Ferry News Archive
Ferry firms urged to boost foot passenger traffic
Date: 02 Jul 2010 14:30 Source: Lloyds ListThe Irish minister for State at the Department of Transport has called for ferry companies operating into Ireland to provide more services for foot passengers.
Opening this year’s Shortsea Shipping Congress in Dublin, Green Party member Ciaran Cuffe told delegates that the volcanic ash crisis had shown how important sea services to the island of Ireland remained, but added that the sector needed to increase its overall visibility and look to increase foot passenger traffic.
“There is still work to do to show where the passenger connections are. There’s a challenge out there to take foot passengers on routes and ferries that don’t take them currently, and I just throw that out as a comment from someone who is a frequent user of ferry services. I understand that there are health and safety restrictions, but I am sure that these concerns can also be accommodated.
“The industry probably gained new customers as a result of the volcano, who have discovered that it is a luxurious and punctual way of travelling, and we as a government will encourage it further.”
Brittany Ferries group strategy and commercial director Christophe Mathieu said 75% of his company’s revenues came from passengers, and said that the business was now on an upward curve.
“The passenger business has fought back nicely. The volcano certainly helped, and if anything it is rather a shame that’s has been quite for the last few weeks.”
Mr Mathieu added that market share had been won from alternative modes of passenger transport that have lately won infamy for their treatment of their customers.
“A few years ago everybody thought we had lost against the low cost airlines but we have fought back, particularly against those who have become caricatures of the low cost model.”
However, he was far most pessimistic about the future of ferry freight traffic, which he said was unsure to ever recover to pre-recession levels.
“There has been a 20% decline in volumes between 2007 and 2009, and although we feel a slight recovery is underway, as globalisation continues to occur, more and more goods will be produced in low cost countries and so we are not sure whether the traffic will ever come back.”
By way of illustration he said that more than one million trucks journeys had disappeared from the roads of the UK and Ireland during the recession.
“That is roughly equivalent to the annual carryings of all of P&O Ferries’ cross-channel services, so it is a reasonable conclusion that there is one company too many operating. Unfortunately it seems that company is SeaFrance.
“Ro-ro capacity in the UK and Ireland has not been adjusted to match current demand, and is actually likely to increase: P&O will have a 30%-40% increase in capacity the the introduction of its new super-sized ferries, and Eurotunnel can and will increase the frequency of its services because after its fire it is coming back to that market with a vengeance. [This year] will be a year of reckoning for the ferry companies and the price war on the Channel has started again.”
He said that the expansion of Brittany Ferries’service would revolve around its passenger volumes.
“We used to think that freight traffic subsidises passengers, but in our case it is actually the other way round. Freight only makes up 25% of our business, but we look after it carefully and we have been considering operating a con-ro service.”
But he warned that nay recovery in the ro-ro sector would be threatened by the introduction of Marpol VI emission regulations in 2015 and called for European Commission Marco Polo funds to be used to help the ro-ro industry, otherwise volumes would inevitably return to road.
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