UK to Denmark ferry service update - August 2014
 

Hi folks.

Good news for anyone that had planned to take their motorbike/car/cycle over to Denmark in 2015.

With DFDS halting their long-serving Harwich-Esbjerg route at the end of Sept 2014 and the rumoured Norwegian Seaways (Newcastle-Bergen) route seemingly delayed or on ice for the moment, things weren't looking too good for those of us wanting to get to Scandinavia (without the boring ride/drive down to Dover or Harwich to cross the water before heading northwards again for about 500-600 miles just to get back to what would have been our initial starting pointy of Esbjerg).

So, the good news is that Regina Line will be running a three-times-a-week service between the UK and Denmark.:clap:

Check out their website: http://www.reginaline.dk/index-uk.htm

According to their website the sales office will open in October of this year to take bookings.

Well, that's got my 2015 travel plans back on course again, and I for one, will be giving them a go...:mchappy:

Thanks for the info. I'm off that way myself next year!:D

Hold your horses until you see a ship.
They already announced this route in 2012, without anything happening and now they want people to like their FB page, so their investors can see how big the interest for the line is!!
I'm afraid its still a paper project.

Bumping this thread with a quick 2016 update. I was in search of a UK to Denmark ferry putting a potential travel plan together - and found this using the link above in the original post:

==============================================
We are sorry ......


The wessel we had chartered to sail on the route from spring 2016 we can not take over in February 2016, as planned. We currently do not know when we can start.
Please keep an eye on the website.

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Whilst there isn't a ferry running UK- Scandinavia at present there does appear to be a ro-ro which will carry the bike and carries passengers that i understand can be used. It is operated by DFDS and runs Gothenburg - Immingham six times a week. See http://www.dfds.com/freight-shipping...burg-immingham

Note you can only book 30 days in advance. I've no practical experience of it but hope to use it in a few months time. Hope this helps

Hope this is of help

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Never knew that route existed - or that it took passengers. As we're off to those parts in about six weeks and haven't booked anything yet I thought I'd have a look, but even allowing for the savings in fuel, hotel etc it looks quite pricy.

A back of the envelope calculation suggests it'll cost us about €450 / 500 to get to Gothenburg "overland" via Dover but their price worked out at close to €1200 (four of us). As it's a working boat maybe I could get a bit off that if I offered to swab the decks or something. :rofl:

For one person on a bike though the price would be a lot closer and worth considering.

Take care - Freight is the key word
 

I use DFDS ferry services quite regularly, but never that route -
because it has a reputation for bumping off non-commercial traffic at short notice in favour of more profitable commercial vehicles; the constraint factor for the ship is reputed to be the cabin space which decides who gets to stay on board basically.

Would you, as the ships' master, accomodate a motorbike and rider or a 40 foot trailer and driver?

Call it folklore, grapevine whatever, I can't cite instances just street rumour - it's a longish way from Immingham to another departure point if it does happen (e.g. Felixstowe - Hook van Holland).

Facts and impressions from today
 

I came into Dover earlier today on a DFDS ferry (i.e. "the short sea route").
I took the opportunity to question one of those with the gold braid around his jacket cuff about the Imm- Goth route.

A few choice facts:
He didn't know about the existance of the route either - working the passenger ferrries he didn't think this an issue.

Then he took a look on the ships' computer terminal (and I couldn't see whatever detail he could ascertain but my questions flowed).

The route does not take passengers as such; everyone taken on board in transit is a driver of a vehicle.

There are 12 beds available, in total - he wouldn't comment about if that is 12 beds to one common room, or twelve separate bed spaces beyond that. It may be that he literally couldn't tell from the on screen detail.

It's a freight line; this means that it carries ro-ro but also containers shipped/stacked/handled in various ways (he wasn't sure on this point).
He was adament that 12 drivers would be the limit on a single sailing, the balance of cargo being of type that doesn't require an accompanying driver e.g. trailers loaded/unloaded by mechanical handling equipment at each end of the trip.

He was sure that the scheduling of the cargo is done quite a way ahead which is very sensible for the needs of their regular shipping agents/forwarders etc.

I got that conversation onto the concept of booking no more than 30 days ahead and he pretty much thought that was not a great idea in view of the detail above, but he didn't really seem to know - leading on to a direct question from me about carrying motorcycles (not declared up to now as a motive), he and those by now who had gathered around to listen, just chuckled among themselves - that was time to leave.

Probably not surprising that the "posh" side of DFDS doesn't know that much about their red in tooth and claw commercial operations. So it looks like the "12 passengers" are likely to be commercial truck drivers who are travelling with their tractor units rather than a service aimed at tourists.

If that's the case I can imagine the accommodation being a single room down in the bilges with military rack style bedding screwed to the walls and a tv with a worn out supply of 80's porn video tapes for entertainment. Ok if I'm riding a rat bike to a winter rally in Norway but probably not the best choice if I'm travelling with my mother in law. :rofl:

Captain Pugwash anyone?
 

Could be worse.
The folklore says that one can be invited to dine with the captain at his table with his senior officers if one can tell a modicum of great tales of daring-do.

Alternatively, one might become part of the First Master Bates and Seaman Stains party, below decks?

The twelve berths comes from international Marine regulations - anything more changes a shop category from "cargo" to "passenger" and brings in a whole suite of extra regulations. Used to be lots of cargo ships sailing around the world with 12 cabins. Fewer now but firms like Grimaldi still do it on their ro-ro fleet and you can go with your bike world wide with them if you like.

Don't know about the DFDS cabin configuration but likely to be 12 singles or 6 doubles since the commercial world is surprisingly fussy. Anyway plan to take this vessel, if I can get a booking, at the end of May or early June so I'll report back then.

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Thanks NavArch.
The youngish man with the gold braid on his cuffs didn't say anything on those lines but he was dealing with a civilian and he did appear to be a little surprised that anyone would contemplate not using his own passenger service.

As a more general comment, DFDS have been buying out at least one other, smaller, competitor on the UK ferry routes during the past few years (Norfolk line for information, and their primary route was closed down soon after).
Gradually, DFDS have established themselves on the East coast of the UK and, to some extent, around the SE coast in competition with P&O and Britanny ferries (the national ferry company of France, Sea France, went into liquidation at more or less the same time that DFDS was expanding its' UK services).

Ferry companies are fickle in where they sail from and what deals they cut with the port authorities but DFDS should be around for a while.

ps
For what it is worth, LD lines ("Louis Dreyfuss", another French company) sold out to Britanny ferries around the same time = consolidation of the whole UK services (less the West coast which is served by Stena line) following the financial issues of circa 2007-8.

Update for 2017. I just emailed DFDS freight department for fares from Brevik/Esbjerg to Immingham. Quoting the answer:

"Unfortunately we can’t accept leisure / private passengers on any of our routes calling Port of Immingham. The port is considered an industrial port by the UK Border Force (UKBF) with no passenger facilities to do proper immigration check of each passenger as known from e.g. air ports. It is therefore not allowed by the UKBF to arrive or depart as leisure / private passenger from Port of Immingham with our freight ships."

Inquiring if the procedure has changed within last months they told me:

"The decision was taken last year in September by the UKBF."

Hopefully anyone has an opposite information.