Freight Service News

Danish shipping company Norden has announced the addition of two Capesize newbuilding leases with purchase options, reinforcing the company’s commitment to building a highly efficient and modern Capesize fleetThe vessels will be built in Japan with expected deliveries in 2026 and 2027.This brings Norden’s core fleet of owned and leased Capesize vessels to 13 ships, including seven newbuildings, with an average age of two years.“This will enhance our ability to serve customers…

Danish shipping company DFDS is launching a weekly freight service connecting Spain and the Netherlands, aimed at serving the needs of industrial customers, freight forwarders and project cargo owners.In connection with the new route, DFDS and Hydro, a global aluminium and energy company, have signed an agreement for weekly shipment of aluminium. Starting from end May, the new route will connect the ports of Vilagarcía and Rotterdam, offering a direct ferry link from southern…

DFDS was selected as the preferred bidder to take on the 15-year contract to provide ferry life-line freight service and passenger services to Jersey of the Channel Islands from March 28, 2025. “We are thrilled to have been selected as preferred bidder tender for the ferry service to Jersey. This opportunity allows us to bring our commitment to safety, reliability, and exceptional customer service to both residents and visitors of Jersey. We understand that a reliable ferry service is vital for Jersey, for the economy, and for providing essential supplies and access to medical services, and we look forward to serving the local communities on Jersey for many years to come,” says Filip Hermann, VP BU Channel & Baltics.

The Baltic Sea's irst green freight corridor has been launched, allowing for the transportation of Felix ketchup to Finland with a 90% reduction in emissions. This initiative, a collaboration between Orkla Suomi, Scandic Trans, and Viking Line, features a scheduled freight service powered by biofuel.Since July, Felix ketchup, produced by the Orkla Group in Fågelmara, has been shipped to Finland using biofuels. The process begins at the largest ketchup factory in the Nordic region, where Scandic Trans trucks transport the product to Viking Line’s terminal in Stadsgården, Stockholm.

Global supply chains are braced for further disruption and increasing costs after US President Joe Biden announced new tariffs on Chinese imports on Tuesday.The tariffs will be imposed on a wide range of Chinese imports including semi-conductors, batteries, EVs and solar cells, with the changes staggered to come into effect between 2024 and 2026.Peter Sand, Chief Analyst at Xeneta, said: “The new tariffs under President Biden may be a case of history repeating. If so, businesses…

Conflict in the Red Sea has brought massive carbon emissions increases in ocean freight container shipping, according to data just released by Xeneta.The Xeneta and Marine Benchmark Carbon Emissions Index (CEI), which measures carbon emissions per ton of cargo transported across the world’s top 13 trades, hit 107.4 points in Q1 2024 - the highest it has been since the index began in Q1 2018.For containers being shipped via ocean from the Far East to Mediterranean, the CEI reveals carbon emissions increased by 63% in Q1 2024 compared to Q4 2023.

Swedish ferry operator, Stena Line has officially commenced its new Dublin – Liverpool (Birkenhead) freight service. The addition of the new route is expected to further boost the company’s freight volumes following a record year on its Irish Sea services in 2023.The return service will operate daily from Dublin in the morning, making the evening return journey from 12 Quays terminal in Birkenhead.The addition of the new service will be Stena Line’s seventh route in the Irish Sea region complementing its Belfast - Cairnryan…

Wallenius Wilhelmsen, the world’s largest RoRo vessel operator, has signed a multi-year shipping contract with South Korea’s construction machinery company and taken delivery of two vessels.Through its 80% owned subsidiary EUKOR, Wallenius Wilhelmsen welcomed the 2009-built, 6,600 CEU Morning Camilla vessel following the declaration of a purchase option under the long-term charter-in agreement.The purchase price is $30 million, well below the assessed charter-free valuation of around $70 million…

The world's largest RoRo shipping company Wallenius Wilhelmsen reports its vessel Torrens is the first to bunker B30 HSFO-biofuel in South Korea. The bunkering took place during a call at Masan Port as part of the vessel's regular sailing schedule.A drop-in fuel that can be used in existing engines without any modification or tank cleaning, HSFO biofuel is a HSFO blended with UCOME (bio feedstock). The number of suppliers worldwide offering this particular fuel is currently very limited…

New York City is looking at ways to help shift freight transportation off of its busy roads and onto the waterways.The city's Department of Transportation (NYC DOT) and Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) on Wednesday jointly released a Request for Information and Expressions of Interest (RFEI) seeking private sector feedback to help it gauge industry challenges and opportunities, and explore ways to implement and support businesses to engage in waterfront freight operations.The initiative is part of NYC's "Blue Highways" program, launched under the city's previous mayor, Bill de Blasio.

Ferry operator Stena Line announced it is building two new freight vessels for its expanding Belfast-Heysham freight service.Each of the two new 147-meter NewMax vessels has been designed to maximize freight volumes and will provide 2,800 lane meters of capacity which is an 80% increase on current ship capacities. The new vessels will be equipped to carry 12 passengers and 26 crew.The vessels will be able to operate on methanol fuel. Stena Line is currently working closely with…

A Mackinac Island passenger ferry will be converted to zero-emissions electric power with the help of a $3.06 million award from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) Fuel Transformation Program (FTP) Part 2.Star Line, now known as the Mackinac Island Ferry Company (MIFC), will replace two 1988 diesel engines with two brand new electric propulsion motors on a ferry, the Chippewa, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 14,152 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents and 887 metric tons of nitrogen oxides over the boat’s lifetime.

Pacifica Shipping confirms it is introducing a second vessel onto its New Zealand coastal shipping service, which is expected to be operational mid-September this year.The vessel will add 1,300TEU extra capacity every week and will complement the existing coastal service provided by Pacifica Shipping’s MV Moana Chief, a 1,700TEU ship, which has been operating since August 2019.Country Manager for Pacifica Shipping and Swire Shipping New Zealand Brodie Stevens, said the service…

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) today announced the immediate designation of four new Marine Highway Projects as part of the America’s Marine Highway Program (AMHP). Projects in North Carolina, Alaska, and Puerto Rico will receive these designations. They can now apply for record levels of funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to help address supply chain challenges.A Marine Highway Project is a planned service, or expansion of an existing service, on a designated Marine Highway Route.

Through a complex operation to offload bulk salt, NORDEN is optimizing the supply chain for customer Empremar.At a chemical plant in California, 30,000 tonnes of salt is being offloaded from a bulk carrier onto a private terminal. The salt will be taken directly to the plant and used to make chlorine.This shipment is one of eight per year that NORDEN will make for Chilean salt miner Empremar. While NORDEN has been shipping salt to the US for Empremar for 20 years, this is the…

CMA CGM Group, a shipping and logistics giant, has agreed to make a €25 million investment, including €10 million in quasi-equity, in Brittany Ferries, the largest ferry company operating under the French flag, to support Brittany Ferries’ post-Covid-19 recovery.Brittany Ferries said the partnership would help to unlock synergies between the two companies in passenger and freight transport. "By harnessing the respective areas of expertise of the CMA CGM Group and Brittany Ferries, it will also help promote the development of cross-Channel shipping and underpin France’s position in the sector.

As the bid package goes out to shipyards, Sylvain Julien, Director, Naval Architecture, Specialized Ship Design, BMT, discusses how local stakeholder demands and futureproofing shipboard technology drove the design of a pair of ferries for the Isles of Scilly Steamship Company.The Isles of Scilly Steamship Company Ltd. has provided a lifeline to the Isles of Scilly since it was formed in 1920. When attention turned to designing a pair of new vessels – one passenger and one cargo – to service the island…

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) on Thursday announced the designation of six new Marine Highway Projects and a new Marine Highway Route as part of the America’s Marine Highway Program (AMHP). The AMHP encourages the use of America’s navigable waterways for the movement of freight and people as an alternative to land-based transportation. Since its inception, the AMHP has designated 46 Marine Highway Projects. A designation makes projects on Marine Highway Routes eligible for grants when AMHP funding is available.

Ireland's tax authority temporarily eased post-Brexit customs arrangements after some trucks were unable to deliver goods from Britain, difficulties that prompted the largest Irish Sea ferry operator to cancel some sailings from Friday.Britain's departure from the EU's orbit introduces reams of paperwork and costs that must be completed to move goods across the new customs border. For Irish firms, it means a 12-fold rise in the number of import and export declarations, the tax…

Ferry firm Stena Line has brought forward a planned doubling of its direct Ireland to France freight service in response to “huge demand” from Irish hauliers hit by the closure of the French border to arrivals from Britain.While freight services were exempt from Ireland’s ban on Sunday on travel to Britain over fears of a new coronavirus strain, around 3,000 lorries take the shorter route to mainland Europe via the so-called British “land-bridge” each week.Stena had planned to add a second ship to its service from Ireland’s Rosslare harbor to the French port of Cherbourg from Jan.

French shipping company Brittany Ferries has terminated its contract with German shipbuilder Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft (FSG) for the construction of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) fueled RoPax ferry, the shipyard announced Thursday.Stefan Denkhaus, general representative of FSG, said, “We cannot understand the customer’s decision, and the termination came as a surprise. According to the calculations of all experts, the completion of the 774 will take 11 to 12 months. The customer…

Missouri Port Authorities Team Up To Advance Plan For Statewide Initiative That Focuses On Innovative Inland Waterway Container-On-Vessel Freight Service.Missouri Governor Michael Parson visited the Mississippi River town of Herculaneum on August 12 to find out more about statewide efforts to deliver a new option to transport freight along the inland waterways and what role an innovative waterway vessel could play in moving larger volumes of goods and commodities along both the Mississippi River and Missouri River and their tributaries.

Metrans AS, a subsidiary of terminal operator Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA), has ordered ten Vectron MS locomotives from Siemens Mobility Czech Republic.The locomotives will be built at Siemens Mobility’s factory in Munich-Allach, and deliveries are scheduled from the end of 2019 until spring 2020. The locomotives will be operated in cross-border freight service in Central and Eastern European countries."It is our pleasure to expand the Metrans vehicle fleet by ten multisystem Vectron locomotives from Siemens Mobility. This underlines our ambition to continue growing along the transport streams of the future. The acquisition of additional locomotives will help us to be even more flexible and reliable in responding to the wishes of our customers…