France’s LD Lines has withdrawn its three-times weekly ’Motorway of the Sea’ (MoS) between Nantes-Saint-Nazaire in France and Gijon, in Spain because it is no longer economically viable despite high load factors.
Late August, MD Christophe Santoni warned that the service’s days were numbered if an agreement couldn’t be reached on either prolonging the public subsidies it has benefited from over the past four years and which ended earlier this month or an alternative business plan found.
Launched in September 2010, the service was a pioneer of the MoS sustainable freight transport concept focussing on taking trucks off congested roads.
Separately, DFDS has announced it has started consultations with French unions about plans to close its Le Havre-Portsmouth ferry service at the end of 2014 due to continued losses.