Published by Freight Select Journaal,
November 2006.

Norfolkline may be content to concentrate on roll-on/roll-off services and trailer operations, but DFDS is extremely happy to have added its container division to a growing list of shortsea lift-on/lift-off routes. Graeme Kirk reports

THERE'S a new name available to shippers wanting to move freight through Rotterdam to the Irish Republic. A little more than six weeks after it was announced that Norfolkline had exited the container sector with the sale of its container division to DFDS, the service's ships have been repainted and the company has been rebranded as DFDS Container Line.

The new company, which officially took over Norfolkline's container routes on October 2, 2006, will be a trading division of DFDS Tor Line.

The changes may seem purely cosmetic, as the routes remain the same and all the former Norfolkline Container Division staff have transferred to the new company - which will also stay in the same office at Rhoon, not far from Rotterdam - but the change has clearly given the former Norfolkline staff a boost.

"Given the new strategy of the Norfolkline Group, it was clear that wherever investment was being made, it wasn't coming to us," the General Manager of Sales at DFDS Container Line, André Mast, told Freight Select Journaal. "As far as we're concerned, it's a positive development that DFDS Group was looking for opportunities to expand its LO-LO activities at the same time that Norfolkline's management wanted to divest itself of its container division."

The purchase has given DFDS a service that has been running since 1997.

"We have a strong sailing schedule and have built market share by operating a direct service, rather than a milk run like many of our competitors," Mast said. "This has allowed us to specialise in urgent cargo and we have been working hard to take freight out of trailers and into containers."

DFDS Container Lines Irish service is able to match the same door-to-door transit times as trailers, but at the lower cost associated with containerised freight.

Operating five vessels in total, the two biggest service the Friday departure from Rotterdam ready for delivery in Ireland early on Monday morning. The two container ships running on this service are chartered 643TEU vessels that were brought into service in 2003. Newly-painted - to cover the Mærsk flag that both used to carry - they have been renamed Dana Hollandia and Dana Gothia.

Buying Norfolkline's container division wasn't the first purchase made by DFDS in 2006, however. Earlier this year the company bought the remaining shares in the family-owned, Norwegian Lys Line, having previously taken a 66% stake in that business.

The Manager of DFDS Lys Line's Door-to-Door Division, Hans van Velthoven, said that the two companies were looking forward to working together under the DFDS group.

"I can already see several advantages," he told Freight Select Journaal. "We will be able to share market knowledge; we will both get access to a larger customer base; our sales teams will have new services to offer their clients and synergies can also be found in each others equipment fleet."

Sharing equipment will be an important factor that should help both shipping lines.

"All new containers will carry a simple DFDS livery and will be used by all the DFDS Group container services," Van Velthoven said. "With DFDS Lys Line also operating a service into Ireland, sharing equipment may well help address the imbalance of containers that we are constantly trying to deal with."

With about 60,000 container movements in 2005, DFDS Container Line is about 50% bigger in throughput terms than DFDS Lys Line, which achieved about 40,000 container movements. The newest member of the DFDS Group also has a wider range of container types on offer to its customers.

"We recognise that DFDS Container Line has a lot more specialist equipment and we will be making the most of its expertise," Van Velthoven said. "It was one of the first companies to offer in-hold stowage of 45ft containers and is continuing to build up its 45ft container fleet, which we at DFDS Lys Line also see as important as we strive to compete head-on with trailer services."