In the increasing competitive arena of European transports & distribution, hauliers should consider all the ferry options !

With the economy receding or at best stagnating, manufacturers continue to be under extreme pressure to cut costs everywhere. In January I was with one UK manufacturer talking about ferries. He had told his procurement team to reduce costs by 4% to 7% across the board ! Easier said than done. For the haulier, the main areas for any squeeze are labour costs, fuel costs, vehicle costs and any fixed costs the business may have. For the international haulier, there may be opportunities to squeeze the ferry bills.

Any good business doesn’t permanently close the door on any supplier…you never know when you might need them. Purchasing ferry space is no different. By maintaining volumes on core routes, the relationship with the ferry company remains in tact. However, by utilising the excellent range of long sea freight services that are available, the smart operator can save money in all the right areas.

These freight services were once considered a last resort by many hauliers, with many drivers influencing the decision maker with all sort of excuses and reasons why not to travel.  In the main, those days have long since gone. Looking at the Irish Sea as an example, Norfolk Line and Seatruck provide daily departures to Warrenpoint, Dublin & Belfast (Norfolk Line operate Heysham – Dublin & Heysham – Belfast / Seatruck operate Heysham – Warrenpoint & Liverpool – Dublin). These services are provided by ships that have the ability to keep to schedule, even in poor weather conditions. So the hauliers transport team can relax safe in the knowledge the driver will arrive on schedule (obviously there is no guarantee of any ship keeping schedule to the minute).

Drivers can relax as on board services have dramatically improved when new tonnage has replaced older tonnage. Most of the vessels have single cabins for the 12 drivers (which cannot be guaranteed on any over night Ropax* vessel), T.V.s &  DVD players in the cabins. The catering staff only has to look after the dietary requirements of the ship staff, so as a general rule the freight drivers have a good selection of food cooked to order.

Destinations of freight ferries include:-

• Heysham
• Liverpool
• Belfast
• Warrenpoint
• Dublin
• Killingholme
• Zeebrugge
• Rotterdam
• Ostend
• Purfleet
• Goteborg
• Esbjerg
• Ipswich

When considering ferry routing options, what should tip the scales for any haulier is the fact that when compared to conventional Ropax routes where drivers often share facilities with the passenger market, these routes offer incredible value for money. By the very nature of roll on roll off and passenger carrying ships (Ropax), there are simply rafts of additional costs when operating this class of vessel compared to a freight vessel. Lower operating costs equals lower shipping costs.

So, as I started the blog, hauliers should consider all the ferry options!

* Ropax vessel – roll on roll off ferry capabable of carrying more than 12 paying passengers.

Look on www.freightlink.co.uk / www.freightlink.pl for routes and rate information.