New tenders for ‘Motorway of the Sea’

The NORSHUKON LINK project, a collaboration between one Norwegian and three UK bodies, is aiming to create a ferry service, linking a port in Western Norway with a UK mainland port, which would provide onward links to the European continent. The aim is for large amounts of freight to be taken off the road and shifted to a ‘Motorway of the Sea’. A statement from NORSHUKON, released this week, said a preferred bidder would hopefully be appointed by early April. The minimum specification for the route is the provision of a ro-ro freight service between Kristiansund, in mid-Norway, Shetland and a UK mainland port, possibly Rosyth. Proposals which include the provision of a service for passengers (RoPax) would be welcomed, according to the local news source Shetland Marine News. Norshukon is a partnership between the Norwegian Møregruppen AS - a group of private and public bodies, Shetland Development Trust and the Shetland transport partnership ZetTrans. The Southeast of Scotland transport partnership, SEStran, recently joined the consortium.