Dear Customers,
Now we are well into 2020 we can conclude that – despite uncertain times with regards to the macro economy, COVID-19 and Brexit, to mention just a few factors – our business and volumes continue to develop in the right direction.
Challenges bring with them opportunities and through local cooperation and close dialogue we are eager to grasp all of the opportunities our customers offer us.
In retrospect, 2019 was a busy year to a large degree influenced by Brexit preparations and with varying volume development across our network. I would like to thank all of our customers for their support and splendid cooperation. We have also been concentrating on planning changes and improvements to our network for implementation during 2020, such as:
- Stena Estrid, the first of our new series of e-Flexer vessels that is now in service on our Dublin to Holyhead route;
- Stena Edda, our next e-Flexer, which has now arrived in Belfast and will be operating the Belfast to Liverpool route from 9 March 2020;
- Halmstad-Grenaa, our newest route on the network started on 1 February 2020;
- increased capacity on the North Sea, with two larger vessels entering service on the Rotterdam-Killingholme route during January 2020; and
- a rail connection between Bettembourg and Kiel, just one of several intermodal solutions linking sea, rail and road routes in line in with our sustainable shipping goals
While we are committed to continuously improving our network and customer offer, this also clearly demonstrates our belief in continued growth in the demand for freight across Europe.
Of course, sometimes things do go wrong and we recognise that there is room for improvement in how we handle claims and the tools provided. We will always strive to ensure fast, professional and focused case management so that claims can be concluded swiftly and we can all move forward.
To make life even easier for our customers, we are introducing a new online booking channel, the Freight Portal to replace the current Extranet, and we encourage all customers to migrate to the new platform in order to obtain the benefits and improvements to your operation and communication with Stena Line. We hope you like it!
We are truly grateful for the cooperation we have and continue to receive from our customers, something that we are greatly looking forward to maintaining into 2020 and beyond.
Yours faithfully,
Jacob Koch-Nielsen