Spain-UK ferry service to cut costs for hauliers

The Spanish port of Ferrol and the UK Milford Haven Port Authority are developing a new ferry service that they claimed would save hauliers around €700 (US$952) a trip compared with existing services.

The twice-weekly unaccompanied service would connect Ferrol with the port of Pembroke in Wales, where hauliers could pick up onward connections to Ireland using Irish Ferries’ twice daily service to Rosslare.

Currently, hauliers travelling to the UK and Ireland use ferry services from Bilbao and Santander, French Channel ports or Eurotunnel.

Road haulage companies and shippers are very interested in the service,  Ferrol’s commercial manager Julio Hernández Sanmamed told IFW.

We are working with Milford Haven Port Authority (Pembroke) to identify potential logistics providers, the shippers, the terminal operators and the road haulage companies, put that information together and then give it to potential shipping lines.
We have been talking with many shipping lines and they have been very interested.

Two similar ro-ro services targeting traffic wishing to bypass French roads have been launched over the last 18 months: Transfennica’s service from Bilbao to Zeebrugge and Mann Lines’ service between Santander and Cuxhaven.

Also, Britanny Ferries runs services from Santander to Portsmouth and Plymouth and P&O Ferries runs a service between Bilbao and Portsmouth.

However, Hernández Sanmamed said he did not believe these services would compete with Ferrol’s.

We are serving a different area and we are going to a very different destination with a direct onward link to Ireland, which is a very important destination for the market - that’s why we selected Pembroke.
Source: ifw cargo