Freight News, Sea

SECA control area claims another short-sea victim

[ November 28, 2014   //   Chris ]

Transfennica is to close its ro-ro service between Bilbao, Portsmouth and Zeebrugge by the end of December as part of a rethink of its Iberian strategy in the light of the new SECA control area. The Spliethoff subsidiary started the route started in September 2007 and while it had enjoyed steadily increasing traffic, the new SECA legislation will from 1 January 2015 impose increased fuel costs, with up to 50% of the trailer volumes expected to return to the road. Spliethoff Group decided that there is no profitable future for a ro-ro service on the route.

Ironically, the route is part of the European Union’s Motorways of the Seas project, which aimed to move traffic off the roads and onto shortsea shipping.

It is the latest casualty of the new SECA rules in short sea services, which has seen the ending of DFD’s Harwich-Esbjerg service, LD Lines services from Portsmouth to Spain and DFD’s Tilbury-Sweden route, among others.

Transfennica Logistics will maintain its door-to-door services to between Spain and Portugal, UK and the Benelux, as well as to and from Finland and Russia as well as its lo-lo service between Rotterdam, Tilburg (Netherlands) and Bilbao.

Tags: Transfennica