DFDS: April volume report: Freight Up 5%, Continued Passenger Recovery

Ferry – freight: Total volumes in April 2022 were 5.4% above 2021 driven by higher volumes in the Mediterranean and Channel business units.
Volumes in the Mediterranean network continued to grow supported by higher capacity. Channel’s volumes were well above last year due to a positive impact from a competitor’s suspension of sailings through most of the month.

North Sea volumes were slightly below 2021 primarily due to dockings that reduced capacity between the Netherlands and the UK. The war in Ukraine lowered Baltic Sea volumes considerably compared to 2021, mainly between Germany and Lithuania.

For the last twelve months 2022-21, the total transported freight lane metres increased 2.6% to 43.4m from 42.2m in 2021-20.

Ferry – passenger: The recovery in passenger numbers continued in April with a tenfold increase to 337,000 equal to 70% of volumes in April 2019, the latest comparable month pre-Covid-19. Volumes increased in all regions, including a positive impact from a competitor’s suspension of sailings on the English Channel.

For the last twelve months 2022-21, the total number of passengers was 1.4m compared to 1.0m in 2021-20 and 5.1m in 2019, the latter being the latest pre-Covid-19 year.

DFDS ferry volumes
	April				LTM*
Freight	2020	2021	2022	Change	2020-19	2021-20	2022-21	Change
Lane metres, '000	2,395	3,589	3,784	5.4%	40,085	42,247	43,357	2.6%

Passenger	2020	2021	2022	Change	2020-19	2021-20	2022-21	Change
Passengers, '000	29	29	337	1066.8%	4,510	1,002	1,379	37.6%
*Last twelve months