Additional Waterford-Rotterdam service facilitating global trade at Kilkenny port

BG Freight Line, in partnership with Maersk, is starting a new weekly service on the Waterford Port to Rotterdam route that will act as a deep-sea feeder for businesses in Ireland who are exporting or importing goods globally through Europe’s largest seaport. The new service is being introduced to support Maersk’s customers in the southeast and in response to the needs of some of the region’s largest industries. 

BG Freight Line is a long-established European shipping line and part of the Peel Ports Group. It runs a fleet of 23 fully containerised vessels from its headquarters in Rotterdam and focuses on northern European, UK and Ireland connections.

Maersk is the largest container logistics organisation in the world. It has a presence in 130 countries, employing over 75,000 people. Maersk moves more than 12m containers a year worldwide and offers a wide variety of other logistics products to service customer needs.

Koert Luitwieler, CEO, BG Freight Line, said: “BG Freight Line is always looking for new growth opportunities and adding Waterford will strengthen our excellent Irish Sea network even further. The call in Waterfordwill boost the shipping options for local businesses enabling them to reach Rotterdam within days and connect to the rest of the world!

Simon Smith, Country Manager for Ireland & Scotland, Maersk, said: ‘’Maersk are very pleased to be in a position to grow deeper roots in the southeast. To be able to offer tailored solutions to our customers’ needs is at the heart of what we do. We look forward to working with our existing and new customers on ensuring this service is sustainable and successful for all importers and exporters in the southeast.’’

Frank Ronan, Chief Executive, Port of Waterford, added: “We are delighted to have this extra weekly service commencing next month (06 July). It marks the culmination of a lot of work over a significant period of time and is due in no small part to the consistent support of the region’s exporters, particularly from the agri-foods sector. The new service will be especially valuable to customers shipping containers to/from Africa, Asia and the Americas as it will feed into the global hub at Rotterdam and allow seamless movement of goods between Waterford and the rest of the world.

“Reflecting Ireland’s economic growth, the Port continues to perform well and this additional service will allow us provide new capacity to the many businesses in the southeast who trade goods globally. For the Port, the additional weekly service increases our activity and throughput which is obviously important from a business perspective. We look forward to working with BG Freight Line and Maersk to ensure that this is a sustainable partnership," Mr Ronan said.