Ferry company Irish Continental Group (ICG) saw its passenger numbers rise as travellers turned to ferries amid the uncertainty caused by recent disruptions to air travel.
In an interim management statement, the company said foot and coach passengers rose 49 per cent in the period to May 8th, partly due to the disruption to air travel caused by the closure of European airspace from April 15th to 21st. The company had already seen an 18 per cent rise in foot passenger numbers prior to the air travel disruption.
Total passenger numbers were up by 10.4 per cent, or 40,500, to 431,500.
However, the number of cars carried over the period was down 5.6 per cent, partly due to a delay on the start of the service between Ireland and France following a winter vessel refit.
Revenue for the first four months of the year was €75.7 million, down from €76.2 million a year earlier, as higher revenue from passengers and cars was offset by a fall in freight revenue.
Earnings before interest tax and depreciation (EBITDA) were flat at €8 million.
Operating costs fell to €67.7.million from €68.2 million the previous year, including an increase of €4.1 million in fuel costs to €12.4 million.
The company said container freight had returned to growth, and the overall roll on roll off (RoRo) freight market had shown signs modest growth for the first time in about 18 months. However, there is still excess capacity in the RoRo market as additional capacity was put in place by competitors on the Dublin to Holyhead and Dublin to Liverpool routes.