Sulphur cap closes EU-funded Transfennica route

The route began in September 2007, and saw steady increase in volumes. However, Transfennica decided to scrap the route after it calculated that its proposed surcharge for transit in ECA zones would cause 50% of its trailer cargo to return to roads. Parent company Spliethoff Group said: "The board of directors of Spliethoff Group therefore had to decide there is no profitable future for a ro-ro service on this route".

Transfennica indicated that if the 178,000 metric tons of Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) burned across its fleet in 2013 were replaced by 0.1% MGO, its operating costs would increase 20%. Spliethoff Group is fitting six Transfennica vessels with scrubbers to reduce the overall costs, while a remaining 15 will burn MGO.

The news comes as a backfire for the “Motorways of the Sea” project, funded by the European Commission, which was founded as a way of making freight “more sustainable, and… commercially more efficient, than road-only transport… and bring relief to our over-stretched European road system”, according to the Commission’s own website.

Concerns of a modal shift onto roads was a key industry gripe with the EU legislation, highlighted by ICS and UK Chamber of Shipping. Transfennica has become the latest of a series of lines to close routes as a result of the cap, following the closure of DFDS’ Harwich-Esbjerg ferry route announced in September.

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