DFDS ramps up North Sea capacity and plans more expansion

The first of two new RoRo freight ferries, the <i>Gardenia Seaways</i>, has  now been launched at Germany’s Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft (FSG), with final delivery to be in May. The 210m-long vessel and a sistership due for delivery in September will have capacity for 262 trailers loaded over 4,076 lane metres, a 20% increase on the company’s existing North Sea vessels which operate on routes which run between Newcastle and Amsterdam, and Copenhagen and Oslo.
The two ships are part of a larger fleet expansion programme under way at DFDS which has logged growing cargo volumes on all routes within its network. In addition to these two vessels, another two freight RoRo vessels – the largest yet in the DFDS fleet – will be commissioned in 2019. The Danish company has also revealed that it is mulling over further fleet expansion, with deals under consideration including more combined freight and passenger ferries as well as cruise/ferry vessels.
According to Peder Gellert, executive vice president of the ferry line’s Shipping Division, the company’s vessels are already running close to full. “Gardenia Seaways and the next new ship will enable us to offer our customers the capacity they want, together with a significantly improved service,” he said. “The design of the ship, developed in Flensburg, meets current environmental requirements, reducing fuel consumption and providing much better handling when loading and unloading,” he added.