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Ferry service needs support
Page 6
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II Scottish hauliers are being warned that they must use the new Rosyth-Zeebrugge ferry service, launched in May this year, or risk losing it.
The warning comes from Road Haulage Association Scottish regional bass Phil Flanders amid press speculation that freight bookings on Superfast Ferries' service are poor.
Greece-based Attica Enterprises, which owns Superfast Ferries, admits that freight "has been slow" but says this is the case in the summer throughout Europe. However, it adds that every ferry service "needs support".
Flanders told RHA members attending a recent event on the ferry that they should support it; he believes reports in newspapers ought to have focused on the fact that the ferry is half-full, rather than half-empty.
"Any new freight ferry service takes time to establish a market position and this one is no different. Remember the Channel Tunnel took a long, long time and is now the market leader. It achieved this through offering an alternative, and so does this route from Scotland," he says.
He adds that when the full effects of the driver shortage and Working Time Directive come into force, international hauliers will come to rely on the Rosyth-Zeebrugge service. "We must hope that the service will still be available when the haulage industry really needs it."