Exactly 25 years after CLdN started the Zeebrugge-Göteborg ro-ro service, there is still growth in the northern branch of the European shortsea network. Zeebrugge acts as a hub for linked services to Spain, Portugal and Ireland.
Cobelfret, the predecessor of CLdN, did a test run between the Swedish industrial port of Gothenburg and Zeebrugge exactly 25 years ago – on Saturday 14 September in 1999. “Scandinavian paper producer StoraEnso was looking for a more efficient way than the traditional shipping of containers from Sweden for distribution to its industrial customers,” says Wim Wigerinck, head of commercial at CLdN RoRo. “It was a milestone for the then Cobelfret Ferries and a pivotal moment for the future expansion of our shortsea network.”
“From a study, Zeebrugge emerged as the ideal location for a multimodal hub for paper and related products, at a junction of shortsea, deepsea and rail networks. For this purpose, Stora Enso developed its famous SECUs (Stora Enso Container Units), boxes 13.8 metres long, 3.6 metres wide and 3.6 metres high with 80 metric tonnes of cargo capacity. That is three times more than the 26.5 metric tonnes of cargo in a standard 40-foot container. The SECUs are entirely tailored to multimodal transport by rail and ship. You do need suitable terminals and ships for them.”
Driving up frequency
So said, so done. On 1 June 1999, the company Cobelfret AB was registered in Sweden and a test run with seven cargo units took place on 14 September. “The test was successful. Meanwhile, three newbuildings with a capacity of 2,470 liner metres had been purposefully ordered. At the same time, the forerunner of our terminal division, in cooperation with PSA, built a warehouse at the Albert II dock in the outer port where the train can enter.”
In January 2000, the service started ‘for real’ with weekly two sailings in each direction by the ‘Spaarneborg’ (now ‘Somerset’). That frequency was ramped up during the year with the delivery of the ‘Schieborg’ (now ‘Belgia Seaways’) and the ‘Slingeborg’ (now ‘Maxine’).
Open for other cargo
Paper volume was doing well but declined over time. “The paper sector is cyclical, so from 2015 we started focusing on other cargo such as trailers, tank containers, cars, high & heavy machinery and project cargo. This started with two vessels from our Kawasaki class (2,300 liner metres) and then two extended cono vessels.”
“High market demand led to a vessel sharing agreement with DFDS in 2020. Since then, one of DFDS’ vessels and one of ours jointly sail four rotations a week. We deploy the ‘Faustine’ and ‘Seraphine’ for this, for example. Those belong to the H5 class (5,000 line metres), our second largest type of vessels in.”
Newbuilding ships on the way
In recent years, CLdN linked the Zeebrugge-Göteborg line to a network of further destinations. “We have worked strongly in Zeebrugge on through-shipment with our services to Ireland, Spain and Portugal. The latter two in particular are economic growth poles with increasing volumes to north-western Europe. Since this week, we have therefore also been sailing twice a week to Denmark’s Esbjerg. This follows the same formula for success: flexibly combining various types of unaccompanied cargo.”
“To meet continued growth, we will strengthen the fleet in spring 2025 with two new 8,000-liner-metre ro-ro vessels. That is equivalent to our largest shortsea roros in the world ‘Celine’ and ‘Delphine’. This new duo is under construction and is being prepared to operate with new fuels and electric.”
Greener shipping
Europe is striving to decarbonise the industry and in this, CLdN is also doing its part. “With average emissions of 39 grams of CO2 per tonne/kilometre, our fleet is among the best performing in the industry. The modern H5 ships on the Zeebrugge-Göteborg service score even lower. With the newbuild vessels, we will further reduce emissions – and thus those of our customers’ supplychains.”
Energy-efficient shipping has a second advantage: “The longer the distance, the more competitive we are compared to road transport. This certainly applies to the route between Spain and Portugal and Sweden. We also bring feeder cargo to Zeebrugge from Gothenburg and Esbjerg, which are little served by direct deepsea roro.”
Rail crucial
No successful shipping without a well-developed landside. “The Zeebrugge-Göteborg line is currently growing at double-digit rates thanks to feeder cargo from all over the Benelux and France to the Lyon region. Intermodal transport by rail plays a major role in this, as it does for our services in Rotterdam. One problem, however, is the availability of the German rail network. This became apparent even during the European Football Championship, when not only supporters but even teams had difficulty arriving on time. We already have sufficient rail capacity in Zeebrugge. At our terminal at the Brittannia dock, where we bundle all destinations from the UK and Ireland, we extended our tracks in recent years and at the Albert II dock there is still room for expansion.”
“In Gothenburg, rail services with the hinterland are more limited than in continental Europe, but with the opening of a new rail-facility next to the terminal in Gothenburg, intermodal connections with the hinterland will be further expanded. There, we are one-third co-owner of the ro-ro terminal, which expanded by 14 ha last summer. It is worth mentioning that we also have car terminals with storage and handling centres in Zeebrugge, Flushing, Rotterdam, Killingholme and Purfleet. These add up to 160,000 places. But of course, as a shortsea operator, we don’t do it for that parking: our focus is on transport.”
Important lesson
No celebration is planned for a quarter-century of Zeebrugge-Göteborg, but CLdN is looking to the future with ambition. “After 25 years of service to Scandinavia, our ships and terminals are ready for the next years. Four years ago, we made the jump to the larger H5-class vessels and they are quasi fully utilised. Now we will make an effort to fill the new, even larger vessels as well. If we learnt one lesson: don’t stubbornly stick to a concept from a quarter of a century ago but keep evolving.”
