DFDS is now using its new and largest RoRo ship Hollandia Seaways on the line between Ghent in Belgium and Gothenburg in Sweden. The 237.4-metre long ship features three stern ramps, which allows for simultaneous loading and unloading.
The Hollandia Seaways was officially inaugurated on Thursday 5 December at the Mercatordok Multimodal Terminal in Ghent, North Sea Port. The naming ceremony was held in Gothenburg on Friday a week earlier. The new vessel will take the place of one of the three existing ships on the route. As the new ship can carry 450 trailers, representing a cargo capacity of 6700 line metres, capacity on the route increases by some 600 trailers per week.
Three Stern Ramps
The Hollandia Seaways features a unique stern ramp system: it has three independent stern ramps which allow trailers to be loaded and unloaded at the same time, significantly shortening the time in port. So even though this ship is much larger, the loading and unloading time remains eight hours, but now for 450 trailers instead of 290. The mooring infrastructure and capacity of the gates at the terminal have been adapted for this purpose.
Scrubbers and Shore Power
Due to the vessel’s large cargo capacity, energy consumption per transported trailer will decrease significantly. The ferry is also equipped with a system that “scrubs” the exhaust gases in order to reduce sulphur oxide emissions. In addition, the ship can be connected to shore power when in port.
Mega Freight Ferries from China
Danish shipping company DFDS is preparing for future growth by having six mega freight ferries (roll-on-roll-off) built at the Jinling Shipyard in China. The first two ships were delivered during the course of 2019 and have been taken into service between Turkey and the EU to meet the growing demand for shipping capacity from logistics companies. The cargo ferry Hollandia Seaways is the third ship in this series and is being used on the North Sea.
