2 weeks Ago By [email protected] (Andrew Quinn)
The campaign to restore a ferry link between Scotland and mainland Europe has taken a step forward after a Fife MP met with the UK Treasury to discuss funding Graeme Downie, the Labour MP for Dunfermline, met with Treasury minister Spencer Livermore last night in a bid to secure £3 million for the service . DFDS Ferries are keen to operate a route between Rosyth and Dunkirk from spring next year - but funding is needed to first redevelop the port facilities on the Firth of Forth. There was previously a direct ferry link between Rosyth and Zeebrugge in Belgium between 2002 and 2018.
The passenger service was shut down in 2010. Freight services were ended in 2018 by DFDS after a fire on board one of its ships. Downie said bringing the ferry link back would bring thousands of visitors to Scotland a year and would help make roads less congested.
He added that the "small investment" could result in "huge benefits to Fife and Scotland". The MP said: "A ferry between Rosyth and Dunkirk would bring 51,000 visitors a year to Scotland and remove 8.1m kilometres of freight traffic from British roads.
"There are barriers at Scottish Government that the SNP will need to overcome as well but I hope working with Treasury Ministers we can identify possible routes of funding for the £3m capital investment needed at Rosyth to upgrade basic infrastructure like fencing and security checkpoints. "For such a small investment, we could see huge benefits to Fife and Scotland , with the support of major local employers like Mowi and Amazon showing the support this already had with businesses who could take advantage of this route." Danish-owned DFDS had wanted to start three return freight and passenger sailings from Rosyth to Dunkirk in May this year.
But the firm put the plan on hold, saying the Scottish and UK Governments hadn't given it financial backing. To sign up to the Daily Record Politics newsletter, click here.
