Seatruck Ferries weathering the storms

SEATRUCK FERRIES SUCCESSFULLY WEATHERS BREXIT & COVID-19 PANDEMIC STORMS

While ferry companies, like many other businesses, have been battered on a number of fronts over the past two years, not least because of Brexit and Covid-19 lockdowns, the operational model employed by Seatruck Ferries has successfully weathered those storms, as Export & Freight’s David Stokes has discovered.

Having celebrated 25 years of steady growth on the Irish Sea in 2021, Seatruck Ferries is looking to the future with confidence, and with good reason, as it sees its unaccompanied freight only service in increasing demand. The company, headed up by Chief Executive Officer Alistair Eagles, began its Warrenpoint service in May 1996 and today operates three routes: Dublin – Liverpool; Dublin – Heysham; and Warrenpoint -Heysham. Combined, the service moves hundreds of thousands of trailers per year ranging from tippers, tanks, flats, refrigerated and hazardous units on crossing which are serviced by six vessels, four of which can carry up to 140 vehicles, the other two just over 100 vehicles.“We have another two vessels on charter, one to Stena Line, the other to P&O Ferries, which gives us the capacity for further growth if and when volumes increase, which we believe they will,” says Alistair. Among reasons for that optimism is the continuing driver shortage which has been exacerbated by the fallout from Brexit. “Even before we left the European Union there was a severe driver shortage, and that’s only got worse. Today, transport companies need to look at how best they can utilise their drivers; having them sit on a ferry crossing probably isn’t the most effective way to do so, which is why sending freight unaccompanied can be a much better option in many cases.” And there is another reason: consideration for the environment. “More and more companies are focused on the environment. Using an unaccompanied freight service clearly cuts down on road miles and therefore reduces harmful emissions.” Those arguments certainly stack up when looking at recent statistics. “When we first launched 25 years ago, 70% of freight on the Irish Sea was driver accompanied, but according to the latest quarterly report from the IMDO, 70% of total traffic on the Irish Sea in the 3rd quarter of 2021was unaccompanied. That’s a complete reverse, and the market continues to move in that direction,” adds Alistair. Contributing to those figures, no doubt, is the fact that many drivers wanted to maintain social distancing and that was made easier by utilising an unaccompanied freight only service as it kept them off ferries and out of harm’s way. At one stage, Seatruck ferries stopped shipping any HGV drivers or any other passengers on its Irish Sea vessels. “Although our Irish Sea services ran as normal they were restricted to the shipment of drop trailers and unaccompanied trade vehicles. Customers who normally moved driver accompanied vehicles on our services were still able to move their traffic, albeit on an unaccompanied trailer only basis.” “To further protect the crews, we cancelled all but critical maintenance that involved shore technicians coming onboard. Crew also stayed on the vessel and didn’t get off when in port. Cleaning regimes

onboard were also stepped up. If a crew member were to develop symptoms, we created isolation areas on each vessel as it was vital that the ships keep moving,” explains Alistair who added that those restrictions were now gradually being eased. “We are taking drivers again, but there is no sharing of cabins, and the situation is kept constantly under review.

PROUD MILESTONE

“Although we reached that 25 year milestone in 2021, we didn’t feel it appropriate to have a big celebration because of Covid-19 and the social distancing measures, but we are proud of what our dedicated team has achieved over that period, and we feel there is a lot more to come in the years ahead.” That’s not to say the past two years haven’t had any impact on the business. Indeed, at one stage in the early days of the Covid19 pandemic Seatruck Ferries, like others around them, suffered a sharp decline in traffic. However, there was a reasonable quick rebound, helped by the fact that businesses began stockpiling ahead of Brexit, and more traffic was diverted from the Republic to Northern Ireland ports, driven by changes in customs checks and procedures. “Taking everything into account, overall last year our volumes were down just three percent compared to the general market at eight percent, and the year ahead is looking reasonably healthy for us.”

MYSEATRUCK

One of the more recent additions to the service offered by Seatruck Ferries and well appreciated by its customers is the relaunched MySeatruck, an online booking portal that can be used to make and amend bookings, track and trace units, review statistics, manage users and see up-to-date sailing schedules and news about the Seatruck services. Regarded as the most user-friendly, informative, and easy-to-use online booking system on the Irish Sea, it can be viewed on PCs & iMacs, tablets, and phones, using current operating systems. It’s a one-stop-shop for all your business with Seatruck and is entirely free to all Seatruck Ferries customers. “Three years ago less than 10% of bookings were made electronically,” says Alistair, “but that has risen to over 90%.” Entirely within ‘MySeatruck’ you can create your PBN’s and GMR’s without needing to access the Government websites. Customers have described it as a ‘game changer’ and it is proving to be a huge advantage since the beginning of this year when both a GMR and PBN have been required for UK-Ireland movements in both directions. Both references can be created on a single screen without the need to enter significant information as most of the data needed is taken from your online booking. You just need to add the MRN’s for your loads and instantaneously your GMR’s and PBN’s are generated and verified at the push of a button. The functionality also works for GB-NI loads. The ability to bulk-create GMR’s and PBN’s for empty loads has recently been introduced. Another popular service is Seatruck’s exit customs screen in Dublin, with collecting drivers getting a final reminder of their customs routing status as they exit the terminal; it is the only ferry company offering that service, which rather appropriately sums up Seatruck Ferries’ proactive approach to good customer relations. This is due to be rolled out to other terminals as import customs procedures come into force.