Announcement No. 01/2008
Copenhagen, 17 January 2008
Newly built Ro-Pax vessel with capacity for 600 passengers and 2,500 lane
metres for freight will be entered into service in May 2009 between Germany and
Lithuania.
DFDS is investing further to strengthen its route network in the Baltic Sea,
where the market for sea transport of freight and passengers is expected to
continue to grow in the coming years. Growth is being driven in particular by
Russia, the CIS countries and the Baltic countries. Capacity on the route
network is therefore being expanded with a new combined passenger/freight
vessel (Ro-Pax). It is being built at the Nuovi Cantieri Apuania shipyard in
Italy.
DFDS has acquired the vessel from Grimaldi Holding S.p.A., Palermo. The vessel
is the fifth newbuilding in a series of eight ordered by Grimaldi from the
yard. The vessel is 200m in length, 27m wide and will initially be fitted with
2,500 lane metres for freight and cars. There will be a high standard capacity
for 600 passengers. Service speed is 23 knots.
Agreement is for the vessel to be delivered in May 2009, when it will be
entered into service on DFDS' route between Kiel, Germany, and Klaipeda,
Lithuania. Executive Vice President Peder Gellert Pedersen says, “It will mean
a significant improvement in the route, both for passengers and freight
passengers. After the addition of the vessel, the route will be able to carry
more passengers and more lane metres of freight, and I am sure that the route
will be an increasingly popular and comfortable alternative to the land route
through Germany and Poland, where rising road tolls and congestion are a
hindrance to transport.”
“At the same time, the addition of the new vessel will allow the Ro-Pax ship
LISCO OPTIMA to be used to expand capacity and improve quality elsewhere in our
Baltic route network,” says Peder Gellert Pedersen.
The investment includes delivery, equipment and special fittings and totals DKK
600 million. Of this, DKK 100 million will be paid in 2008.
“This investment takes us further in our strategic goal of strengthening and
expanding our route network, especially aimed at our combined freight and
passenger concept in the Baltic,” says DFDS CEO Niels Smedegaard. “At the same
time we are lowering the age of our fleet.”
DFDS A/S
Further information: Gert Jakobsen, Vice President, Communications, +45 2440
0043.
