zoomImage Courtesy: Port of Zeebrugge

Pan-European ferry operator P&O Ferries has opened its expanded terminal in Zeebrugge, Belgium, which will help the company to double freight capacity in order to meet rising demand from exporters to Britain.

The terminal has now been enlarged by 14 hectares, comprising a fourth berth and enhanced rail infrastructure.

The expansion is expected to give the ferry company the capacity to handle 700,000 units of freight every year at the Belgian terminal, compared with the current figure of 370,000 units of cargo.

From its Zeebrugge hub, P&O Ferries operates services across the North Sea to UK’s Tilbury, Hull and Teesport.

Last month, the company said it recorded a 16 percent uplift in freight units on its service between Zeebrugge and Teesport between July and September 2016.

In the same quarter, the number of freight units which the company shipped between Gothenburg and Britain almost doubled, compared with the same period in 2015.

P&O Ferries operates 20 vessels on eight routes between Britain, France, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland.