Oslo-headquartered pure car and truck carrier operator United European Car Carriers (UECC) is enhancing its North-South trading network by adding the dual-fuel LNG pure car and truck carrier (PCTC) Blue Heritage and including a new port call in Yarimca, Turkey.

The Blue Heritage will be deployed on the North-South route spanning the Mediterranean and Northern Europe that is also being extended with the inclusion of the Turkish port of Yarimca for regular calls, in addition to Efesan and Autoport in Turkey.

This means there will be three vessels on a port rotation of Flushing, Zeebrugge, Cuxhaven, Vigo, Yarimca, Efesan, Autoport and back to Flushing.

Another four vessels will run on the port rotation of Cuxhaven, Bremerhaven, Zeebrugge, Portbury, Vigo, Sagunto, Livorno, Piraeus, Autoport and back to Cuxhaven.

“We are expanding our fleet with operation of an additional eco-friendly Pure Car and Truck Carrier (PCTC) that will enhance cargo-carrying capacity and flexibility for our clients on this major route, while further reducing the carbon footprint of their logistics,” said UECC COO Per Christian Mørk.

The addition of the Blue Heritage will increase to seven the number of UECC vessels traversing this route, boosting sailing frequency to 4.5 days from Turkey to Northern Europe, in accordance with the company’s statement.

The 200-metre Blue Heritage has capacity for 7,000 car equivalent units (CEUs) across 12 decks and is the sistership to the Blue Aspire.

According to UECC, the vessel can also carry high and heavy (H&H) cargoes thanks to four of its 12 decks being hoistable.

Like its sistership, the Blue Heritage has dual-fuel LNG engines that are able to run on liquefied biomethane (LBM).