LD Lines has decided to abandon its experiment with a high-speed freight catamaran between Dover and Boulogne just a few months after starting the service.
The Norman Arrow will be switched to the Portsmouth-Le Havre route, where it will run fewer services, and be replaced on the Dover-Boulogne route by a conventional ferry with greater capacity.
A spokesman for LD Lines says that the main reason for announcing plans to move the
catamaran so soon after it started in June (CM 25 June) was its lack of capacity and the time it took to load and unload.
The Norman Arrow will switch places with the Norman Spirit, which currently runs from Portsmouth to Le Havre.
Despite the switch, a spokesman for the line says that it has been happy with the demand for the service from Dover to Boulogne, with the the Norman Arrow running with its full capacity of 30 trucks "a fair bit of the time".
But he adds that a disadvantage has been that the lack of double-decker loading on the vessel has slowed down the speed of getting trucks on and off the catamaran.
The spokesman says that LD Lines is already in discussions with the catamaran's manufacturer, Incat, about the forthcoming new generation of high-speed freight-carrying catamarans, which will have double decker loading.
LD Lines managing director, Christophe Santini, says the the line recognises that "prerequisites of providing a complete high
speed service concept should include fast crossing times combined with fast berthing, loading and unloading of vehicles".
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