Stena Line breaks annual North Sea traffic records in golden anniversary year

Stena Line achieved record full-year passenger and car volumes on its North Sea route in 2012. The ferry operator, which celebrated its 50^th anniversary in 2012, transported 521,000 passengers and 110,000 cars on its Harwich-Hook of Holland service through the course of the year.

The numbers represented the highest annual volumes on the current timetable, which was implemented after the end of 2006.

In its golden anniversary year Stena Line carried an additional 12,000 passengers and 5,000 cars to Holland compared to the previous year, a 2.4 per cent and 5.2 per cent increase respectively. Annual numbers of passengers booked on Stena Line’s combined rail and ferry ‘dutchflyer’ package grew even more significantly, with a 10 per cent year-on-year increase.

By contrast, British outbound travel as a whole remained flat in 2012. Numbers of UK residents’ visits abroad remained static compared to the previous year, according to Office for National Statistics data (up to November 2012).

Stena Line concluded its year of North Sea growth riding a particularly impressive wave. The final month of 2012 saw a 13.4 per cent lift in passengers (an additional 5,000) over the same month in the previous year and a 16.3 per cent lift in cars (1,000 more than in December 2011).

The entire three-month period ending 31 December 2012 was strong, with a 6.4 per cent upsurge in passengers (7,000 more than in Q4 2011) and a 9.5 per cent rise in car numbers (2,000 more than in Q4 2011).

August 2012 proved to be Stena Line’s busiest month of any year across the North Sea in the past five years, in terms of both cars and passengers (68,000 passengers and 16,000 cars).

The largest growth in a single month was experienced in March 2012 (5,000 more passengers and 1,000 more cars than in the same month the preceding year, a 20 per cent rise in each instance).

Lars Olsson, Stena Line’s general manager for travel on the North Sea, said, “It has been particularly important for Stena Line to achieve ongoing growth in North Sea volumes following our 2010 investment in two Superferries, which are larger than their predecessors and the largest of their kind. This makes the past year’s record success all the more welcome.

“Conditions remained very testing in 2012 and for many transport operators the Diamond Jubilee and Olympic and Paralympic Games dampened demand.

“We’re pleased to see that, for Stena Line, our golden anniversary year was actually the most successful on the present North Sea timetable. This really shows that our pricing and marketing strategies and the appeal of our onboard product helped to steal market share from no-frills airlines and the Channel Tunnel. We look forward to achieving yet further growth out of Harwich for 2013.”

Stena Line operates twice-daily six-hour return crossings between Harwich and the Hook of Holland, with fares starting from £59 one-way for an adult and car.

To make a booking visit stenaline.co.uk,
call Stena Line on 08447 70 70 70, or visit your local travel agent

For further press information please contact:

Rosie Beaumont-Thomas, Katie Bentley-Chan, Richard Rigby, Helen Coop, Four bgb

tel: 020 3023 9993 I email: stenaline@fourbgb.com