continental hub. Overseas exporters to Britain benefit from P&O Ferries’ dedicated freight routes from Zeebrugge to Teesport and Tilbury as well as Hull. The company has enhanced rail facilities at the port which handle the growing proportion of its cargoes originating in Central and Eastern Europe. And exporters from Britain benefit from onward connectivity to northern Spain and Gothenburg via services operated by lines in partnership with P&O Ferries.
P&O Ferries is a major pan-European ferry and logistics company, sailing 27,000 times a year on eight major routes between Britain, France, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Holland and Belgium. It operates more than 20 vessels which carry 10 million passengers and 2.2 million freight units annually.
Together with its logistics division, P&O Ferrymasters, the company also operates integrated road and rail links to countries across the continent including Italy, Poland, Germany, Spain and Romania. P&O Ferrymasters also owns a rail terminal in the Romanian city of Oradea which facilitates the onward movement of goods to Britain from Asian countries via the Silk Road.
