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Seatruck Ferries set sail for further growth
Seatruck Ferries is on the brink of moving its Irish Sea operations on to a new level. By next Spring, it will have two brand new vessels on each of its four crossings, with capacity for around 250,000 units per year - and there are plans for further expansion, not necessarily on the Irish Sea.
Despite the recent departure of Chief Executive Kevin Hobbs, it’s clearly business as usual at the company, a growing player in the freight-only shipping market across the Irish Sea. Export & Freight recently caught up with Commercial Director Alistair Eagles for a progress report...
 The first of Seatruck Ferries’ four new vessels from Spanish builder Astilleros de Huelva, Clipper Point, is already making a positive impact on the Warrenpoint route, with virtually full capacity on each sailing.
Another three vessels in this 120 unit class of freight ro-ros will be delivered over the next six months or so. One is scheduled to arrive on the Dublin route this October, adding significant extra capacity on the overnight sailing to Liverpool, another will join Clipper Point on the Warrenpoint route in November, with the fourth due next March on the Dublin service.
“These vessels will considerably increase capacity, to around 125,000 units annually on each of the two routes,” comments Alistair.
“That said, although we are still the smallest operator on the Irish Sea, the new vessels will help us significantly increase our market share, and we are very happy with that.”
Seatruck Ferries prides itself in being a specialist in the unaccompanied trailer trade. “We believe there is considerable growth in this sector. Last year there some 47% of Irish Sea freight went driver accompanied; in our view, that doesn’t make sense, especially in today’s operating climate.
“Going the unaccompanied route, and by using central corridor ports like Heysham and Liverpool, hauliers can not only save money, but also reduce their road miles.
“By next March, we are going to have two routes with very reliable unaccompanied capacity on the middle corridor and we believe that will permit a change in the accompanied- drop trailer percentage ratio.”
The Seatruck Ferries model is clearly working. “If you look at the figures, they show that in the first quarter of this year ro-ro on the Irish Sea was down by three per cent, while Seatruck figures were up 70%, although that also reflects our acquisition of Celtic Link, but discounting that, our volumes are still up by 38% - and there is more to come. That is why we are anxious to get our new vessels into operation.”
As well as the four new Spanish built vessels, of course, Seatruck Ferries also have four secondhand ships, built in 1998 and purchased earlier this year - the 121 m, 65 unit capacity sisterships Arrow, Triumph, Shield and Challenge - two of which are currently on charter. The Challenge has recently been renamed the Clipper Ranger, while the Triumph becomes the Clipper Racer.
“We have also placed an order for four more brand new vessels with the leading German shipbuilder Flensburger Schiffbau Gesellschaft. They are similar to the Spanish newbuilds, although these 21 kt ships will have four decks offering 151 trailer spaces. These are due for delivery late 2011 to June 2012.
“By then, we will have a modern fleet of 12 vessels at our disposal, but we will not, of course, need 12 vessels to service our present routes, so from that you can conclude we will be looking at other possibilities, perhaps on the Irish Sea, perhaps not! One thing is for sure, we don’t intend to stand still.”
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