Pan-European ferry operator P&O Ferries plans to raise its capacity on Zeebrugge-Teesport this week by deploying the 18,000-ton Estraden on the route.
The capacity on the Zeebrugge-Teesport gateway to Scotland will be increased by almost 25 percent, according to Janette Bell, Chief Executive of P&O Ferries.
The Estraden, which has previously been working on Europoort-Teesport, will work in tandem with the 25,000-ton Bore Song to form the gateway to Scotland for exporters to and from the continent.
The Estraden is almost twice the size of the ship it replaces, the Mistral, P&O Ferries said.
To complete the reconfiguration of ships on its North Sea freight routes, the ferry and logistics company has chartered the Stena Carrier to replace the Estraden on Europoort-Teesport.
P&O Ferries currently carries more than 100,000 freight units a year on 12 sailings a week between Teesport and its continental hub at Zeebrugge.
The company sails 27,000 times a year on eight major routes between Britain, France, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Holland and Belgium. It operates more than 20 vessels which carry 8.4 million passengers and 2.3 million freight units annually.