A new company called Norwegian Seaways plans to reopen a ferry service across the North Sea from Stavanger in Norway to Newcastle in the UK, a Norwegian media report says.

The new company says it would need NOK85 million to acquire a large ropax vessel, believed to be Ikarus Palace of Grimaldi group, of which it already has NOK55 million, the Aftenbladet daily reports.

There has been no ferry service between the two countries since 2008, when DFDS, the Danish ferry company, closed its operation that linked Bergen, Haugesund and Stavager with Newcastle.

Meanwhile, a UK media report says former directors of P&O Ferries, the Dover based ferry company in the DP World group that has its headquarters in Dubai, are involved with the project.