Fuel costs hits “motorway of the sea”

This summer the NORSHUKON Link partners invited five ship operators to tender for the service, described as the "motorway of the sea". On Friday, the group announced that after detailed evaluation of submissions they had been forced to re-advertise the contract due to "rapidly escalating fuel costs and vessel charter rates". Next week they will be placing a new advert in the Official Journal of the European Union seeking new companies to tender for a freight ro-ro service, possibly with a reduced passenger and car capacity, Shetland Marine News wrote. The NORSHUKON project was set up by Møregruppen AS, a group of private firms and local authorities based around the oil and fishing port of Kristiansund, north of Bergen. The Norwegians hoped to reduce their transport costs by moving freight heading for northern Europe from the road to the sea, connecting through a UK port like Rosyth or Newcastle.