In today's slow-steaming environment, is there still a place for fast freight ferries?

Not long ago, ro-ro operators were talking about the prospect of high-speed ro-ro services offering hauliers a timely and cost-effective alternative to long-distance driving on Europes roads. Boulogne was positioning itself to become a freight hub for high-speed ferries when it opened its state-of-the-art ro-ro terminal in September 2009.

The aim was to connect the French port with Drammen, in Norway, Sheerness, Santander and Vigo, and all these ports had signed agreements to adapt their equipment to the needs of high-speed vessel designer BGV. And Chikara Shipping signed a contract worth several hundred million euros for a fleet of BGV high-speed, freight-only vessels, capable of 35 knots when fully loaded with 94 semi-trailers.

However, while Boulogne did indeed open its ro-ro terminal, no BGV vessels have been manufactured and no long-distance, fast freight ferry links made with Norway, Spain or Portugal.
Chikara owner John Paul Airs was accused of being a fraudster on the BBCs Inside Out programme in April 2008. It revealed how Chikara Shipping had secured loans from investors and presented fake bank bonds worth £100m (US$162m) from Banco do Brasil as collateral.

So, until now, the only fast-ferry service to set sail from Boulogne has been LD Lines Incat 112 catamaran Norman Arrow to Dover.

However, less than a month after deploying the vessel on the route last September, LD decided to lay-up the ship until Easter and increase freight capacity on the route by introducing a conventional ferry. The Norman Arrow will be redeployed on the Portsmouth-Le Havre route in April, primarily as a passenger ferry.

Does this mean the fast ferry freight concept is dead in the water? Do operators and manufacturers still see a market for developing fast freight ferries? The answer from LD Lines and manufacturers Incat and BGV appears to be "yes".

Back to archive