- Ferry and overall profits rise
- Expansion in services planned for arrival of WB Yeats
Eamonn Rothwell, Chief Executive of Irish Ferries
In the period from 1 January 2018 to 3 March 2018, Irish Ferries carried 35,600 cars, up 9.1pc ,while the number of passengers carried is up 4.5pc to 135,500.
Bad weather in the period up to 3 March 2018 left conventional sailings down 9pc while the 43,800 RoRo units carried is down 3.3pc on the prior year.
In its annual report the holding company stated:
- Revenue is up 3pc to €335.1m
- Operating profit is up 42.2pc to €89.0m
- Ferry revenue is up 1.1pc to €212.1m
- Ferry operating profit is up 48.8pc to €77.8m
Irish Ferries say there are 74w sailings to Holyhead to rise to 84w post delivery of WB Yeats and 102w sailings to Pembroke to rise to 112w post delivery of WB Yeats. The number of French sailings were rise from 9w to 14w.
The delivery fo WB Yeats this year will be followed by another new build for delivery in 2020. There is finance in place to deliver a third new build but no announcement has been made yet. Irish ferries bought back €125m of their own shares.
Cars and passengers were responsible for 58pc of revenue in 2017 compared with 39pc for freight and 3pc for charter.
There were 3,500 sailings to Holyhead, 1,400 sailings to Pembroke and 800 to France.
irishferries.com received 6m visits in 2017 delivering 80pc of the car and passenger bookings transacted. Irish ferries say it is still committed to the travel trade for many of the remaining 20pc of bookings.
HSC Jonathan Swift was recently sold to Balearia Eurolines Maritimas for €15.5m and will be replaced by the HSC Westpac Express, renamed Dublin Swift.
