DFDS launch "brexit bypass" Rosslare-Dunkerque freight ferry route

[jopsuk]

This is a fairly big move

DFDS opens direct Ireland – France ferry route

After Brexit: A new freight ferry route between Rosslare and Dunkerque offers lorries and their drivers direct and paperless transport between EU countries.

On 2 January 2021, DFDS will commence sailings on a new freight ferry route between Rosslare in the Republic of Ireland and Dunkerque in Northern France.
The route will be serviced by three ferries, each with a capacity for up to 125 lorries and their drivers in Covid-19 safe single cabins.
There will be six weekly departures from each port, either in the afternoon or evening, with a crossing time of 24 hours.
Remains in EU’s single market and customs union
“We are extremely pleased to offer customers in the Republic of Ireland the opportunity to transport their goods directly to or from other EU countries without the customs formalities and possible waiting times that the end of the Brexit transition period will bring about for road haulage passing through the UK,” says Peder Gellert, EVP and Head of DFDS’ Ferry Division.
Driver friendly and close to major destinations
Upon arrival in Dunkerque or Rosslare, the drivers will be fully rested and can continue driving immediately and be able to reach many major destinations within their legal driving limit.
In addition to this, the sea voyage will reduce the dependency on the UK land bridge and open direct opportunities for trade within EU’s single market.
Great cooperation
The new line will create jobs and activities in Rosslare and Cork, where DFDS will be represented by new offices, and in Dunkerque.
In Ireland, the route will be led by Aidan Coffey as Route Director, Darren Mooney as Sales & Customer Service Director and Declan Cleary as Freight Sales Manager Ireland.
“We are extremely grateful for the support we have experienced from the Port of Rosslare and the Port of Dunkerque. Their flexibility, professionalism and our excellent cooperation has enabled us to be ready with this service before the end of the transition period at the end of the year. We are confident that this service will benefit customers on both sides of the route,” says Kell Robdrup, SVP and Head of DFDS’ North Sea freight services.

This will be the first ferry from Dunkerque to anywhere other than Dover in a long while yes?
the picture is fairly generic, the article doesn't say which ships (it'll need a pair) are going to be assigned to it

 

[etr221]

It says three ships in the write up. Other ferry companies have launched services from Southern Ireland to North West France - I forget the details.

While the ferry journey is a lot longer then crossing the Irish Sea and English Channel, it'll avoid the long queues at Dover or wherever...

 

[cactustwirly]

Interesting that Dunkirk is an end point. I'd have thought Le Havre would have been more suitable

It says three ships in the write up. Other ferry companies have launched services from Southern Ireland to North West France - I forget the details.

While the ferry journey is a lot longer then crossing the Irish Sea and English Channel, it'll avoid the long queues at Dover or wherever...

Brittany Ferries had always had a long standing Cork to Roscoff route. Which they have recently increased and moved some sailings to Rosslare.
Stena line bought Celtic link ferries a few years ago, and operates Cherbourg to Rosslare using the Stena Horizon.

Irish ferries also operates a Dublin to Cherbourg and Rosslare to Roscoff services

 

[route101]

I think there's a Spain to Ireland ferry too.

 

[cactustwirly]

I think there's a Spain to Ireland ferry too.

That's Brittany Ferries Rosslare - Bilbao

 

[Lewlew]

Will they take foot passengers?

 

[cactustwirly]

Will they take foot passengers?

No it's freight only for the time being.
DFDS don't usually take foot passengers anyway

 

[jopsuk]

the Breton and Norman ports are fine for the trucks from Spain/Portugal (as obviously are the northern spanish ports); given how long the crossings are anyway i can the appeal of a full 24hr stint for trucks heading to/from northern, central & eastern Europe

 

[cactustwirly]

There are a few Visentinis coming available from Stena RoRo (Kerry and Ètretat ex Brittany Ferries), I'd put money on these being the ships being used by DFDS for this service.

 

[alex397]

Makes sense to me - it saves businesses and lorry operators having to deal with all the bureaucracy and hassle of the backwards Banana Republic the UK appears to be turning into.

I can imagine the existing Irish Ferries route between Dublin and Cherbourg becoming more popular too.

 

[TheSel]

An excellent idea - keep lorries off UK roads.

 

[hwl]

Plenty of Rosslare to continent ferries that take freight - there used to be even more in the past

[Rosslare to Pembroke - Irish Ferries.]
[Rosslare to Fishguard - Stena Line.]

Rosslare - Cherbourg - Brittany Ferries & Stena Line. 3 crossings per week each, 18 hour crossing
Rosslare - Roscoff - Brittany Ferries. 1 crossing per week 16 hour crossing
Rosslare - Bilbao - Brittany Ferries 2 crossings per week 28 hour crossing

Also Dublin to Cherbourg - Irish Ferries (used to be Rosslare - Cherbourg) 3 crossings per week 18 hour crossing


Also other continental to RoI Ferries

Rotterdam - Dublin. Cobelfret 3 crossings per week 42 hour crossing
Santander - Dublin. Cobelfret 2 crossings per week 44 hour crossing
Zeebrugge - Cork. Cobelfret 1 crossing per week 38 hour crossing
Zeebrugge - Dublin. Cobelfret 2 crossings per week 37 hour crossing

 

[30907]

Interesting that Dunkirk is an end point. I'd have thought Le Havre would have been more suitable

Le Havre would give a shorter crossing, probably allowing 2 ferries to operate a daily service, but DFDS already have facilities at Dunkerque, and from a road haulage point of view it's much more accessible from Northern Europe (even Northern France).

 

[cactustwirly]

Le Havre would give a shorter crossing, probably allowing 2 ferries to operate a daily service, but DFDS already have facilities at Dunkerque, and from a road haulage point of view it's much more accessible from Northern Europe (even Northern France).

Le Havre has good access to the Autoroutes and is only about 3 hours from Dunkirk, I'd imagine the extra crossing time to Dunkirk is more than 3 hours.

Lots of Irish hauliers use the "land bridge" between Holyhead and Dover, rather than direct ferries to France because it is a lot more productive than the direct ferry services.

 

[alex397]

Lots of Irish hauliers use the "land bridge" between Holyhead and Dover, rather than direct ferries to France because it is a lot more productive than the direct ferry services.

I think this is why Ireland to/from continent ferries may get an increase in demand. Many lorry operators might want to avoid the potential disruption and extra burecracy or dealing with the UK, and rather go by ferry than the "land-bridge". The ferry will be quicker If they get stuck in the UK.

However - I'm not an expert in this matter. If a lorry is travelling from, say, Belgium to Ireland, and travels across the UK to reach Ireland, would it have to go through customs even though it isn't delivering to the UK? Although, even if it didn't have to go through customs, it would have to deal with traffic congestion.

 

[cactustwirly]

I can this is why Ireland to/from continent ferries may get an increase in demand. Many lorry operators might want to avoid the potential disruption and extra burecracy or dealing with the UK, and rather go by ferry than the "land-bridge". The ferry will be quicker If they get stuck in the UK.

However - I'm not an expert in this matter. If a lorry is travelling from, say, Belgium to Ireland, and travels across the UK to reach Ireland, would it have to go through customs even though it isn't delivering to the UK? Although, even if it didn't have to go through customs, it would have to deal with traffic congestion.

Yes you would have to go through customs. It's a balance really, as you'd otherwise be paying the truck driver to twiddle their thumb's on a ferry. Each company will do a cost/benefit analysis to see if it's worth it.

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

Maybe vehicles could be sealed while passing through the UK

One hopes there shall soon be many fewer trucks on the A55, even less need to 'improve' it now
It would be good if b****t led to less trade altogether

 

[Chester1]

Maybe vehicles could be sealed while passing through the UK

One hopes there shall soon be many fewer trucks on the A55, even less need to 'improve' it now
It would be good if b****t led to less trade altogether

There is already a transit agreement in place as part of the withdrawal agreement that covers inter EU trade via the land bridge and goods from outside the EU to UK (e.g. food from Morocco and Ukraine). They will be sealed but they will need to queue with all of the other trucks and be recorded etc. Irish firms will need to weigh up risk of delays on the faster route vs a lower risk but slower route avoiding the UK. There will be some shift but I doubt it will all switch even in the long term.

It does amuse me to see people in some parts of the media act like fewer lorries transiting the UK will be a bad thing...

 

[61653 HTAFC]

An excellent idea - keep lorries off UK roads.

Indeed... tbh I'm surprised it took Brexit for a ferry operator to try this.

 

[Gloster]

Have DFDS actually committed themselves to a long term route, or are they just placing themselves so that they are first off the blocks if there is no deal or the details of the deal lead to lengthy queues of trucks on the roads leading to the ports, ferries waiting for dock space for their loads to disembark on to and mounds of paperwork? It is still theoretically possible that a deal will be struck that will avoid such problems and lorries will continue to transit the UK as before, although I am even more pessimistic about this than I usually am.

 

[Mojo]

Indeed... tbh I'm surprised it took Brexit for a ferry operator to try this.

It didn’t. See post #12 and someone has already provided a list of ferries that run direct from Ireland to the Continent.

 

[route101]

There is already a transit agreement in place as part of the withdrawal agreement that covers inter EU trade via the land bridge and goods from outside the EU to UK (e.g. food from Morocco and Ukraine). They will be sealed but they will need to queue with all of the other trucks and be recorded etc. Irish firms will need to weigh up risk of delays on the faster route vs a lower risk but slower route avoiding the UK. There will be some shift but I doubt it will all switch even in the long term.

It does amuse me to see people in some parts of the media act like fewer lorries transiting the UK will be a bad thing...

Do notice loads of Irish lorries on M1 and M40! Never seen a lorry from Ukraine or Morroco?

 

[Vespa]

Do notice loads of Irish lorries on M1 and M40! Never seen a lorry from Ukraine or Morroco?

Shipping containers and trailers can be swapped over, tractor units swapped over and hook up to a new trailer then new number plate on the back.

Been done for years.

 

[Chester1]

Do notice loads of Irish lorries on M1 and M40! Never seen a lorry from Ukraine or Morroco?

We do get some stuff from both e.g. Moroccan tomatoes are quite common but I think they are currently delivered with stuff from the EU or by EU vehicles. Mixing deliveries will be much more difficult, which is likely to lead to a variety of dedicated supply routes, both for GB and Ireland.

There is a degree of speculation in the new ferry route. Long term there could be additional routes or the new one could fail, the demand for the sea route isn't really clear yet.

 

[gordonthemoron]

Do RoRo ferries still take HGV trailers without the cab?

 

[43055]

Do RoRo ferries still take HGV trailers without the cab?

I think it is still possible. It might depend on the company as I have seen Red Funnel take lorries without cabs but not on Wightlink for the Isle of Wight ferries.

 

[hwl]

Do RoRo ferries still take HGV trailers without the cab?

Yes and in huge numbers on the Irish / NI routes especially the freight only operators. I suspect this will be the majority on the longer routes mentioned above.

Have DFDS actually committed themselves to a long term route, or are they just placing themselves so that they are first off the blocks

See post #12 above they will be 9th of the blocks...

 

[cactustwirly]

Do RoRo ferries still take HGV trailers without the cab?

These are RoPax ferries so I'm not sure. I know the P&O freight RoRo ferries definitely do, I'd imagine it's the same with DFDS with their freight only ferries.

 

[Dr Hoo]

'Unaccompanied' trailers are quite common on many (longer) ferry routes, including across the North Sea as well as Continent <-> Ireland. There is absolutely no point paying a driver to twiddle his thumbs in a cabin for 24 hours or to tie up an expensive tractor unit not turning a wheel for that time.

 

[craigybagel]

It does amuse me to see people in some parts of the media act like fewer lorries transiting the UK will be a bad thing...

It will be for businesses that rely on that transit traffic. Potentially a lot of people in the likes of Dover and Holyhead losing out.