P&O Ferries announced on 4 January 2016 that it has seen an 11 per cent year-on-year increase in HGVs crossing between Britain and the continent on its Hull-Rotterdam route.
This amounts to more than 5,000 extra vehicles being carried on the North Sea route during 2015, contributing to a total of 52,000 HGVs.
The ferry company said that new customers had been attracted by the reliability of its twice daily service and the fact that drivers were able to take a break from driving on the overnight sailings, thereby shortening total end-to-end journey times for freight.
Last year P&O Ferries’ terminal at Rotterdam (Europoort) benefitted from a 250m rail extension, which has equipped it to handle longer freight trains from Central and Eastern Europe, significantly enhancing capacity and efficiency. The loading and discharge times at both Hull and Europoort are among the fastest in the sector.
P&O Ferries sails two ships, Pride of Hull and Pride of Rotterdam, on the route every day. Both vessels are among the largest passenger ferries in Europe, with first-class facilities for lorry drivers.
The news follows P&O Ferries’ strong performance on the English Channel in 2015, when it carried its highest ever volume of freight between Dover and Calais during Q3, a 30 per cent year-on-year increase.
