| North Sea ferries - case for re-opening routes? Posted by grahame at 14:56, 11th January 2026 |     |
From Time Out.
How committed are you to slow travel? So committed that you would swap a swift two-hour flight from Scotland to France for a 20-hour ride on open water? Soon, that could be a very real option.
Danish company DFDS wants to launch a brand new ferry service from the port of Rosyth (around half an hour from Edinburgh) to the French city of Dunkirk this year.
Danish company DFDS wants to launch a brand new ferry service from the port of Rosyth (around half an hour from Edinburgh) to the French city of Dunkirk this year.
A very real and useful option - top left to bottom right on the North Sea. Is there a case for a bottom left to top right service? I recall making businss trips from Harwich to Oslo, back from Gothenburg, and also trip from Newcastle to Bergen. The Harwich to Esbjerg service is no more - the most northerly you'll get on the mainland now is in the Netherlands. Is there a case for a Harwich to Hirshals and / or Kristiansand service?
| Re: North Sea ferries - case for re-opening routes? Posted by Mark A at 15:01, 11th January 2026 | |
If there was a convenient port in the south of England, add a call there and they'll have reinvented Motorrail to Scotland.
Mark
| Re: North Sea ferries - case for re-opening routes? Posted by eightonedee at 18:35, 11th January 2026 | |
As someone who used the former routes to Sweden and Denmark on three occasions between 1979 and 1988, I miss this as a means of getting to Scandinavia. I guess that cheaper air fares killed these services, as they were not cheap. Back in those days, Sweden advertised itself as a place to take your car and family for a holiday, taking advantage of uncrowded roads, rural and coastal areas. There was also a scheme whereby you could buy a pass (Bilturlogi pass) that gave discounts on B&B accommodation throughout the country listed in the accompanying booklet. Now it's much cheaper to take a cheap flight and pick up a hire car.
There is still a freight ferry between Immingham and Brevik in Norway, but to quote DFDS's website
DFDS freight port of Immingham can accept commercial freight drivers with their loads. Due to UKBF port approval, private passengers are not permitted to be carried through Immingham. This means that we can no longer accept leisure fare paying passengers on the freight routes through Immingham.
Ridiculous, isn't it? Are they worried we might get a Viking invasion?
