Page 34 - Linkline Summer 2017

Seatruck Ferries Visit
CILT Eastern Section recently made a visit to Seatruck Ferries at Dublin Port. Twenty members spent the afternoon on board the Seatruck vessel Seatruck Progress, experiencing a visit to its bridge, engine room, passenger accommodation and cabins.
The event also involved a talk by CEO of Seatruck Ferries, Alistair Eagles CMILT, who spoke about the success of the Seatruck Business Model. The company, which was founded in 1996, has experienced significant growth as a result of changing market conditions in the sector. Its significant investments in the ‘Freight Only’ RoRo ferry services focused on the unaccompanied drop trailer market.
Seatruck is rapidly gaining a competitive advantage over its more traditional competitors such as Stena Line, Irish Ferries and P&O Ferries, who have higher operating costs and is also winning business from hauliers who wish to improve utilisation of their valuable tractor units and scarce drivers. Its specialism is freight and it operates a fleet of RoRo ships that have a maximum passenger capacity of 12 drivers. It operates on longer crossings such as Holyhead or Cairnryan. Their service helps remove trailers and vehicles off road, to traveling by ferry, which docks much closer to the loads origin or end destination, saving valuable scarce resources in drivers.
The company has already added four round trips midweek to frequencies on its Dublin-Liverpool route this year. It is the fastest growing freight service on the Irish Sea, experiencing growth at approximately three times the market level.
This growth is coming from a transfer away from the traditional logistics mind set of a shorter crossing and having your load driver-accompanied end to end, instead using a model of driver-unaccompanied and a longer crossing.
This year is expected to be another exciting year for Seatruck, the main reason is the recently opened M6 Connector Road which gives Heysham port direct motorway access to the M6, bypassing Lancaster Town, making the port significantly more attractive for transporting trailers through, to end destinations in Scotland and Northern England. Naturally the matter of BREXIT is on the company’s mind. According to Alistair, “BREXIT is likely to be disruptive but it is important not to talk ourselves as an industry into the ground”.
He adds “look at the fundamentals, Ireland is still an Island, that’s not going to change, there will always be a trading relationship between the UK and Ireland and a sea
in the middle”.
Members get a brief in the Engine Control Room
34 The CharTered InsTITuTe of LogIsTICs & TransporT
VISITS