Freight up 4.5% as UK-EU trade begins to stabilise, says DFDS
North Sea volumes on the rise, driven by added capacity and continued stabilisation of post-Brexit trade.
Ferry company DFDS has published last month’s volume trends and has shown a 4.5% increase over February 2020. Net adjustments for structural route changes reduced growth by 0.6 ppt to 3.9% and volumes for routes to UK ports were up 4%. The company says added capacity and the continued normalisation of UK-EU trade are responsible for the increase.
Kell Robdrup, SVP & Head of BU North Sea South, says: “The capacity brought by the four newbuildings from Jinling is a notable contributing factor to the volumes being above 2020’s in the North Sea. We are happy to see our new mega freight ferries are put to good use”.
In addition to the uptick in North Sea trade, the company says cross-channel and new Ireland-France routes are also showing increases. Filip Herman, VP & Head of BU Channel says preparation was the key in achieving the promising figures: “The Freight Sales Team started earlier than usual to prepare for what we had foreseen would be a challenging period because of Brexit.”
However, and not surprisingly, DFDS said the total number of passengers in February 2021 was 92% below 2020’s.
