The appointment by DFDS, effective immediately, represents a move to a more tailored PR approach provided by Kent-based Roch. The relationship will focus on delivering strategic campaigns to boost passenger numbers on the company’s UK routes.

DFDS PR Manager Naomi Harper said: “We have four routes from the UK, providing a gateway to Europe for customers keen to enjoy a refreshing and relaxing start to their holiday or short break. We focus on offering the best possible travel experience, underpinned by excellent customer service.

“Roch PR delivered an impressive pitch, ticking all our boxes and demonstrating the capability to take forward a strategic and highly targeted programme to communicate the key benefits our service offers. We liked their depth of experience, complementary skills – PR, web content, print and TV journalism, video and photography – and the local availability of the consultancy and its people.”

The appointment marks a new relationship with DFDS – voted Europe’s Leading Ferry Operator 2012-2018 and World’s Leading Ferry Operator 2011-2018 at the World Travel Awards – and a ‘return to the flag’ for ??Roch PR founder and MD Dr Michelle Ulyatt.

Ulyatt, 37, is already a youthful veteran of cross-channel ferry PR, having worked for DFDS as PR Manager. She started her career at P&O Ferries and also worked in the rail, higher education and construction sectors before forming Roch PR with three other experienced Kent media operators.

She said: “We’re delighted to have been appointed by DFDS to support delivery of corporate and consumer PR programmes. Our team offers an approach that is embedded more closely with DFDS’s in-house team and reflects our founding principle: that our clients will always have several established and experienced agency leaders working with them, rather than a junior account team.”

DFDS operates four passenger routes from the UK (Dover-Calais, Dover-Dunkirk, Newhaven-Dieppe, Newcastle-Amsterdam), with a wider network of more than 30 routes and 50 freight and passenger ships.