As it’s National Ferry Fortnight, we thought we’d give you some amazing ferry facts.
Amazing Ferry Facts
- UK ferries carried 38.9m passengers in 2015, up from 37.1m in 2012
- 2015 UK ferry passenger numbers to the Continent were 18.1m, domestic British islands 16.0m, and Ireland 4.8m
- UK ferries also carried on board 8.6m cars in 2015……
- ……. and sailed with 161,400 coaches last year
- The 12 main UK ferry operators serve over 75 ferry routes…….
- ……with over 300,000 ferry sailings each year
- France is the largest ferry market for the UK, with 15.6m passengers making a crossing by ferry – compared with around 11m carried by air
- The UK largest ferry operator is P&O Ferries, with a European fleet of 20 modern, purpose-built ships – the smallest is Isles Of Scilly Steamship Group, with one ferry, the Scillonian III
- Of UK resident ferry passengers travelling to the Continent in 2015 – 46.9% were on an independent holiday; 1.5% on a package holiday; 2.7% were on a weekend break; 19.2% were visiting friends and relatives; 7.9% were shopping; 0.7% on a ski holiday; 2.6% on an activity break; 2.5 on business; 1.3% on a mini-cruise; 1.7% on a day trip; and 9.6% visiting a second home
- There are 12 ferry operator members of industry body Discover Ferries – Brittany Ferries; CalMac; Condor Ferries; DFDS; Irish Ferries; Isle of Man Steam Packet Company; Isles of Scilly Steamship Group; Northlink Ferries; P&O Ferries; Red Funnel; Stena Line; and Wightlink
We bet you didn’t know that!