Samskip Charters Box Ship to Boost Norway Capacity

Samskip has increased capacity on Norway by chartering the 657 TEU container vessel MV Alk, built in 2004 and measuring 132.60 x 19.20 metres.

Caesar Luikenaar, Trade Director Scandinavia Trade says the company has deployed the 8,015 DWT vessel on the weekly Norwegian West Coast service which is experiencing significant traffic growth.

“This vessel first departed last Monday and is well equipped for the weekly route between the Norwegian West Coast and Europe, departing from Rotterdam to Stavanger, Bergen, Ålesund and back again to Rotterdam,” Luikenaar said. “In addition, besides increased capacity, the MV Alk has 116 reefer plugs and offers enhanced speed reliability; further improving schedule performance and possibly adding inducement calls in new ports.”

The MV Alk replaces the 518 TEU MV Pioneer Bay which will be added to the key trade route between Iceland and Europe after a short dry dock period; thereby increasing the number of vessels from three to four.

“With the increased number of owned and chartered vessels we will further increase flexibility, for instance by swopping the vessels during the fish season,” Luikenaar said.