September 13, 2018
How Was Your Summer?
September is a good month to ask some company and port executives how the summer has been. In general: very good!
- Stena Line doesn’t communicate detailed traffic figures per route. However, the summer has seen a strong development, with a 3% increase of passengers, cars and freight from June to August, says Jesper Waltersson, Press & Media Relations Manager. On the passenger side, the Germany routes and the Baltic Sea routes (Baltic, Poland) clearly stand out.
- Danske Færger felt the price reduction for trucks on the Great Belt bridge, explains CEO John Steen-Mikkelsen. “It affected the freight figures on the Langeland (Spodsbjerg- Tårs) route.” All routes have made good progress on the passenger and car business, with an increase of 2.3%. Only freight was down, -0.7%. On 1 September Molslinjen took over the Bornholm route. The same company wishes to buy Danske Færger A / S. Approval from the Swedish Competition Authority is being awaited for.
- Port of Ystad‘s CEO Björn Boström is delighted with this year’s summer. Between May and August the southern Swedish port saw increased on all segments, except for coaches (-1%). Ferry freight went up by 13.9% (in tonnes), with almost 20% more trucks compared to the same period last year. Cars went up 1.4% and passengers 1.7%. The port has also seen increase of 9.9% in the number of ferry calls.
- Destination Gotland finds that passenger travel in June-August, to and from Gotland, has increased by 1.7% compared to 2017, which already was a record year. Freight increased by 6.7%, says Christer Bruzelius, CEO of Destination Gotland.
- The Channel seems to have been busy too. P&O Ferries earlier reported the best tourist carryings for a July on the English Channel in three years, with the hot summer weather inspiring more people to travel between Britain and the Continent by ship.
