From mid-April there will no longer be a ferry from Eemshaven to Norway. The MS Romantika has had several problems in recent months when mooring in the Netherlands. As a result, sailings had to be canceled to the dissatisfaction of passengers.
The ferry of shipping company Holland Norway Lines (HNL) will therefore depart from the German port of Cuxhaven from the middle of next month, reports HRT Thursday. In the summer, it will be moved to the German town of Emden, twenty kilometers from Eemshaven as the crow flies.
For a long time there was no direct ferry connection between Norway and the Netherlands. That changed last April and the connection between the two countries was initially a success. The 193 meter long MS Romantika was often fully booked by people who made the crossing to Scandinavia, or who came to the Netherlands.
Problems have arisen in recent months. The MS Romantika was unable to moor in Eemshaven several times because no common berth was available. This was partly due to crowds in the port, wrote RTV North earlier. Other port users were more entitled to a place than HNL, of which the company was aware, according to port manager Groningen Seaports.
The original plan was therefore that the shipping company would have its own terminal from last October where it could always moor. But it isn’t there yet. According to the manager, this is because HNL did not come up with a well-founded plan for the approach to the quay. But according to the shipping company, that is more nuanced, writes RTV North.
The new locations must guarantee “regularity and predictability” for travelers, writes HNL. Until the shipping company moves to Germany, there is still a chance of cancellations of sailings, the organization writes.
Cheap airline tickets ensured return ferry services to Scandinavia
In the last century there were several daily ferry connections between the Netherlands and Scandinavia. For example, large passenger ships sailed between Amsterdam and the Norwegian cities of Bergen and Kristiansand and the Swedish city of Gothenburg.
Especially the rise of low-cost air travel made the boat less and less attractive for tourists. As a result, the services have successively disappeared.
