Samskip is restructuring the multi-purpose cargo and reefer services connecting North Sea and Baltic ports to Norway operated by subsidiary Nor Lines, in a move that adds capacity, frequency and new port options to the logistics mix, the company said in its press release.
The overhaul, effective from October 1st, 2018, will meet rising demand for reefer and project cargo services southbound and increase capacity for conventional and project cargoes northbound along the Norwegian coast and beyond to Murmansk. Two existing multi-purpose service loops increase to three.
In the most obvious change, capacity on the three-ship Nor Lines service between Baltic ports and Norway will be expanded to four vessels, each with reefer/palletized and deck space, and 50mt heavylift crane capacity. However, the combined service will be split, with two vessel pairs operating separate schedules.
One pair will connect northern Norway with German and Dutch ports, focusing on frozen fish/project cargoes southbound and palletized/project cargoes northbound. The aim is to offer port combination flexibility, with norther Norway, and Murmansk and Archangelsk in Russia accessible direct from Germany and the Netherlands.
The other ship pair will serve importers and exporters in Danish and Polish ports, connecting with Western Norway in the Fredrikstad-Tromsø range, calling weekly northbound and prioritizing southbound calls for reefer/project cargo volumes.
Meanwhile, the entirely separate Nor Lines’ multipurpose liner service connecting the Netherlands to Western, Mid and Northern Norway weekly will add a call at the Dutch port of Velsen. The port’s Kloosterboer Velsen BV terminal is a center for cold cargo storage and distribution which offers effective shortsea links to the UK or Portugal.
The addition of Velsen as the first Dutch call is also expected to attract northbound palletized and project cargoes.
The Nor Lines Netherlands-Norway multipurpose liner service is maintained by the innovative LNG-powered vessels Kvitbjørn and Kvitnos, each offering 1,500 lane metres of RoRo capacity, 122 TEU as container space, 1,500 tons of reefer space and heavylift crane capability.
Samskip offers pan-European, environmentally responsible combined transport services via shortsea, road, rail and inland waterway routes. High frequency services connect destinations across Europe, the Baltic States, Russia and Central Asia, both door-to-door (including collection) and quay-to-quay, transported using a wide range of owned vessels, containers, trucks and trailers. To match equipment to cargoes shipped, options include a full range of ISO containers and reefers, including 33-pallet capacity 45ft units.