A FERRY freight service between Ipswich and Ostend will run again.A twice daily service will run after Associated British Ports, which owns Ipswich's port, teamed up with Belgian firm Dart Line NV.

A FERRY freight service between Ipswich and Ostend will run again.

A twice daily service will run after Associated British Ports, which owns Ipswich's port, teamed up with Belgian firm Dart Line NV.

The freight link will replace the Ostend-Harwich International route.

An ABP spokesman said: “This is good news for the port, and comes on the back of other new business running through Ipswich, including deals for the shipping of containers for China Shipping and handling of Canadian timber.”

A sailing schedule, initially based on two daily departures each way, will be released shortly, said Dart Line, a Belgium-based roll-on, roll-off freight ferry operator.

A date for the start of the service has not been announced.

The news follows the closure of a three sailings-a-day Ferryways roll-on roll-off service to Ostend in June last year.

At the time the T & G section of Unite said it had resulted in the loss of 44 jobs at ABP in Ipswich.

ABP, Britain's largest ports group, will provide Dart Line with facilities at the Port of Ipswich's West Bank Terminal.

The closure of the previous Ipswich to Ostend freight route came within days of Belgium-based Ferryways being acquired by another Belgian firm, Cobelfret, a port ferries and logistics operator.

A total of 21 Ferryways staff were made redundant following the appointment of administrators, who were called in by a Belgian court to investigate the finances of Ferryways BV.