With no decent road and no rail link on the mainland, with the shipping company recording huge losses, the inevitability of closure was an open secret for anyone prepared to read the paperwork.
Once upon a time every part of the British coast had sea connections with the outside world; but the advent of the massive container ship and the rapid turn-round of these ships heralded the death knell of many small ports. Fleetwood has become the latest
Stena to Close Larne-Fleetwood Route
Under the new agreement, Stena Line's take-over of Belfast-Heysham, the port is a close neighbour to Fleetwood will include the 13,000 tonnes sisters Hibernia Seaways and Scotia Seaways.The other route aquired is Belfast-Birkenhead (Liverpool) which is significant in that the deal will include the purchase of the chartered 27,000 gross tonnes ro-pax twins, Mersey Seaways and Lagan Seaways. The sisters were built in 2005 at the Visentini shipyard, Italy, which also built the ro-pax sisters Dublin Seaways and Liverpool Seaways.
Measuring 21,000 gross tonnes these vessels operate Dublin-Birkenhead route but remain under DFDS Seaways control and this applies to their freight-only service from the Irish capital to Heysham served by the Anglia Seaways. The 120-trailer freight ferry is also a sister of the Belfast-Heysham pair.
No comments:
Post a Comment