Leading ferry company Stena Line has announced plans to increase freight capacity on its Holyhead to Dublin route with the introduction of an additional vessel.

The new service will complete one round trip per day between Holyhead and Dublin, leaving Holyhead at 22:15hrs and Dublin at 15:15hrs, increasing capacity on the corridor significantly.

The company will redeploy an existing ferry from its North Sea fleet, the Stena Seatrader, to commence operations on the Central Corridor during July 2006.

”In recent years, we have seen Holyhead Port grow in importance to freight customers who now see Holyhead as the main gateway for transport to and from Ireland,” said Vic Goodwin, Stena Line route director for the central corridor.

”This is due to the opening of the A55 dual carriageway in 2001 which has reduced the journey time to the port and enabled freight traffic to grow by 100% through Holyhead port since the turn of the decade,” he added.

The announcement comes on the back of a successful year for Stena Line which saw total freight volumes grow by eight per cent during 2005. The company’s five Irish Sea routes were particularly successful enjoying growth of 16%, with the biggest increase taking place on on the Holyhead to Dublin Bay routes where the number of freight vehicles travelling on these routes jumped to 173,000 units.

This success has prompted the company’s latest decision, as Stena Line ceo Gunnar Blomdahl explained:

“Stena Line has a long term commitment to improve its service on the Irish Sea and as a result of recent growth in this area, we have now decided to increase frequency and capacity on the Central Corridor by introducing another freight vessel.

”On top of this we have also invested almost £1 million in upgrading services onboard the Stena Adventurer and facilities at the Dublin ferry terminal this year,” added Gunnar.

Stena Line Freight commercial manager Frank Nieuwenhuys believes that the addition of the new ferry will have great practical benefits for customers.

“In addition to providing greater frequency and capacity for our freight customers, we believe the new sailing times will prove attractive for customers who want to arrive in Dublin and get underway before the morning rush hour and return early thereby improving vehicle turnaround time and fleet utilisation,” explained Frank.

“This year, we are introducing new tonnage on our North Sea routes from Killingholme to to Hoek of Holland with two new ships due to start service in July and December. This gives us the opportunity to expand our freight services on the Irish Sea by redeploying a vessel from our North Sea fleet to start this service,” he concluded.

Stena Line offers customers a choice of over 50 sailings a day across eight routes on the Irish and North Sea. These include Stranraer-Belfast, Fleetwood-Larne, Holyhead-Dun Laoghaire, Holyhead-Dublin, Fishguard-Rosslare, Killingholme-Hoek van Holland, Harwich-Hoek van Holland and Harwich-Rotterdam.

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