Norfolkline drives Mazda's business straight into Scotland
January 18th 2010
Since Norfolkline reintroduced the Rosyth-Zeebrugge route, an increasing number of businesses are taking advantage of the cost savings and environmental benefits of the direct Continental link, the latest being major car manufacturer, Mazda.
As of January 2010, Mazda will ship all Scotland-bound vehicles via the Norfolkline service and, with over 6,000 cars forecast over the year, will become the biggest car importer north of the border.
Following an extensive review of Mazda’s car delivery network in the UK Mazda has moved delivery of cars for Scotland from Grimsby (over 260 miles away) to Rosyth, resulting in a reduction of 493 tonnes of CO2 per annum and 280,000 transportation miles.
The deliveries into Rosyth started with Norfolkline on the 4th January, reducing the delivery time to customers by 24 hours. With a forecast of over 6,000 cars transiting through the port in 2010 Mazda will become the biggest car importer to Scotland.
The introduction of the new service means that deliveries from port to dealer are now less than three hours journey time to eighty percent of the Scottish mainland dealers who between them account for over ninety percent of Scottish registrations.
Commenting on the new business partnership, Bas van Helden, route director of Rosyth-Zeebrugge service for Norfolkline, said:
"As Scotland’s only direct ferry link to the Continent, this route offers convenience, cost savings and carbon footprint reductions, and it is encouraging to see more and more businesses, such as Mazda, utilising these benefits.
"The new partnership sits well with our existing portfolio, which already comprises a number of large-scale vehicle manufacturers including Mercedes-Benz. We look forward to working with Mazda and helping to reinforce their commitment to greener business practice."
David Rodriguez, head of sales, planning and distribution for Mazda UK, added:
"Scotland is our most successful market in the UK. On average we sell more cars per dealer than anywhere else, but delivery time to the dealers was the highest of any UK dealer.
With an increasing volume of Mazdas in Scotland we were faced with having to increase the number of lorry journeys which in turn would have led to a greater CO2 footprint, and it was these three factors that were the catalyst for change.
Norfolkline’s service into Rosyth seemed the perfect solution: our customers get their cars a day earlier, we reduce our CO2 footprint and, with 280,000 fewer miles travelled by lorry, we have done a small amount for reduced traffic congestion.
B2B connectivity
As part of the agreement between Norfolkline and Mazda a business to business (B2B) link was put in place so that Mazda could send shipment requests and track the progress of their shipments electronically using their own IT systems. Norfolkline has put many such solutions in place for other ferry & logistics customers, but this is the first time a B2B solution had been put in place for a car manufacturer or distributor.
Declan Walsh, eBusiness Manager ar Norfolkline commented:
"Norfolkline ships cars for a variety of manufacturers and distributors on its Irish Sea & North Sea routes, but to date the booking, tracking & invoicing processes have been very manual. With Mazda a solution has been put in place where they provide us with electronic messages as to what needs to be shipped and invoiced which allow Norfolkline to automate a number of process and automatically provide them with notifications on arrival at Rosyth.
So far this solution has worked very well and we hope to offer similar solutions to our other car manufacturing and distribution companies in the near future."
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