Norfolkline is put up for sale
Ferry Online Travel News 14/05/2009
Maersk puts ferry company up for sale.
The freight and passenger service which recently moved its headquarters to Liverpool is rumored to have placed ferry company Norfolkline on the market. The company has seen recent figures drop due to a worldwide decline in spending. Maersk is said to be holding talks with several interested companies. “Discussions with a number of parties are taking place regarding a possible transaction involving Norfolkline,” said a spokesperson yesterday.
Their routes between Liverpool to Dublin and Liverpool to Belfast remain the same and routes from Heysham are being increased. Last year the company announced that massive expansion plans were being put on hold due to the slump in the economy. “There is a lot of uncertainty and people are feeling nervous,” one employee said.
Kell Robdrup, managing director of Norfolkline, said to the Liverpool Daily Post, that the intention was still to provide Irish Sea customers with bigger and more modern ships, offering better services and greater reliability but, there are also other services running from Liverpool to Ireland, meaning that competition is extremely tough.
Norfolkline control a fleet of 17 container and passenger ships and have around 450 staff working for them and any kind of sale or reshuffling would result in the loss of jobs.
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