Port of Helsingborg Magazine Summer/Autumn 2004 - Helsingborgs ...

Good peak season for ferry linesA ll the f e rry lines in Helsingbor gha v e h ad asu ccessful summe r. S ome show sig nifi cant incr eases; one c ompany e v en b r oke it s reco r d .Inse v e r al cases, ma r k e t ing d r i v es lie b e h indthe attr act i o n of new passeng e r s .Th e four f e rry lines g i v e their own accoun tofth eseaso nh e r e .ScandlinesHenrik Rørbæk, Line Manager: Thetrend for us has been very positive. Theyear so far, including the summer, hasmeant a nine per cent increase in thenumber of private cars and four percent in the number of lorries on ourferries. As regards private cars, themain explanation is thatshopping trafficto bothpart. B ut we have also run a broadermarketing campaign than before,which has given good results. Andthe weather benefited the ferry traffic.W hen the weather is good, people liketo lie on the beach, but this summer’spoor weather meant that peoplechose to go on excursionsinstead.countrieshas increased.The present growthin shopping traffic to Swedenis as large as that to Denmark; wehave been very focused in our marketingof Sweden on the Danish side. Ithink this can also be seen from thenumber of visitors to attractions inthe Helsingborg area; many peoplewant to combine shopping with otheractivities.HH-Fe rriesJ on C avalli-Björkman, MarketingManager: W e have had an excellentseason. The number of private cars,buses and passengers is more or lessidentical to last year. Since we hadsharp increases in certain sectors lastyear, we are pleased to have been ableto maintain that level – particularlysince all of our competitors have beenmore active than ever. W e see, forexample, that the Ö resund trains arebecoming more and more prominent.The sector that has seen a certain increaseis tourist shopping – passengersgoing to Denmark and also people whocontinue to G ermany on day trips.S u ndsbussar naP er Svensson, Local Manager: Takinginto account that we only havetwo vessels now, compared to threebefore, our summer has been a success.W e have lost about a per cent but, byand large, we have had the same numberof passengers as last year with oneship less, and we are very pleased aboutthis. It seems as though there has beena greater number of tourists, with morecoming from outside Skå ne. Denmarkis a great attraction and, naturally, thelowering of the alcohol tax plays aD F D SSeaw a y sJ es Svare, MD:O ur routes between C openhagen,Helsingborg and O slo brokerecords in J uly and we exceeded 1 00000 passengers in one month. F romHelsingborg’s point of view, interestthere grew as well. Ten per cent morepassengers boarded in Helsingborgthis summer compared to last year. Infact, pressure on the line was so great inJ uly, particularly from passengers fromfurther away, that we were cautiousabout marketing trips from Helsingborgsince the capacity was neededfrom C openhagen. I think there areother reasons for the increase as well.B ut on the Swedish market we can seethat the consumers have become moreand more positive.W e are, for example,getting more response to our marketingactivities.12