A new cargo and passenger ferry service connecting Scotland and France could launch later this year, eight years after freight ferries last linked Scotland to mainland Europe and 16 years after passenger services ceased. The proposed route between Rosyth in Fife and Dunkirk is part of a €40bn (£35bn) regeneration programme at the French port, which officials say will mirror the resilience of the second world war evacuation.
The Dunkirk regeneration plan, backed by approximately €4bn in private and public investment, aims to transform the 60-year-old port into a hub for low-carbon energy projects, battery factories, and maritime logistics. Mayor Patrice Vergriete said the region is betting on the energy and ecological transition to redevelop an industrial area that suffered severe deindustrialisation, with heavy industry employment falling from thousands to just a few hundred by the 1980s.
Marie-Pierre de Bailliencourt, director general of the Institut Montaigne thinktank, described Dunkirk as a “laboratory” and “testing ground for European industrial renewal”. Key projects include Verkor’s car battery factory, which opened in December, and a partnership with Renault Alpine to develop hydrogen fuel cars. Steelmaker ArcelorMittal is also switching from blast furnaces to electric arc furnaces, supported by €850m in French subsidies.
At the centre of the transformation is a €1.7bn industrial revamp of a contaminated area once occupied by a refinery destroyed in the second world war and later closed in 2010. After a five-year clean-up, Technip Energies will build a battery factory and biofuel production plant, alongside specialised import-export terminals. The port is also expanding routes and tying in with a new €25m rail terminal to shift freight from truck to train.
The Scottish route would initially involve one ship sailing three times a week from Rosyth, with a passage time of around 20 hours. It could be operated by Danish-headquartered DFDS. Daniel Deschodt, deputy chief executive of the port of Dunkirk, expressed hope that the service would be popular with Scottish rugby fans, particularly for the Six Nations tournament early next year. Previous freight-only services between Rosyth and Zeebrugge ended in 2018, and passenger services stopped in 2010, leaving Scottish travellers with only the Newcastle-Amsterdam ferry as a nearest option.
