Rostock, Germany – The German-Danish shipping company Scandlines AG increased its cargo business once again in the first three months of this year. By the end of March 2006, more than 242,000 trucks and trailers had been transported on the company’s Baltic Sea routes in the triangle between Germany, Denmark, Sweden and the Baltic States, i.e. around 17,000 more units (+ 7.6 %) than in the same period of the previous year, announced the company on the occasion of the RoRo 2006 international trade fair taking place in Ghent (Belgium) from 16 – 18 May 2006.

“Two of the growth factors are the completion of the A20 Baltic Highway and Scandlines’ increasing orientation towards ports with a hub function. In this case, it is, in particular, Rostock and Ventspils that have contributed to the growth rates through the consolidation of routes and the resulting increase in goods traffic volumes. The A20 gives Rostock, with its direct highway connection to the port, an optimum link to the West of Hamburg and the important traffic corridor of Poland”, reports Uwe Bakosch, CFO of Scandlines AG. “The forming of a hub in the Latvian port of Ventspils and the clear positioning of our Baltic States traffic are reflected in the positive development with a 15% increase in cargo volumes compared with the previous year”, he continued.

Scandlines expects a further rise in cargo volumes on the routes between Western Europe, Scandinavia and the Baltic States by the end of 2006. The need for fast cargo services across the Baltic Sea will also continue to increase in the future. Transport flows are shifting more and more to the East through EU enlargement, the completion of the A20 and the growing demand for shorter Baltic Sea crossings.

“Transit transport via Poland and through Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, in particular, will experience above-average growth over the coming decade”, comments Michael Berger, Marketing & Sales Manager at Scandlines AG, with conviction. “Our strength lies in the fact that we already have now and will continue to have in the future the densest route network and the highest departure frequencies to cover the growth in links across the Baltic Sea.”

Scandlines is increasingly offering the European transport industry an optimum addition to their logistic process chains in the traffic corridors between Europe’s economic centres. “Excellent hinterland links and extra services for additional value-added in the process chain are our most important objectives for the future. Scandlines has already achieved a good position on the North-South axis in this regard. After strategically reorganising our East-West transport services in October 2005, the growth in volumes on the four Baltic State routes over the first three months of 2006 is confirmation to us that we are also well positioned for the future in this traffic corridor with our concepts”, continues Michael Berger.

Scandlines AG is presenting its range of services for logistic companies and forwarding agents at Stand F20 during RORO 2006 in Ghent. Michael Berger will also give a talk on 16 May 2006 on the topic “Developing the Russian market: trends in the accompanied and unaccompanied cargo business segments” as part of the RORO 2006 Conference Programme.