P&O Ferries has announced that it will deploy the 18,000 ton Estraden on the Zeebrugge-Teesport route, significantly raising its capacity by doing so. The Estraden, which has previously been working on Europoort-Teesport, will work in tandem with the 25,000 ton Bore Song to form the fastest and easiest gateway to Scotland for exporters to and from the continent.

“We have listened to our customers and partners and acted quickly to increase capacity on the Zeebrugge-Teesport gateway to Scotland by almost 25 per cent,” said Janette Bell, chief executive of P&O Ferries.

“Teesport is the most reliable way for exporters to or from northern Britain to transport their goods and we are pleased to be able to give more of our customers this option from early June. The 15 hour sailing is more cost efficient than more northerly routes and by integrating our timetable with PD Ports’ new rail service to Scotland we can guarantee an unrivalled service to anyone with logistics requirements to or from Glasgow and Edinburgh,” she added.

On 12 sailings a weel between Teesport and its continental hub at Zeebrugge, P&O Ferries currently carries more than 100,000 freight units a year. The goods it transports include chemicals, plastics, steel, automotive parts and alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks.

P&O Ferries is a leading pan-European ferry and logistics company, sailing 27,000 times a year on eight major routes between Britain, France, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Holland and Belgium. It operates more than 20 vessels which carry 8.4 million passengers and 2.3 million freight units annually.

Together with its logistics division, P&O Ferrymasters, the company also operates integrated road and rail links to countries across the continent including Italy, Poland, Germany, Spain and Romania. P&O Ferrymasters also owns a rail terminal in the Romanian city of Oradea, which facilitates the onward movement of goods to Britain from Asian countries via the Silk Road.