Press Release

Date: 12 September 2019

Moby Wonder and Moby Aki will join the fleet in October 2019, sailing in early 2020

DFDS has entered into an agreement with Italian ferry company Moby to exchange two passenger ferries, with the focus of raising the onboard customer experience and capacity, for both passengers and freight customers.

Moby will acquire the two passenger ferries currently operating on the Newcastle to Amsterdam route — King Seaways and Princess Seaways, built in 1987 and 1986, respectively.

At the same time, DFDS will acquire two passenger ferries currently operated by Moby — Moby Wonder and Moby Aki, built in 2001 and 2005, respectively. The ships will be renamed when they join the fleet. The names are yet to be decided.

The ferries are expected to be delivered in the second half of October 2019 and will undergo significant refurbishment, including commercial and technical investments on board as well as port investments. ​

DFDS will subsequently bareboat-charter King Seaways and Princess Seaways until January and February 2020.

Kasper Moos, Vice President & Head of BU Short Routes & Passengers at DFDS said: "The new ferries are ideally suited to our Newcastle to Amsterdam route. They will provide our passengers with modern onboard facilities and with more car-deck capacity, the new tonnage will allow DFDS to increase passenger revenue by fulfilling the growing demand for high yield car passengers. To freight customers, we will be able to offer increased capacity that can remain constant throughout the entire year"

DFDS's freight capacity is expected to increase around 40%* on a full-year basis and car capacity increasing around 5% on a full-year basis.

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DFDS Press Office 01304 874052 Dover.pr@dfds.com

About DFDS:

DFDS is Northern Europe’s largest integrated shipping and logistics company, with a network of around 30 routes and 50 freight and passenger ships.

DFDS prides itself on offering world-class facilities and services and the widest choice of ferry routes into northern Europe.

In the UK, the company operates passenger ferry services on routes from Dover to Calais, Dover to Dunkirk, Newcastle to Amsterdam and Newhaven to Dieppe.

DFDS has been named ‘Europe’s Leading Ferry Operator’ for eight years running (2012-2019), as well as the ‘World’s Leading Ferry Operator’ for the last seven years (2011-18).

DFDS currently operates up to 54 sailings a day between Dover and France on its Dover-Dunkirk and Dover-Calais routes. DFDS also offers two daily sailings between Newcastle and Amsterdam. In addition, the DFDS network includes a passenger and freight service between Newhaven to Dieppe, which has four daily sailings and is operated by Transmanche Ferries.

For further information about DFDS, or to find out about the latest sailing times, fares and offers across all routes from the UK, click here.