Published on : Thursday, May 10, 2018
The ferries division saw a decline in revenue, as lower charter income outweighed rises in passengers and freight.
The total revenue for the period fell 2.4 per cent to €52.3 million, ICG said. The company sold the Kaitaki in June 2017 and redeployed the Westpac Express from November 2017, bringing it into service on the Dublin – Holyhead route to replace the Jonathan Swift.
The sale of the Jonathan Swift, announced at the end of January 2018, boosted the company’s net cash to €69.3 million at the end of April, compared with €39.6 million at December 31st.
The company saw a rise of 2.4 per cent year on year in the number of cars carried on Irish Ferries, with a total of 100,400 for the period. Freight carryings rose 3.9 per cent to 99,500 roll-on, roll off units. ICG’s business generates a higher proportion of its profit in the summer months.
However, Irish Continental Group has been hit with an unexpected delay in deploying a new ship on its Dublin to Cherbourg route. In January, ICG formally launched the cruise ferry WB Yeats, which was due to commence sailing between Ireland and France on the Dublin-Cherbourg route on July 12th 2018. However, delivery of the ship has now been delayed to “on or about” July 13th. The company was unable to find a replacement to cover the July sailings, and has had to cancel a number of sailings.
Irish Continental Group released its capacity on the Oscar Wilde that had been held in case of delays, a move that had cost the company €2.5 million in lost revenue but allowed customers affected by the cancelled sailings the chance to sail the day before or the day after their planned sailing.
Irish Continental Group has also provided affected customers with a voucher for €150 towards a sailing to the Continent in 2019. ICG said most customers had chosen to reroute, with 5 per cent seeking a refund and 1 per cent yet to make a decision. In ICG’s container and terminal division, total revenues rose 6.1 per cent to €46.8 million. Volumes shipped up to May 8th were up 1.1 per cent to 116,400 20-foot equivalent units, with the number of units handled at ICG’s terminals in Dublin and Belfast up 4.8 per cent year on year to 109,000 lifts.
Tags: ICG, Irish Ferries, Kaitaki