UKC

Are there any running or planned from Scotland to Norway / Sweden? 

In reply to Flinticus:

No.

In reply to Flinticus:

No, the last UK to Scandi route shut down years ago.

In reply to Flinticus:

Nor from England

In reply to Flinticus:

I heard a while ago (18 months, maybe) about talks being underway for a new P&O service, but I don't know if anything came of it.

In reply to bpmclimb:

Yes, there's been talk ever since the old ferry stopped. Trouble is that's all it is, talk.

There's Newcastle to the Hook of Holland or Harwich to the Hook but it's still a very long drive/train journey from there.

In reply to Flinticus:

Annoying, isn't it?

We wouldd use it most years, if it went to Bergen or Stavanger or better still Göteborg, but I only got to do it once before they stopped it, on my first trip to meet the in-laws.

As long as there are cheap flights, I don't think it'll be economic to restart.

I heard that it was sometimes possible to get one of a limited number of places on a freight ferry from Immingham to Brevik, but the DFDS website says this is no longer possible.

In reply to Flinticus:

long shot but you may be able to get a passenger place on a freight mover such as a paper pulp ferry that does the sweden to europe/UK run. My other half's uncle had a car sent from Essex to Umea (far north of Sweden) using these guys. They may take passengers as they're in effect running back empty.

https://www.sca.com/en/logistics/terminals/locations

or if you are taking a car maybe 

https://www.freightlink.co.uk/knowledge/articles/should-i-travel-freight-or...

In reply to Flinticus:

A few years back I heard you could get a place on a freight vessel from Immingham to somewhere in Norway, possibly Christiansand

In reply to Flinticus:

https://www.freightlink.co.uk/ferry-routes/from-immingham-in-uk mainland-to-gothenburg-in-sweden/%2C2020-01-11?currency=GBP

Freight from immingham to Gothenburg still runs, not cheap and unsure if they'll take cars. The quote above is for a van upto 6m.. same size as a car in a way. 

Edit. Link wouldn't cut.. but you can just Google the website. 

In reply to Flinticus:

We had similar frustrations when heading to Sweden for a family wedding a few years back. In the end we decided to make it into a road trip holiday. Got the channel tunnel and spent about 5 days getting there. We would drive for around half a day and then explore somewhere for the other half. We camped or slept in the van.

In reply to girlymonkey:

Indeed.

Immingham to Rotterdam is a good compromise, you cut the corner and arrive fresh off the overnight ferry at 6-7am ready to drive. 

In reply to summo:

I enquired into the Immingham freight crossing a year or so ago, looking to take a car with me.  

The answer is a flat “no”.  They will not take passengers - Immingham port had its passenger license removed.  It was removed by Teresa May during her time as Home Secretary.  

In reply to innes:

I think it might be more complex. Dfds still run passenger ferries from there to Rotterdam. 

In reply to summo:

Maybe it was the Service or ship, perhaps?

I talked to them directly over the phone and there was definitely a license issue for them.  There maybe more than one dock at Immingham?

In reply to innes:

Quite possible. I'm sure they wouldn't turn trade away if they could take you. 

In reply to summo: They'll take your vehicle... but you won't be in it.  No passenger service Immingham

In reply to wbo2:

Immingham to gbg is a freight route, they take drivers, basic cabin, 3 square meals. They even take what they call a 'trade' car with 5,6 and 7m metres options, plus everything else you can imagine from vans upwards. 

https://www.freightlink.co.uk/booking-details?schedule=54affcc540defe9d0c6d...

Edit. Dfds do self drive immingham to Rotterdam. 

Op. Also passenger service Newcastle to Amsterdam.  https://www.dfds.com/sv-se/passagerarfartyg?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI9ry52e745gIV2...

In reply to summo:

When I moved to Sweden a few years back I looked at taking my car on a freight ship. I'm happy to be proven wrong but pretty sure none of the routes could legally take 'public' vehicles anymore.

In reply to Mike Peacock:

Hence why I said they take a trade car... it's clearly not same as a public one. Probably depends on purpose of journey, your insurance etc. 

The routes via Netherlands from NE England are passenger routes. 

In reply to Flinticus:

For what its worth, when I took my van to Norway in summer 2018, after looking at the options, I took the car ferry from Hull to Zeebrugge overnight, drove to Hirtshall in Denmark (which is too far to drive and make the last ferry on the same day), spent the night in Denmark, caught the first ferry from Hirtshall to Langesund, and started driving from there.... 

There is also a catamaran from Hirtshall to Kristiansand, if you've got a strong stomach and don't mind spending a couple of hours watching people vomitting.  I tried it once in 2017.  I took the slow boat next time!  

I've also done the drive via Copenhagen/Gothenburg, but this adds quite a lot more driving onto an already epic drive.... 

In reply to innes:

All options are tough, swap drivers and go over bridges (not cheap), power nap on ferries between the helsings or frederikshavn to gbg or Oslo ferry options. 

There is no easy or cheap line to take. For most it's cheaper and less tiring just to fly and hire a car. 

In reply to Flinticus:

A friend and I, frustrated at the lack of ferries, drove from Leeds to Norway in one go. We shared driving, one driving and one sleeping in 4 hour shifts. Stopped for ferries from Dover to Dunkirk and Hirtschalls to Larvik.

In the end we did Leeds to Norway in 28 hours. It was a bit grim to be honest. We had a rule that we woudn't drive tired, we would have changed our second ferry booking if we were too tired to continue. It was still an effort though.

We then continued to Lofoton via the usual climbing areas (Nisserdal, Romsdal, Stetind etc)

In reply to Red Rover:

If you wanted to skip the climbing areas on route, it's shortest and quickest to take the e4 up Sweden and cut across via Narvik.. arguably less scenic too, but it gets the miles done. 

In reply to summo:

     Yes definitely. The speed limits in Norway are so low, and there's barely any dual carriageway. 

In reply to Flinticus:

I've done Helsinki to the Midlands and back or vice versa a number of times now. Even over a decade ago the Denmark UK ferry was so bloody expensive we always went to Dunkirk. It's lots of driving but easy to find campsites along the way.

In reply to innes:

P&O run an overnight Hull to Rotterdam ferry