SEAFRANCE has backed up figures from the Dover Harbour Board showing a 20-25% drop in cross-Channel traffic last November as the abolition of duty free continued to deter travellers.
However, managing director Robin Wilkins said a hike in prices had already improved yield, and claimed that SeaFrance would report a profit for the financial year ending December 31 1999.
The Dover Harbour Board reported that the number of cars using the port fell 26.3% to 188,000 and passenger volumes dropped by 23.2% to 1.07m in November, compared to the same period last year.
Wilkins admitted the company saw a 20% drop in cars and passengers to 32,000 and 200,000 respectively during the same month.
“The figures are in line with what we anticipated after seeing the developments over September and October,” said Wilkins. “They reflect the fact that duty free has disappeared and therefore people don’t need to travel so frequently to obtain duty-paid goods, because they can now buy unlimited amounts. Fares have increased, which is another disincentive to travel.”
He admitted that raising prices was ‘unknown territory’ and that it would be impossible to assess the impact until at least the first anniversary of abolition, which takes place on July 1 2000.
“It is no longer viable for ferry companies to subsidise the cost of travel to encourage passengers to buy goods while on board,” he said.
“Before abolition we were accused of profiteering but we used the money we made to subsidise travel.” Wilkins added that it was impossible to predict how long it would take for volumes to recover to their pre-abolition levels.
P&O Stena Line refused to reveal its traffic volumes in November or to comment on the current cross-Channel market.