On Monday 23 May 2016, Scandlines’ new hybrid ferry, M/V Berlin, will for the first time carry passengers when it departs from Rostock towards Gedser at 06:00.
Scandlines has now acquired all necessary certificates for the new hybrid ferry for the Rostock-Gedser route. M/V Berlin will therefore start practicing between Rostock and Gedser and on Monday 23 May 2016 at 06:00 will go into regular service.
”I am very proud of the result which we can present to our customers as of Monday. The project has been associated with several challenges, but walking around on the ferry, I am happy that we remained firm in our decision,” says Søren Poulsgaard Jensen, Scandlines’ CEO.
M/V Berlin is the first of two new hybrid ferries for the route Rostock-Gedser. M/V Berlin replaces M/V Prins Joachim, which will be transferred to European Seaways next week for future operation in Greece.
The sister vessel M/V Copenhagen is expected to go into service this autumn, thereby replacing M/V Kronprins Frederik in the schedule. Scandlines has however decided to keep M/V Kronprins Frederik on and use it as a replacement ferry on both the Rostock-Gedser and Puttgarden-Rødby routes. With an extra ferry, which can be deployed on both routes, both the total capacity and the stability of the schedules will be ensured.
The new ferries represent an investment of more than 140 million EUR per vessel. Together with the expansion of the port facilities and the BorderShop in Rostock, the ferries will complete Scandlines’ strategic focus on expanding the central and eastern transport corridor between the European mainland and Scandinavia.