The growing demand for Samskip’s dedicated service between Dublin and Amsterdam, which launched in January 2021, has led the Dutch carrier to enhance its product. Samskip has announced the addition of a call at the Port of Waterford, while it will also deploy a larger and faster vessel on the service.
The expansion comes less than five months after the debut of Amsterdam as a service separate from Samskip’s Rotterdam-Ireland links.
“We have experienced strong uptake for the direct route into Amsterdam’s network of rail, road and barge connections to major EU markets,” said Thijs Goumans, head of Ireland trade at Samskip, and added, “As anticipated, customers linking to Ireland have been eager to avoid the post-Brexit hassles of UK distribution. Waterford can expect the same seamless connections.”
Monday night departures from TMA Terminal Amsterdam for arrival in Dublin on Wednesday complement Samskip’s existing Rotterdam-Ireland shortsea services, according to Goumans, who believes that for Irish exporters, the weekend return to Amsterdam has also proved a key attraction.
“Samskip rail links between TMA and Duisburg connect Irish importers and exporters to markets farther east,” he commented. “Adding Waterford brings new opportunities for Irish exports in the northern Netherlands, Germany, Poland and beyond.”
The service upgrade will see the introduction of the 750TEU container ship Edith, whose faster-operating speed accommodates a call in Waterford after Dublin without any schedule disruption.
At the same time, Samskip’s Rotterdam-Ireland services are sustained separately by a pair of 800TEU vessels, according to the company’s announcement.
“Every week there has been a faster uptake of vessel slots on this route, demonstrating that the Amsterdam-Ireland link is a response to demand that was already there,” said Michael van Toledo, TMA Logistics general manager, who went on to note, “TMA’s congestion-free road access provides a platform for growth in Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) volumes into Ireland and for Irish pharma and dairy exports via Amsterdam.”
In the meantime, Samskip has announced earlier in May the addition of 1,100 containers to its fleet, exceeding overall the number of 17,000 containers. The new boxes consisted of 900 45ft high cube pallet wide containers, 100 45ft high cube reefer containers, and 100 40ft high cube reefer containers.
“Equipped with the most advanced cooling and freezing functionalities, the reefer containers arrived over the course of the last couple of months at the Rotterdam Shortsea Terminal, after being manufactured in China,” said the company.
