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Capacity problems see LD Lines switch catamaran service
Page 16
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LD LINES IS to abandon its experiment with a high-speed freight catamaran between Dover and Boulogne just a few months after starting the service.
The Norman Arrow will be switched to the Portsmouth-Le Havre route, where it will run fewer services, and he replaced on the Dover-Boulogne route by a conventional ferry with greater capacity.
An LD Lines spokesman says the main reason for announcing plans to move the catamaran so soon after it started in June (see CM 25 June) was its lack of capacity and the time it took to load and unload.
The Norman Arrow will switch places with the Norman Spirit. which currently runs from Portsmouth to Le Havre.
Despite the move, a spokesman for LD Lines says it has been happy with the demand for the service from Dover to Boulogne, and that the Norman Arrow has been running with its full capacity of 30 trucks "a fair bit of the time': However, he adds that a disadvantage has been that the lack of double-decker loading on the vessel has slowed down the speed of moving trucks on and off the catamaran.
The spokesman says LD Lines is already in talks with the catamaran's manufacturer. Incat, about the upcoming new generation of high-speed freight-carrying catamarans, which will have double-decker loading.
LD Lines managing director Christophe Santini tells CM that the line recognises that "prerequisites of providing a complete high-speed service concept should include fast crossing times combined with fast berthing. [and fast] loading and unloading of vehicles':