Ferry bucks trend

In a year when many passenger ferries are struggling to keep numbers up, Stena Line has seen an increase of 11% on cars transported to the Netherlands on the Harwich Hook of Holland route in March alone.

The operator, which introduced two new passenger-freight Superferries on the route in May and October 2010, is on track to grow its North Sea volumes for the fifth consecutive year, with nearly 30,000 passengers and 5,700 cars travelling in March, an increase of 17% in passengers in one month compared to last year. Stena Line has now taken a total of over 78,000 passengers from Harwich in the first three months of 2012.