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It's full speed ahead for LD Lines catamaran
Page 14
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FRENCH FERRY company LD Lines is to press ahead with its recession-busting expansion of Channel crossings by introducing six fast ferry sailings from Dover to Boulogne from Friday 29 May ('LD Lines plans expansion of RO-RO ferry services', CM 30 October 2008).
The company believes its 11,000-grosstonne, 112m-long Incat catamaran will be the first-ever freight-carrying high-speed vessel to operate across the Dover Straits. It will offer 567 lane-metres of truck space.
The fast ferry will operate up to four return sailings daily between Dover (Eastern Docks) and Boulogne, with a crossing time of an hour — from Dover at 4.15am, 7.45am, 12.30pm and 7pm; and from Boulogne at 7am, 10.45am, 5pm and 10.30pm.
Two return sailings daily to Boulogne and one to Dieppe (Monday to Friday) will continue to be operated by the conventional ferry, with a crossing time of one hour and 45 minutes.
The expansion in ferry crossings comes after the Department of Transport revealed that ROI-RC) traffic freight movements between the UK and the Continent fell by 12% in the final quarter of 2008. However, the Dover Straits and the Channel Tunnel accounted for 86% of all goods vehicles travelling to Europe in 2008.