28 | COMMENT 28
‘From where I’m sitting’ Howard Knott howard@fleet.ie
What will be the ‘New Normal’ for ferry operations? Shop onboard ‘Stena Estrid’ which is not being stocked with a range of duty-free products
In the Comment piece for the last issue of Fleet Transport, I mentioned some of the significant changes affecting Ireland that have taken place within the ferry business over the last thirty years. Some of these seemed to be quite considerable at the time, but really the changes that have happened over the last twelve months have been in a completely different league. The concern that would be shared by Carriers and Government Ministries with Transport and Travel briefs, along with the ports and companies that trade overseas, must be to understand whether all the changes are just temporary. The big question is, will things come back to “normal”, or will businesses built up over years be completely disrupted? Of the six companies presently running ferry services between Irish and continental ports, for two of them - CLdN and Grimaldi - their focus is purely on unaccompanied freight traffic and their vessels are designed specifically for such traffic. The clear shift away from driver-accompanied trailers to unaccompanied over the last few years, combined with Brexit, has driven uncertainties to sway shippers’ choice of routing away from the British Landbridge. It would be reasonable to assume that these operators can see a reasonably clear path to their future service developments. One possible disrupter to this progress could be the development of higher frequency door to door Lo-Lo Container services integrated with rail and other inland services so that the goods
FLEETTRANSPORT | JUNE - JULY 21
remain on the move with no operating constraints en route. Such services could compete very strongly with the Ro-Ro options, not alone on price, but also on speed. The other four companies running ferry services linking Ireland with Continental Europe, namely Irish Ferries, Stena Line, Brittany Ferries and DFDS, each operate using a mix of Cruise Ferries, Ro-Pax, and Freight Ferries. For the first two vessel types a mix of freight and passenger traffic is required to operate successfully. In the immediate aftermath of Brexit, the cabin capacity of such vessels turned out to be very important, as most trailer traffic diverting from the Landbridge remained driver accompanied, and each driver needed his or her own cabin. As COVID-19 fades away and with the shift to unaccompanied freight, attention turns to filling these cabins with tourists. For most ferry companies, passengers, with their associated on-board spend, make the difference between profit and loss. European Governments are facing strong pressure from the Lines to open-up international travel. What then becomes interesting is the debate as to whether a third disrupter not mentioned so far, the climate change emergency, will impact significantly on international travel. There are two aspects to this. Firstly, will greater greenhouse gas consciousness encourage holiday makers to travel to less distant locations, ones that can be reached by use of surface transport rather than flying, and secondly, whether the already slowly recovering passenger
numbers taking ferries to and from Britain and the continent can be boosted further. Thinking about this, there would seem to be a clear coincidence of interest between seeking to drive car and coach-based tourism using ferry travel, and having price competitive, high-frequency ferry services that support Irish export manufacturing. At its simplest, ferry services in which vessels are running close to their optimum capacity are more likely to be retained and developed by the shipping lines. Add to that, a vibrant Irish marketplace is likely to be one where these major lines will seek to add further routes and frequencies. In recent conversations with Lines, Ports and Tourism interests, mention has been made of considerable pent-up demand of Benelux to Ireland motorhome traffic using the Dunkirk/ Rosslare route, significant family car traffic through Roscoff, St. Malo and Cherbourg, and even “Sail-Rail” foot passenger traffic using ferry services from St. Malo in particular. The same set of arguments apply to ferries linking Ireland and Great Britain. For tourist traffic there is the extra attraction of Duty-Free shopping on-board the ferries; indeed, I heard a rumour that one operator was going to offer day trips from Welsh ports in which the customer would remain on board the ferry all day and buy duty-free. Another unexpected development, perhaps.
