A new shipping service between Waterford and Rotterdam has been started by Norfolk Line. There will be two sailings a week and the line hopes to ship 20,000 containers in its first year of operation. The service will provide direct employment for 20 people and use two vessels, the Jan Becker and the Otto Becker. Norfolk Line is a trailer and ferry operator between continental Europe and Britain. It offers customers a full door-to-door service for both full and part-loads, employs 498 people and is part of the Danish AP Moller/Maersk Group.

Yesterday the Minister for the Marine, Dr Woods, said Norfolk Line's move represented "a concrete endorsement of the services and infrastructure provided at the Port of Waterford". Speaking at the launch of the Norfolk service, he said it brought to five the number of shipping services which are to start operations from Waterford. The port had reached its immediate objective of a throughput of 55,000 containers a year, he said, and was on course to meet its longer-term target of 100,000 containers.