Fjordline drops the Danish boat – the trailer drivers have a long detour and lose their grip – NRK Vestland
– Transporting truck trains with Fjordline is a good solution for us, both commercially and environmentally. Giant herb, says Per Atle Ådland.
He is a partner in Bergen Spesial Transport AS and chairman of the Norwegian Truck Owners’ Association Hordaland branch.
Now he stands on the quay in Bergen with a 60-ton engine from Bergen Engines’ factory. It must be shipped to Romania.
His company is a fast customer on Fjordline on the route between Bergen, Stavanger, Langesund and Hirtshals, with three to five trailers a week.
But in the period from February to May, that will be the end of it.
Drops environmentally friendly fuel
The two Danish boats run on liquefied natural gas (LNG), which is more environmentally friendly than normal marine diesel. But Fjordline announced this week that «Bergensfjord» and «Stavangerfjord» will be docked for four months.
Motorane must be rebuilt to be able to switch between LNG and MGO (marine gas oil, i.e. skip diesel).
The reason is that the price of LNG has doubled as a result of the war in Ukraine.
Lose sleep time
Jan Ove Halsøy, regional manager of the lorry owners’ association in Western Norway, likes Fjordline seeing this route on break.
A big disadvantage is that the drivers lose rest time on the ferry.
Normally, the entire lorry goes on the boat, so that the driver gets the statutory 24-hour rest on board, and can continue on towards the continent.
Or then only the trailer trailer is sent with the boat, while the driver can do other transport in Bergen or Stavanger, and another driver receives the trailer at the other end.
– Now the alternative is either to drive to Kristiansand or Larvik and take a ferry from there, or to drive all the way via Sweden. Regardless, it will be both more expensive and more demanding. The carriers lose a day on thattea, says Halsøy.
Fjordline does not provide any compensation agreement when they remove their offer.
– They probably only apologize that this is short-lived, but it is regardless of challenges. The transport industry has too few drivers, so it will be difficult to get the logistics up and running.
Going back to pollution
When the two Fjordline ships switched to liquid natural gas, it reduced CO2 emissions by 23 percent and NOx emissions by 94 percent.
Group CEO Brian Thorsted Hansen in Fjordline admits that when skippa is going to switch to skip diesel (MGO), the utsleppa will be back where they were before.
– But, for example, we hope that natural gas prices will be normalized at a better level. Then it is just for us to switch back to LNG. That is the goal, he says to NRK.
He admits that the four-month shutdown is hitting both Fjordline and their customers hard.
– Our transport and freight customers incur significantly high costs, and unfortunately there will be more freight transport on their behalf.
– But I have a good dialogue with them about why I took this very dramatic step. They are of course not enthusiastic, but see that our investment is necessary, says Hansen.
He does not rule out furloughs in Fjordline, but says that in that case there will probably be only a few in Denmark. It may also be that someone gets a reduced job percentage in between.
– Critical infrastructure
Halsøy understands the arguments for Fjordline.
He does not think that Fjordline will lose customers in the long term, even if the offer disappears for four months.
– That route will also be important in the future. Perhaps even more important than today, because of environmental concerns, the costs of driving, and the driver shortage, says Halsøy.
– What do you think about them having to rebuild relatively new skips?
– Fjordline has invested in LNG, following encouragement from the governing authorities, because it has great environmental benefits. But now they are going back to diesel because of the LNG price. The governing powers could do their part to make LNG competitive. Fjordline is a critical infrastructure between Bergen and Denmark. There is no alternative, says Halsøy.
He points out that CargoNet has to reduce its capacity with freight trains on the Bergen Railway because there is a lack of space at Alnabru in Oslo.
– The sum of this is very negative, he says.