P&O PORTSMOUTH has reported rises in passenger and vehicle volumes in 1999, despite a downturn in the second half of the year following the abolition of duty-free.
Passenger numbers increased by 1% to almost 2.02m, while vehicle carryings rose by 3.5% to 525,000 in 1999.
Head of passenger sales and marketing Paul Barringer claimed peak summer holiday traffic had not been too badly affected by the loss of duty-free, but admitted that volumes had been down before the Christmas period.
“We were pleased with our performance. The growth we had came out of demand for our fastcraft, Superstar Express,” he said. P&O Portsmouth carried 325,000 passengers on its fastcraft between March and September last year, compared with 249,000 between June and September in 1998.
The operator plans to replace Superstar Express with a larger vessel, Portsmouth Express, for summer 2000.
Meanwhile, Tony Tabner has been appointed as UK sales manager to replace Barringer, who was promoted in January following Richard Kirkman’s departure to join Railtrack.
Tabner, who has previously worked for Crystal Holidays, Inghams and Meon Villas, will lead a team of five staff.