In the News

The port of Heysham is to get a boost in traffic after Stena Line acquired the Birkenhead to Belfast and Heysham to Belfast routes from rival DFDS.

Stena has also announced the closure of the loss making Fleetwood to Larne route, which it said had been hit by the recession. DFDS is retaining the Heysham to Dublin service.

Stena said that even operating with older vessels with low capital costs it had been impossible to make a profit on the Fleetwood route. It said that investment in newer tonnage was not an option becausse of higher capital costs combined with the operational constraints of a shallow port in Fleetwood, which would make the losses even worse.