The DFDS newbuildings

Six new mega freight ferries

DFDS is preparing for future growth with the construction of six new mega freight ferries (ro-ros) at the Jinling Shipyard in China. The first one was delivered to DFDS on 31 January 2019 and will be entering into service between Turkey and the EU during March to accommodate an increasing demand for volume capacity from logistics companies.

With a load capacity of 6,700 lane metres, it can accommodate 450 trailers. It has a length of 237.4m and will be by far the largest in DFDS’ fleet. The freight ferries are each equipped with a unique ramp system with three independent stern ramps and internal ramps on each side of the freight ferries, making them able to load and unload trailers quickly and efficiently. This will reduce time in port considerably.

Due to the large capacity, the six freight ferries’ energy consumption per trailer transported will be significantly decreased. The ferries will all be equipped with scrubbers to reduce sulphur oxide and to be prepared for the global sulphur limit regulation which takes effect from January 2020.

To follow the construction of the first ferry from first steel-cut to sea trial click here.

Two new combined freight and passenger ferries

DFDS continues to modernise and increase its fleet to be prepared for our customers’ future needs and demands and in February 2018, DFDS signed a contract for the delivery of two large ro-pax ferries from the Guangzhou Shipyard International (GSI) in China. Ro-pax ferries are combined freight and passenger ferries, and the 230m vessels will each have a capacity of 4,500 lane metres and will be able to carry 600 passengers. The ferries will be delivered from the yard during the first and second half of 2021 respectively and are intended for one of our services between Klaipeda and Germany or Sweden.

One chartered combined freight and passenger ferry

The Channel is a big and important market, where five million passengers, one million cars and 1.2 million trucks travel between Dover – Calais and Dover – Dunkerque every year on DFDS ferries. To meet the demands of our customers, DFDS has decided to deploy a new combined freight and passenger ferry (ro-pax) especially designed for our services from 2021. The ship will be built in Avic Weihai Shipyard in China. DFDS will charter the ship and operate it for 10 years with an option to buy it after that.