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Seatruck buys Irish freight route
Page 19
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CAPACITY FOR unaccompanied freight crossing the Irish Sea is expected to increase following Seatruck's purchase of Celtic Link's Dublin-Liverpool route.
Seatruck has taken over the charter vessel which Celtic Link operated and plans to add other vessels to the route. Alistair Eagles, Seatruck's commercial director, says the company is convinced that there is potential for substantial increases in the amount of unaccompanied freight crossing the Irish Sea.
Seatruck has ordered four new freight-only vessels from Spain: Clipper Point, Clipper Pace, Clipper Pennant and Clipper Pano rama; they will increase Seatruck's Irish Sea capacity from 90,000 to 270,000 units a year. All four ferries are specifically designed for the Irish Sea services the company operates between Heysham and Warrenpoint as well as Dublin and Liverpool.
More than 40% of trailers on these routes are driver-accompanied, but Seatruck believes hauliers will increasingly turn to unaccompanied services because they are cheaper. Eagles says: "There will always be some operators who find sending drivers over makes sense, but for many others it makes economic sense to consider sending trailers unaccompanied."