Strike takes toll on Irish Ferries

The 10-day strike at Irish Ferries in December, which forced the company to cancel its sailings to Britain, took its toll on car and truck volumes on the company's Irish Sea routes.

Figures for December show that car volumes at Irish Ferries fell by 37 per cent on the Dublin-Holyhead route and were down by 44 per cent on the Rosslare-Pembroke route compared with the year-ago period.

Truck volumes were also hit hard by the industrial action, falling by 47 per cent on the route between Dublin and Holyhead, while they were down by 40 per cent on the Rosslare-Pembroke route, according to company broker NCB, which cited figures produced by Swedish shipping consultancy, Shippax.

In addition to the business lost as a direct result of the strike, the company appears to have lost forward bookings to its rival Stena Line, which reported strong volume growth in the month.

The strike by SIPTU ships' officers was called in response to a plan by Irish Continental Group (ICG), owner of Irish Ferries, to outsource employment on its Rosslare-Cherbourg service next year to realise savings of between €5 million and €6 million.

SIPTU opposed the move, fearing it would spread to the Irish Sea routes, prompting the bitter dispute which lasted 10 days and led to hundreds of Irish Ferries staff being laid off in the run-up to Christmas.

As concern among exporters and hoteliers mounted, the two sides eventually agreed a back-to-work formula on December 16th and to engage in talks to try to resolve the causes of the dispute.

At the time, analysts estimated the cost of the stoppage at €1.5 million per week, or around €2.2 million for the 10 days, leading brokers to downgrade their full-year 2004 forecasts for the company by 8-10 per cent.

Meanwhile, NCB noted that full-year ferry figures pointed to a difficult year for tourist car traffic on the Ireland-Britain routes although this was partly offset by ongoing expansion in the freight market.

It estimates that Irish Ferries car traffic declined by 5 per cent in 2004 while freight volumes grew by a modest 1.8 per cent.

"Given the increased level of low-cost airline competition in the tourism market from both Ireland and the UK, ferry operators will face ongoing pressure to control costs if profitability is to be maintained," NCB analyst Mr John Sheehan said.

Just last week, low-cost airline Ryanair announced six new routes out of Dublin to destinations in Britain, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Germany.