Larne-Cairnryan is P&O Ferries’ service with the highest volume of freight traffic in six years in 2017.
P&O Ferries, one of UK’s largest ferry operators, offers the shortest and most frequent crossings between Northern Ireland and mainland Britain. In 2017 it carried 210,533 lorries and trailers on its ships, a figure that represents a 1.3% increase on 2016, and its best result since 2011.
The Larne-Cairnryan service is the shortest way to cross the Irish Sea and it operates up to seven times a day. It is conducted by the 22,000 ton sister ships ‘European Endeavour and European Causeway’ and it transports goods between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and Britain, as well as on the continent via the connecting services from Dover, Tilbury, Hull, and Teesport.
Neal, Mernock, P&O Ferries’ Sector Director for the Irish Sea, commented on this achievement that is illustrates “the vital importance of our service to the thousands of businesses and millions of consumers who rely on the efficient and reliable transportation of goods across the Irish Sea.”
He also mentioned the event in the spring when the company brought one of their English Channel ferries, ‘European Seaway’, to cover the route because the other two ships went into dry dock for the annual maintenance: “the feedback from our customers was that they hadn’t noticed any difference, which is the ultimate compliment.”
The company saw a successful 2017 for its services between Larne-Cairnryan and Liverpool-Dublin, with a strong volume of agricultural and dairy produce, building materials, consumer goods, machinery, peat and household coal being transported.
P&O Ferries is also a leader in the pan-European haulage, sailing 27,000 times a year on eight major routes between Britain, France, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Holland, and Belgium. It also operated more than 20 vessels that carry 10 million passengers and 2.2 million freight units every year.
Together with its logistics division, P&O Ferrymasters, they offer road and rail links to Italy, Poland, Germany, Spain, and Romania. P&O Ferrymasters is also the owner of a rail terminal in Romania that facilitates the onward movement of goods to Britain from Asian countries via the Silk Road.
