Eimskip increases its capacity
Eimskip will change its sailing system at the end of February, the company said in its press release. There has been substantial growth in imported volume to Iceland during recent months which has created increased imbalance in the company’s sailing system. With these changes and an additional 700 TEU container vessel, the company’s capacity to and from Europe and North-America will grow by 7-11%.
Main changes of the sailing system are as follows:
A new Red Line will serve Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Poland with two vessels. The Red Line will increase the capacity and efficiency of the sailing system and offer growth opportunities.
The Green Line, which serves USA and Canada, will be optimized and will be serving to and from Reykjavík, but transshipments in Reykjavík will enable increase of both the frequency and capacity on the route. This change further supports development of transportation between North America and Europe, which have grown considerably in recent years.
The Gray Line, which has been serving the Faroe Islands, Scotland and Scandinavia, will get a new role with weekly services around the coast of Iceland, besides continued services to the Faroe Islands and Scotland. Frequency and capacity in coastal services will grow with weekly services of the Gray Line to the north and east coast of Iceland on the way to the UK, with a call in the Faroe Islands where they can connect with other company vessels. As before, the coast will be served by the Blue Line and the Yellow Line which serve Grundartangi, Reykjavík, Helguvík, the Westman Islands and Reydarfjördur.
Services of the Blue Line and the Yellow Line will remain unchanged.
These changes will also lead to less pressure on the port in Tórshavn in the Faroe Islands since most of the containers that have been transshipped in Tórshavn will not need transshipment any more due to direct connection between ports.