Geest North Sea Line and DFDS Lys Line enter a space charter agreement as from 1 January 2006

3.1.2006

Geest North Sea Line and DFDS Lys Line have entered into a space charter agreement that will see a much improved service offered between Norway and Rotterdam. With effect from 3 January, two 750TEU container vessels, Lys-Box and Lys-Point, will provide a twice-weekly service linking ports in the Oslo Fjord with Rotterdam. In addition, Hamburg will be served southbound on a weekly basis.

The service covers six Norwegian ports: Oslo, Moss, Brevik and Kristiansand, all served twice-weekly, plus Fredrikstad and Larvik, these being served weekly. In Rotterdam, the joint service calls twice-weekly at the DFDS Maasvlakte terminal and in addition includes a weekly call at ECT Delta.

According to Geest's Commercial Director, Gerard de Groot, Geest North Sea Line has been able to triple its size in the Oslo Fjord trade over the past two years:

"Our parent company, Samskip, is already very successful on this route and since responsibility for this service transferred to Geest North Sea Line in June 2005, volumes have continued to grow. We believe this positive progress is due to our flexibility, customer focus and our attentiveness to the market's and our customers´ needs".

"By entering into a space charter agreement with DFDS Lys Line, we will be providing increased capacity, frequency and port coverage. With twice weekly services, we will improve the flexibility, efficiency and reliability of the service to the benefit of both our customers and ourselves".

"We believe there is a larger demand for a shortsea alternative from and to Norway. As the service is catering for both deep-sea feeder traffic and the European shortsea/intermodal market, the potential cargo base is huge".

"Via Rotterdam, Geest North Sea Line serves most of Continental Europe via rail, barge and road and we will also offer transhipment at Rotterdam onto other Geest services, for example to Bilbao in Spain. Using 45ft containers, including curtain-sided units and reefers, we are highly competitive with trucking services both on rates and transit times, and will become more so as the combination of national road-pricing, shorter working hours and higher fuel costs impacts more heavily on road hauliers."

The new sailing schedule is made up of two weekly loops, these being: