Short Sea Shipping

Most people are aware of ocean freight, the movement of containers on deep sea vessels from one continent to another, but less people are aware that the equivalent runs for short sea trips, often along the coast, or across a single continent, the aptly named ‘Short Sea Shipping’. Particularly popular in Europe, it is at the forefront of the European Union’s transportation policy and currently accounts for a staggering 40% of all freight moved in the Europe. Interestingly, the majority of this cargo actually moves through Europe’s heartland on rivers not oceans and the term now refers to movements on water, rather than specifically on seas and oceans.

What are the advantages of short-sea shipping?

There are some clear advantages to utilising short sea from Europe into the UK (or along UK shores) vs. container haulage

Cost savings – Sea shipping is (nearly) always more cost effective than the equivalent journey by road. A regular short sea vessel (e.g. 4,000 DWT vessel) is the equivalent of over 100 containers

Environmental concerns – Sea shipping has a significantly reduced carbon footprint vs. road haulage. Also, taking the equivalent of so many trucks off the road significantly reduces congestion around major transport hubs

Resilience – over the last couple of years the UK has suffered with significant road haulage issues, brought about primarily by Brexit and Covid that resulted in a shortage of HGV drivers that are required to power the UK trucking industry. Short-sea shipping has faced no such challenges (although in most cases the goods will still require the onward, inland journey to be completed by HGV).

Where in the UK is Short-Sea Shipping most utilised?

In the EU, the Netherlands and Belgium has become the focus of short-sea shipping, with the ports of Rotterdam and Antwerp leading the charge. The UK’s largest port, Felixstowe is the UK hub for short sea shipping, although of course there are numerous ports involved, both large and small.

What do the sea schedules look like?

For up the latest schedules of departures and routings to/from UK ports, please visit the excellent website:

https://www.shortseaschedules.com/

How do I find a good company to discuss Short-Sea Shipping options with?

At Logisto, we are making it our life goal to provide our visitors with a knowledge base in logistics as well as providing a detailed directory for the logistics industry. A good freight forwarder will be able to advise on Short-Sea Shipping (see our Freight Forwarder page), but there are also specific short sea shipping specialists, which you can find within the LOGISTO Directory.

As always, if you have any questions, please reach out to the Logisto team and we will try to help as soon as we can.

Thanks

LOGISTO