With Covid-19, travel markets came to a standstill through most of Q2 as travel restrictions led to the suspension of ferry routes that predominantly carry passengers. This had a substantial negative profit impact on DFDS’ results for Q2 2020.

The Copenhagen – Oslo route resumed operations in June, with the added Frederikshavn to Oslo leg. Amsterdam-Newcastle reopened in July and demand for ferry travel is picking up.

Travelling with DFDS must be safe

We are very pleased to be operating again and welcoming our passenger back on our ferries. “We take Covid-19 extremely seriously. We have and are still developing contingency plans to ensure that travelling and working on our ferries is safe and that our ships can continue operating. Throughout our passenger routes, on-board concepts have been adjusted to ensure social distancing, hand sanitizer dispensers are installed everywhere, we have ongoing extra touchpoint cleaning, there are no more than 100 people in each onboard venue and the ships’ crew is subject to strict measures and hygiene requirements. In addition to this, we have a dedicated Covid-19 task force to focus on how we can continuously improve our measures,” says Peder Gellert, EVP and Head of DFDS’ Ferry Division.

“We recommend passengers wear face masks when they embark and disembark the ferries, as this is where we have seen that there is a risk of passengers not maintaining the necessary distance. On most of our routes, customer-facing staff wear face masks or visors when not protected by plexiglass screens,” says Peder Gellert.