(edit title) Ferry service between Sweden and the UK Vote in favour at dfdsseaways.se Options

[Ferrymaster]

Hello!

Missing the direct ferry route between Sweden and the UK?

Visit the DFDS Seaway's new feedback page and vote for the reopening of the service...
Over 200 have so far voted in favour of a re-installed connection...cast your vote today!

http://www.dfdsseaways.se/

Cheers,
Eddie (on the West Coast)

[Puffin]

It would be great if they could reinstate one of the passenger lines again

[JulieLou40]

Where's the feedback page? I can't understand the site.

[Rick Methven]

We went on the Esbjeg to Harwich route last month and thestandard and facilities on the boat are crap in conparison with what they were like 25 years ago. We also used Stena line from Harwich to the Hook and Kiel to Gothenburg. The cabins and facilities on Stena line are much much better

[skogsbo]

us expat punters would need to number 1000s to reinstate this route. If there was a group of say 5 or 10 major trucking hauliers all requesting the route. Then it might get somewhere. A few expats travelling back, with a few summer tourist just doesn't make it viable. Overall European trade is slower at the moment, so it's hardly going to financially viable. I just don't think the trade volume exists anymore, plus there are other routes to Denmark and Holland, from Immingham and Harwich that already cover the east coast of the UK reasonable well.

M62 practically straight into Immingham is hassle free, compared to Newcastle. When I trucked it over via Immingham, the service wasn't full in either direction.

[Puffin]

Where's the feedback page? I can't understand the site.

It took me a while - there is a little feedback symbol on the middle left side - a blue square with a face - you click on this

[Puffin]

We went on the Esbjeg to Harwich route last month and thestandard and facilities on the boat are crap in conparison with what they were like 25 years ago. We also used Stena l ... (show full quote)

We went on the Esbjeg to Harwich route last month and thestandard and facilities on the boat are crap in conparison with what they were like 25 years ago. We also used Stena line from Harwich to the Hook and Kiel to Gothenburg. The cabins and facilities on Stena line are much much better ... (hide full quote)

It is a much smaller boat which means there are few facilities - you need to go for a posher "TV cabin" where you have satellite TV and you can book a cinema package from reception

But yes - I miss the old days with the swimming pool in the summer and cruise director Kjell and the horse races

[Hisingen]

Have just been in contact with DFDS directly, regarding the Sweden-UK direct route, since the link didn't give me much contact - I never found any list. Here is the text that I received in reply - very negative I must say.

Hello

DFDS have no plans to re-open the route between Sweden or Norway to England.

When the route was running, many years ago. We only had enough passengers in the summertime for about 2 months.

Rest of the year we sailed with very few passengers.

Kind regards

Monica

DFDS Seaways

So there you have it - that is what the Danes think of it. Mind you, the DFDS idea of service amounts to VERY little.

[Ferrymaster]

Hi,

Sorry about not pointing out the log-in button to the left, on the website...

Well, a letter from DFDS...one hopes there would be a reply
from a company representative in the online forum, regarding this matter..

There's a consistency in Danish companies, about buying up Swedish companies
only to close them down and moving them to Denmark (or elsewhere);
take legendary Pripps for example, lately the Broström's shipping company
and then of course Tor Line, which was bought back in the day by DFDS..

It might be true they have no plans, but I travelled all year round with those
ferries (mostly to Harwich) and there were plenty of passengers. Don't know how things
went on the Newcastle route, though.

But several trading organisations in the UK have lobbied towards Sweden about a re-opening
a regular passnger/trade route. And DFDS themselves point out on their cargo site,
that business with the UK is "picking up very nicely, thank you",
with Scandinavian exports to the British isles - hence they've introduced larger
freighters on the Immingham and Tilbury lines..

If DFDS went for a so called RoPax ferry (roll-on trailers+passengers), just
like Stena Line has done, and in fact just like on the Ebjerg route, they
could get custom, surely.
The early Tor Line ferrries actually had only half of the ship available for facilities
and were quite small compared to the "longships" of Tor Britannia/Tor Scandinavia!

So, if DFDS wants business...they should start working on it
or another company might beat them to it! ;-)

Cheers,
Eddie

[skogsbo]

If DFDS went for a so called RoPax ferry (roll-on trailers+passengers), justlike Stena Line has done, and in fact just like on the Ebjerg route, theycould get custom, surely.T ... (show full quote)

If DFDS went for a so called RoPax ferry (roll-on trailers+passengers), just
like Stena Line has done, and in fact just like on the Ebjerg route, they
could get custom, surely.
The early Tor Line ferrries actually had only half of the ship available for facilities
and were quite small compared to the "longships" of Tor Britannia/Tor Scandinavia! ... (hide full quote)

I appreciate you motives, but if there was enough demand and money to be made they wouldn't have stopped it and they would certainly restart it.

UK demand for freight just isn't based the NE of England any more, the furthest north it gets is West Yorkshire, so the M62 corridor is perfect and there are port at the end it. The route to the port is the NE is dreadful by comparison, the A1 isn't great either. I doubt that demand is that high at all.

Just because a company put on bigger ferrys with 25 or even say 40% capacity, doesn't mean it's viable to run a completely new ship, from a new harbour that will require re-investment, new staff and so forth. Cheaper to run existing routes with greater volume. DFDS would not get a look in because they have lost that market now.

[Great Scott]

The Gothenburg – Harwich route was killed off by Ryanair. With departure - destinations within close distance of each other, a huge price difference it can be cheaper to fly and hire a car, the only drawback is what you take with you. The majority of users on DFDS were Swedes on summer holiday, Swedes have less money in their pockets today and can’t afford high ferry prices. However there is nothing to stop you using Gothenburg – Tilbury, Immingham via http://freight.dfdsseaways.com/DFDS_ferrie...information.pdf
In my opinion a better way to travel than the Princess of Scandinavia.

[Hisingen]

I have a Brit neighbour whose brother takes just the freight way to and from the UK. No luxury, but quiet and seemingly efficient. He advised me that should I travel this way, take a book as there is no entertainment whatsoever. When I last went to the UK with DFDS it was from Bergen, which meant quite a long trip into Norway and an overnight stay on the way, and it went to Newcastle. But DFDS standards are what I would assume to be equal to Ryanair. I.e. rough.
The Stena Line Gbg-Fredrikshaven and Hoek van Holland-Harwich route means - of course - a lot of driving, but the standard on the ferries is far better than DFDS. I would prefer it to taking Esbjerg-Harwich with DFDS, having done that run twice - but never again. The Danish idea of service, is, well, close to zero. Stena definitely is preferable in all respects.

[Puffin]

If DFDS went for a so called RoPax ferry (roll-on trailers+passengers), just. like Stena Line has done, and in fact just like on the Ebjerg route, they. could get custom, surely.

Would these work on the Gothenburg route? It is a bit different from the scuttle accross from Harwich-Esbjerg Would it be stable enough in winter storms going aroung Jutland? I speak as someone who got caught in a force 10-12 storm on the old ferry where people were thrown out of their bunks

Do ropax ferries have ice breaking capabilities? Had also a memorable trip on the Gothenburg boat when the archipelago was frozen and we had to break out way through - very noisy with the ice lumps hitting the hull

The old Gothenburg ferry shot themselves in the foot when they changed the time of arrival back in Gothenburg from 5pm to 9pm on a Sunday night - 9pm (10pm+ by the time you were through passport control) made it completely hopeless for onward travel

[Puffin]

I have a Brit neighbour whose brother takes just the freight way to and from the UK. No luxury, but quiet and seemingly efficient. He advised me that should I travel this way, ... (show full quote)

I have a Brit neighbour whose brother takes just the freight way to and from the UK. No luxury, but quiet and seemingly efficient. He advised me that should I travel this way, take a book as there is no entertainment whatsoever. ... (hide full quote)

The freight ferry is an option and seems to be a good solution is you are travelling alone - however:
- if works out pretty expensive if there are several travelling
- they don't take young children as it is a working ship
- sometimes you need to check in 3-4 hours prior to departure so it can make the journey very long
- you need to be fit and healthy as some people have talked about climbing with their bags on an outdoor staircase exposed to the elements to the passenger cabins on the top deck

[skogsbo]

It isn't the lack of passenger that killed the service, it was freight. Passengers and their cars in summer, make up such a small percentage of ferries income. Northern European trade has shifted, which means so have the freight routes. In terms of income a truck will charge 3 or 4 times of car rate for just a rigid, a few times more again for articulated. But, they only require 1 cabin and minimum of services.(you pay extra as a trucker if you don't want to share a twin cabin with a complete stranger!) Truckers are good for profit margins. Cars take up little space, but then have lots of passengers to occupy and entertain, so without raising the price significantly, the margin on pax is small.