The direct ferry route between Belgium and Scotland, which was ceased to operate for at least four years ago after a fire broke out on the Finlandia Seaways ferry as soon as next year, could be reinstated.
Initially, it will be started for freight, but later it will also be for passengers.
Along with this, Danish shipping company DFDS is evaluating the ferry link between the port of Antwerp Bruges (the recently merged ports of Antwerp and Zeebrugge) as well as Rosyth, which is around 25 km from the capital of Scotland-Edinburgh, Bruges mayor Dirk De Pauw shared the information.
The route had operated between 2009 as well as March 2018.
A statement from the mayor highlighted, “This will be unique in that there are currently no shipping lines from Scotland to Belgium as well as only a few unaccompanied freight routes from England to Belgium.”
The first ships are expected to set sail between the two destinations around April next year, as well as the crossing will take around 20 hours travelling at a speed of 21 to 22 knots (approximately 40 km/h).
All of the ships will have the capacity for about 2,000 metres in lanes for freight vehicles, as well as 100 passenger cars and up to 100 cabins, and will make three roundtrips per week.
Meanwhile, a second vessel could be added subject to the market demand, which would see the capacity as well as the frequency of the route increase.
In the final year that the route was served by the RoPax vessel, including the ship that will once again be used from 2023, it transported around 19,000 trucks, trailers, as well as containers, 16,000 cars and 54,000 passengers.
Furthermore, De Pauw demonstrated that the conditions for operating the route had been imported over the previous few years.
