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SCHOOL’S OUT?<\/p>\n
Thousands of Scots pupils face more time off as teachers urged to strike<\/p>\n
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This could allow products arriving from the EU being docked at Rosyth, and then checked at the BCP in Grangemouth.<\/p>\n
The new route would be particularly important for the agricultural sector in Scotland, which has faced challenges due to Brexit.<\/p>\n
Derek Sloan \u2013 the shipping expert behind the project \u2013 hailed the latest news.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cIt takes that red line away. So, now we can move on with some of the other issues which are nowhere near as difficult to solve.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Ptarmigan Shipping CEO said that this includes improving the infrastructure at Rosyth. Project partners, meanwhile, are already looking at vessels.<\/p>\n
Sloan said a launch date has been set for May 26 2026, adding: \u201cThat\u2019s our preferred start date because that way we would catch the holiday season for passengers, which would be a good start for the vessel.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re looking at vessels and continue talks with the Port of Rosyth about some of the infrastructure that\u2019s required. The Port of Dunkirk is basically ready.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m quite positive that things are starting to turn in the right direction now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes has already written to Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander confirming the Scottish Government\u2019s intention to do everything in its power to remove obstacles to the project.<\/p>\n
She also called on the UK Government to confirm they are willing \u201cto address at pace\u201d the border control issues which remain reserved.<\/p>\n
Officials have been instructed to prepare a consultation on the legislation, which is expected to be launched as soon as possible and before the Scottish Parliament is dissolved for next May\u2019s elections.<\/p>\n
Asked whether there is enough urgency and concerns as to whether May 26 may be too soon, Sloan said: \u201cThe Scottish Government knows the deadline as well. They know that if it gets delayed too long, then we\u2019ll not meet that deadline.<\/p>\n
Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes has already written to Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander in a bid to remove obstacles to the project.Credit: Alamy<\/p>\n
\u201cSo there\u2019s definitely a sense of urgency on their part as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cYou never can say it\u2019s done until it\u2019s done, but I think everyone\u2019s now pulling in the right direction together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scots currently need to travel down to Newcastle if they want to take a ferry to mainland Europe after the freight service between Rosyth and Zeebrugge in Belgium stopped sailing seven years ago \u2013 with Danish operator DFDS Seaways saying it wasn\u2019t economically viable, after a fire.<\/p>\n
The last that carried passenger services was in 2010.<\/p>\n
Scots currently need to travel to England to take a ferry to mainland EuropeCredit: Getty\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Credit: Getty \u200bTHE exact date for the return of a direct ferry service between Scotland and Europe has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21375,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6052],"tags":[6057,4985,14532],"class_list":{"0":"post-21374","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dfds","8":"tag-dfds","9":"tag-farming","10":"tag-scottish-national-party"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21374"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21374\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"DFDS](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/dfds-ferries-sailing-near-dover-1008655599.jpg\")
Credit: Getty<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GettyImages-465138778jpg-JS324339035.jpg\"\/)
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