Numbers down on tourist ferries

UK-based Ports and ferries group P&O said today its key Dover-Calais route had struggled to cash in on the peak tourist season.

P&O announced in May that it had agreed the sale of part of its ferry operations on the Irish Sea to ferry operator Stena.

P&O said a downturn in tourist travel in the first half continued to affect passenger numbers in the third quarter between July and September.

Passenger carryings in its ferry business were significantly down and numbers of cars and coaches using the Dover-Calais route were weak, down to 532,000 from 549,000 in the same quarter last year.

But P&O said growth in volumes of containers in its ports business remained strong at 24%, with 13% attributable to organic growth.

It added that its cold logistics business, which moves fruit, meat and other fresh foodstuffs, continued to experience competitive pressure in the US, although the Australasian business achieved another quarter of steady trading.

Besides Dover-Calais, P&O’s ferries business includes routes in the North Sea, Irish Sea and the western part of the English Channel.

It discontinued routes in 2002 including Dover to Zeebrugge, Felixstowe to Rotterdam and Zeebrugge, and its services to the Scottish Isles.

It said car and coach carryings on its non-Dover/Calais routes declined from 378,000 in the third quarter last year to 333,000 in the same period this year.

Between the same periods, passenger numbers on Dover-Calais dropped to 3.1 million from 3.4 million and other routes saw numbers fall to 1.3 million from 1.4 million.

The group’s ports business encompasses operations in Asia, the Americas, Europe and Australia. Overall, container throughput grew to just under three million from 2.4 million.

In the UK, P&O said its terminals continued to experience good growth in volumes of cargo originating from and coming to the UK.

“The freight business continued to experience steady volume growth,” it said.

In September, the group said operating profits in the first six months of the year more than doubled to £45.1m (€65m) while pre-tax profits were £3.3m (€4.7m) against losses of £44.2m (€63.5m) last time.