The Passenger Shipping Association (PSA) has announced this week that 28.36 million passengers travelled on ferries to and from the UK in the first nine months of 2010. The figure constitutes a 1.2 per cent increase on the same period last year.

The PSA also claimed that the number of cars boarding ferries also increased by 1.2 per cent during the first three quarters of 2010, rising to 6.48 million. The most significant rise involved coach numbers. Between January and September 2010, 115,870 coaches travelled on ferries in the UK – a 5 per cent increase on the previous year.

William Gibbons, of the PSA, noted that the rise in ferry passenger numbers could be partly explained by the problems affecting the air industry. Mr Gibbons said: “The latest ferry figures demonstrate a renewed interest in ferry travel and include the dramatic contribution made by ferries during the ash cloud crisis.” During April and May this year, planes across Northern Europe were grounded for extended periods of time, after the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland erupted and spewed ash across the continent.

Mr Gibbons added: “Stena’s huge commitment to service improvement with the launch of Stena Britannica, together with service initiatives from virtually all our members, illustrates the strong commitment to ferry travel.”

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