Godby Shipping locks in DFDS charters for three vessels to end-2027

Godby Shipping has extended its time charter agreements with DFDS for three vessels — Lysvik Seaways, Lysbris Seaways and Transporter — keeping all three on DFDS networks until 31 December 2027.

That's a two-year visibility window on ro-ro and paper tonnage across the North Sea. The Åland-based owner confirmed the extensions this week, describing them as a way to secure operational continuity for the vessels and their crews while extending a long-standing cooperation with DFDS.

Short sentence, big consequence. DFDS now knows its deployed capacity on these lanes through the end of 2027, and Godby has fixed income on three hulls in a market where charter certainty is worth something.

Which vessels, which trades?

Two of the three ships work the paper trade. Lysvik Seaways and Lysbris Seaways joined the Godby fleet in December 2021 and January 2022 respectively, bought from DFDS and then charred straight back — a sale-and-charter-back structure that let DFDS free capital while keeping the tonnage employed.

Since then, both vessels have carried Norske Skog paper from Skogn, Norway, to three discharge points:

• Sheerness, United Kingdom
• Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Hamburg, Germany

The cargo is finished paper from Norske Skog's Skogn mill, one of the largest publication-paper producers in Europe. That trade needs steady, dedicated tonnage rather than spot ships, which is exactly what a multi-year charter provides.

The third vessel runs a different network. Transporter joined Godby Shipping's fleet from Eckerö Shipping in November 2025 and has kept operating for DFDS between the Norwegian ports of Drammen, Halden and Fredrikstad and Immingham in the United Kingdom — a conventional Norway–UK ro-ro corridor carrying freight units across the North Sea.

What does this change for shippers?

In practical terms, not much — and that's the point. Paper shippers moving out of Skogn keep the same vessels serving Sheerness, Amsterdam and Hamburg. Norwegian exporters using the Drammen–Halden–Fredrikstad to Immingham link keep the same rotation. When a charter lapses, a carrier can redeploy, renegotiate or let the ship go; extension removes that question until the end of 2027.

For DFDS, fixing three hulls through 2027 locks in network capacity at known cost, which matters when North Sea ro-ro operators are balancing fleet deployment against fluctuating freight demand. For Godby, the extensions mean employed tonnage and steady revenue rather than chasing spot business with 25-year-old paper carriers.

Godby also credited the people behind the ships, thanking DFDS for its continued cooperation and recognising the crews aboard Lysvik Seaways, Lysbris Seaways and Transporter for their contribution to the vessels' operations.

The next decision point now sits at the far end of 2027, when all three charters expire together — giving both parties a single, well-flagged moment to redraw the arrangement or let the vessels move on.