A new weekly shipping service has been welcomed to Hull.
Samskip has launched a weekly short sea container service linking the Humber port to Riga in Latvia and Helsinki in Finland. It is a response to demand for a reliable service from the Baltic region, and will also call at Rotterdam, in The Netherlands, before crossing the North Sea in the final leg.
Orion, a 98m by 17m vessel, completed the maiden voyage on Tuesday, mooring at the heavily invested Hull Container Terminal, where she was welcomed by ABP’s regional director Simon Bird, alongside Samskip’s regional director, Richard Beales.
Read more:
- Port of Immingham expansion puts ABP on track for open storage growth
- Siemens Mobility adds logistics and warehousing to Goole rail village
Mr Bird said: “We’re delighted that Samskip has launched this new route. This is a great addition for the market. The new service will give existing and new customers the opportunity to connect directly with the UK as Hull is ideally located for the East - West corridor and access to the Midlands and the North.
“This major new trade link between northern Europe Baltic area and East Yorkshire adds an option for shippers looking to reduce their cost and carbon emission, which sits in with our ‘Ready for Tomorrow’ vision.”
More than £50 million has been invested into the Humber container terminals, including an automated gate entry system, new cranes, electric vehicles, and land expansion, which are preparing the ports for future growth without impacting productivity.
Samskip is a long-standing Humber operator, with a strong history in seafood.
Mr Beales said: “We are excited to have established Samskip’s first direct call from Finland and Latvia to the UK. This new dedicated short sea product offers our clients reliability of transit, coupled with the ability to help decarbonise their products’ journey to market. Our home port of Hull offers an ideally situated gateway for onward delivery to the major hubs in the North and Midlands.”
