Road Transport Puts Denmark Ferry Out of the Running

Kattegatruten’s ferry services between Kalundborg and Aarhus are to end next month . The core business area for the service is truck transport and driverless cars, but for months the service has been unprofitable.

"It is impossible to compete with Eastern European prices. Danish haulage companies are increasingly using Southeast European road transport companies as subcontractors. This means much lower labor costs and therefore driving across the Great Belt Bridge is more attractive than the Kalundborg-Aarhus route for these companies”, says operations manager at Kattegatruten, Birte Dettmers.


Kattegatruten’s attempts to find new customers and increase the number of transferred units have not been sufficient to reverse the negative development. Large differences in wages and social costs between Danish sailors and Eastern European truck drivers are making it impossible for Kattegatruten to compete.


"We are very sad that we have to close down the route from 12 October, but realistically there is no longer a need for the route. Additionally, the new rules surrounding sulfur levels in fuel for ships whuch come into force from January 2015 will only make the problem worse. The company is then forced to use more expensive fuel or reconstruct the ship's machinery", says Operations Manager Birte Dettmers .