UK Ferry Tickets

Does this mark the beginning? The news that DFDS Seaways is to close down the Newcastle to Scandinavia ferry line is, perhaps, not that monumentous. But look closer at the reasons and there may be cause for real concern.

Rising oil prices and the economic downturn are blamed. Thus DFDS held their hands up in surrender and used the excuse of generations of Scottish schoolboys: "It wisnae me."

In fairness DFDS did produce a third, and arguably more persuasive reason, of falling passenger numbers. But at the same time officials in Bergen can boast of 200,000 British tourists each summer so there remains a market. And the closure of the route, at the beginning of September, gives DFDS no time to see if last years trend of increasing passenger numbers over the summer months continues.

So 350 people lose their jobs. Tourism in Norway and Newcastle suffers. And ferry passengers, especially the North Britons amongst us, lose another valuable route.

What worries me is that DFDS seem to have capitulated awfully early. Granted oil prices are not great. And I’ll concede - although it’s a field I am not an expert in - that the economy has looked stronger. But would European ferry holidays and short breaks not become more viable and attractive to travellers as the economic pinch starts to nip?

Have DFDS set a precedent? Will other operators take a look at their less busy routes and decide the time has come to scarper? The escape route is there now. The regretful nods in the direction of the local area, the resigned shrug of the shoulders as they point at the global economy and the rise in oil prices as the reason for their departure.

Of course closing routes is the last resort. Before then can we expect rising prices for tickets? Will those little extras that make for a more comfortable journey bear the brunt of escalating prices? All, or any of this, will be carried out with the same excuses: oil prices and economic downturn.

Of course I might be scaremongering. I might, despite my best intentions, simply have fallen prey to the current media mantra that things can only get worse.

But it strikes me that, if nothing else, the announcement by DFDS (studiously ignored on their own website) could be indicative that a change is going to come. The ferry operators will plead their innocence. But like all these things it’s the consumer that suffers. Unless, of course, the companies begin to court us. Might they begin a war for our custom by lowering prices to attract us in what might be called the opposite of the DFDS tactic?

That might be our glimmer of hope. But the one thing we do know for certain is that DFDS have fired the starting pistol and the world economy is now impacting on ferry travel. These will be interesting times.

Guest Article by Tom Hall

Thursday, May 29th, 2008