By Kim Heiberg, Route Director
DFDS
 

WE FEEL AT HOME IN FREDERIKSHAVN

A few people have probably noticed that our ship Pearl Seaways is in Frederikshavn, while everyone is waiting for Covid-19 to come so much under control that passenger traffic between Denmark and Norway can be reopened. And the decision to leave Pearl Seaways in Frederikshavn was logical and easy.

We feel at home in Frederikshavn, where we have been very well received. We are absolutely convinced that a great many passengers will return when it is reopened. The summer of 2020 was a clear indicator of that.
There should also be no doubt that we have been met with great goodwill from the port when it comes to our start of the route, and we have felt great support for the possibility of having Pearl in the port, while we all wait for this travel season to start again.

Warm reception
We have many loyal guests who have often used our route for a wonderful travel experience and as an efficient connection between Denmark and Norway. We experienced in the summer of 2020 that people welcomed us and our route between Frederikshavn and Oslo. We are extremely happy about that.

From the first day we started docking in Frederikshavn, we have experienced a fantastic positive and warm reception from the local community. Both from the Northern Jutland business community, the local citizens and from a political point of view. Frederikshavn has simply become one of our most important Danish ports.

Now we want to use this quiet time to establish agreements with companies on transport and conferences on board our ferries.

But who are we in DFDS?
Many people probably know about DFDS, and in all modesty, it was not a small operator that came to Frederikshavn in 2020. DFDS provides ferry and transport services in several places in Europe, and we have an annual turnover of DKK 17 billion. DFDS carries five million passengers annually on both short ferry routes and overnight travels.

We have been named ‘World Leading Ferry Operator’ 2011 - 2020 and ‘Europe’s Leading Ferry Operator’ 2012 - 2020 at the World Travel Awards and have 8,000 employees spread across ships and offices in 20 countries. DFDS was founded in 1866, is headquartered in Copenhagen and is listed on Nasdaq Copenhagen (Børsen).

We are of course very much looking forward to being able to start sailing again. But until then, we are happy to be able to berth in Frederikshavn.

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This post is part of Port of Frederikshavn’s blog universe, which we have called THE PORT VOICE. The blog has been put into the world to give the word to businesses and business partners of the port. The purpose is to create a channel, where we can share knowledge, passion and demeanour in an inclusive, engaging and non-profit way. The goal is to have as many businesses, organisations and partners of the port as possible to contribute in order to obtain a platform, where we can learn more about each other, pass on learning, wisdom or demeanour and invite one another into the world, each one of us find ourselves in.