PD Ports is delighted to have secured an additional weekly sailing between Rotterdam, Botlek and Teesport thanks to continued collaboration with shipping line A2B-online.

The expansion of the service, which will start from the end of January, will increase sailings on the route to four times per week and increase the total number of containers handled via the route to 40,000 per year, further demonstrating how Teesport acts as the UK’s Northern gateway for international trade.

Building on a long-standing partnership that dates back to 2014, the commitment to an additional vessel call reinforces the confidence that global shippers have in Teesport, and PD Ports.

Kim Catterick, General Manager – Key Accounts at PD Ports, said: “This is fantastic news for PD Ports and for the wider Tees Valley region as it demonstrates how resilient our business, and businesses across the River Tees, are to the current challenges facing the UK economy.

“The addition of another weekly sailing means that we can now provide more opportunities for shippers to import and export their goods to and from Europe whilst taking advantage of our extensive service offering as a reliable trading partner. We look forward to continuing our relationship with A2B and seeing how the business continues to develop.”

This particular service has been connecting Europe and the UK successfully since 2018, in addition to a bi-weekly Moerdijk to Teesport service that sees an extra 12,000 containers imported annually.

Michael van Keulen, Operations Director at A2B-online, praised continued positive collaboration for the success and expansion of the service calls.

He said: “After already successfully operating a LoLo container service between Rotterdam, Botlek and Teesport since 2018, this expansion is the next logistical step but it wouldn’t be possible without the good cooperation from our partners at PD Ports.

“This additional sailing will increase the total capacity on this route to 40,000 containers a year which enables us to serve the growing demand of our large and loyal customer base.”

The news of an additional weekly service comes just a month after PD Ports, owner and operator of Teesport, also announced a brand new weekly service from the Baltics.