Short sea shipping and logistics provider Oldenburg-Portugiesische Dampfschiffs-Rhederei (OPDR) has announced that it is to introudce new direct calls between Hamburg in Germany and Casablanca in Morocco, as well as between Lisbon (Portugal) and Hamburg.
In addition to these services, there will be new direct links between Morocco and the Iberian Peninsula as well as between Portugal and Andalusia, leading to faster transit times and higher frequency.
'We are pleased to be offering our customers more routes to support their ongoing demand for short sea shipping solutions all over Europe and North Africa,' said Dirk Wessels, director line management for OPDR. 'Faster transit times, first-class customer service and reliable sailing dates make short sea shipping a worthwhile alternative to road transport – especially during the summer months when truck capacity is short.'
Due to the new route enhancements OPDR will be the only short sea carrier with a direct service from Lisbon to Hamburg, while the new direct link between Hamburg and Casablanca will enable OPDR – in connection with the OPDR CASA (Casablanca) Service – to provide up to two weekly sailings from Northern Europe to Casablanca.
'By offering our customers new direct calls and higher frequency, we also aim to further boost the modal shift from road to sea in general,' added Wessels. 'Simultaneously to the service enhancements we therefore have also expanded our 45 foot Pallet Wide High Cube container fleet in order to allow our customers to load 33 euro pallets in comparison to trucks.'
