DFDS has signed an agreement with the owners of the Moliere that the ferry will be chartered for service between Dover and France, where DFDS/LD Lines operates its Dover-Dunkerque and Dover-Calais routes.
She will be deployed on the Dover-Dunkerque route from 4 November under her new name Dieppe Seaways, with a main focus on providing additional freight capacity. The ferry will operate alongside the two large passenger and freight sister ships, the Dover Seaways and the Dunkerque Seaways, which are already in service on the route.
DFDS will move the third sister ferry, the Delft Seaways, from Dover-Dunkerque to Dover-Calais, where she will replace the Deal Seaways. The Deal Seaways will be returned to her owners.
This means that the DFDS ferries operating on the Channel from 4 November, will be:
On the Dover-Dunkerque route: Dover Seaways, Dunkerque Seaways and Dieppe Seaways.
On the Dover-Calais Route: Norman Spirit and Delft Seaways.
In total there will be up to 44 departures per day between Dover and France on the Channel.
Senior Vice President Carsten Jensen, head of DFDS' Channel ferry business, says: "With the deployment of Dieppe Seaways, DFDS will enhance and secure our Channel service so we and our committed crews can provide our customers with the right quality of service to meet their needs and requirements.
"Our Dover-Calais route will be greatly enhanced by Delft Seaways. Her speed and large capacity will enable us to deliver the very high capacity and frequency that our customers need. Furthermore, the high quality of the ship's facilities will enable us to provide our passenger and freight drivers with a great travel experience, offering a modern, comfortable interior and a unique service. I believe that our customers on the Dover-Calais route will be pleased with the Delft Seaways as the new ship alongside the Norman Spirit."
"Equally, on our Dover-Dunkerque service, adding the Dieppe Seaways to the route will guarantee the regularity, efficiency and high quality service that our freight customers require. The excellent passenger facilities of our combined passenger and freight vessels, the Dover Seaways and the Dunkerque Seaways will help us to continue to deliver the superior quality of service our passengers on the route are accustomed to. The Dieppe Seaways also offers us the option to upgrade passenger facilities in the event of increased demand for passenger capacity on the route."
The Dieppe Seaways was built at Howaldtswerke Deutsche Werft in 2002 and sailed on routes in both the Baltic and North Seas before she was deployed in 2008 on the Channel by the former SeaFrance. Since the demise of SeaFrance, the ship has been out of service. She is 203 metres long, 25 metres broad and offers a capacity of more than 1900 lane metres of cargo, including driver facilities.
Before deployment, the ship will be reflagged to the French flag and painted in DFDS livery.
