Page 32: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (February 2019)

FERRY OPERATORS • The World’s Best

Ferries: By the Numbers

Baleària: Baleària is a Spanish shipping line Brittany Ferries: Based in northern France,

By Barry Parker in passenger and cargo services to the Balear- Brittany Ferries serves U.K., Ireland, and Spain ics, providing connections between the islands (including runs from the U.K.). The feet in-

The traditional measures for “Top 10”s and the mainland ports of Barcelona, Valencia cludes seven Cruise/ Car Ferries, and the high are annual passenger counts and vehicle and Denia. At the international level, Baleària speed (42 knot) Normandie Express- running be- has an ambitious expansion plan, we operate tween Portsmouth (U.K.) and Cherbourg in three counts. The big players of the industry, in Moroco through the Algecrias-Tangier route hours. Routes for the Cruise/ Ferries include who rank near the top of these leader- and Almeria-Nador route and in Algeria through the more lengthy 20 hour trips from Plymouth

Valencia-Mostaganem route. While also ofer- (U.K.) and Cork (Ireland) to Santander (Spain). boards, can be found across continents. ing services between Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and the island of Grand Bahama, under the Baleària Color Line: Color Line has passenger, vehicle

We’ve presented lists showing the top

Caribbean brand. Baleària by the numbers: 3.7m and cargo routes linking its home base in Nor- operators, by these standard measures. passengers, 1,500 employees and 30 boats. way with ports in Sweden, Germany and Den- mark. Its routes are served by a mix of fast fer-

We’ve also added a few others. The source

BC Ferries: BC Ferries is one of the largest fer- ries, Ro-Pax vessels and two cruise vessels with for the data is a 2015 economic study ry operators in the world, providing year-round car decks. A new hybrid vessel is set to enter vehicle and passenger service on 25 routes to 47 the Sandefjord (Norway) / Stromstad (Sweden) done for the WSF’s parent organization, terminals, with a feet of 35 vessels. We are an route in 2019. essential transportation link that connects coast- showing 2013 rankings; we’ve tried to al communities and facilitates the movement of DFDS: This Danish operator (linked to the well update with 2017 fgures where possible.

people, goods and services. known Lauritzen family), calling itself “The

Top Ferry Operators: Cars & Freight

SOURCE:

Maritime Reporter & Engineering

News; Statistics are an esti- mation based on the author’s investigation of public records, requests for information and and interviews.

NOTE:

Two operators omitted due to lack of current information, but likely to have some of the highest capacity numbers in the world, include Istanbul Deniz

Otobusler (Turkey) &

Transtejo Sofusa (Portugal).

32 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • FEBRUARY 2019