New container route for the Port of Liverpool
A new container route is launched connecting Liverpool with the Spanish Port of Santander. Tony McDonough reports
Samskip and Boluda Lines are combining to launch a new container shipping route that will connect the Port of Liverpool with Santander in Spain and Dublin.
Starting on September 30, the joint service provides a new weekly Spain-Ireland-UK shortsea option for unitised cargoes. Vessels will depart on Saturday from Santander using the 803-container vessel, Lucia B.
It will offer a three-day transit time to Dublin with calls at Liverpool’s Royal Seaforth Container Terminal due two days after, before the ship’s southbound voyage to Spain.
In northern Spain, the focal point for operations will be Boluda Maritime Terminals Santander. Opened by Boluda in April 2023, after terminal investments approaching €40m, the new facility offers capacity to handle more than 110,000 containers a year.
Ólafur Orri Ólafsson, head of network optimisation and Iberia trade at Samskip, said: “Providing highly efficient, reliable, and sustainable shortsea products is at the center of what we do, and we are thrilled to continue to do just that in this new partnership with Boluda Lines.”
This latest announcement is welcome news for the Port of Liverpool which last week announced up to 125 jobs were to be cut from its 850-strong workforce. This is due to a “sustained and significant deterioration” in container volumes at the port.
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Samskip and Boluda say Liverpool offers access to the M62 ‘corridor’ to reach key UK importers and exporters. Samskip’s UK-based truck capacity will deliver logistics across the North West and beyond.
Ignacio Boluda Ceballos, vice chairman of Boluda Shipping, added: “In this new project, we will connect Santander with the UK and Ireland, offering an innovative solution for our clients.
“We are particularly proud to showcase the new Maritime Platform in Santander, a project that our entire group is dedicated to, and in which we have invested all our efforts.”