May Volumes: Freight Slowdown as Expected, Passengers up 31%

Ferry – freight: Total volumes in May 2023 were 18.6% below 2022. Volumes were 6.6% below 2022 adjusted for Channel that was impacted by extraordinary capacity changes in May 2022.

North Sea volumes were overall on par with last year adjusted for one route between the Netherlands and the UK that continued to be impacted by lower volumes of fresh produce and other goods. Mediterranean volume growth picked up again in May.

The decrease in Channel volumes was significant in May due to a ferry competitor’s suspension of two-thirds of sailings in May 2022. In addition, total market volumes declined, although at a lower level than in previous months. Baltic Sea volumes remained far below last year as trade sanctions did not fully impact volumes until late in the summer of 2022.

For the last twelve months 2023-22, the total transported freight lane metres decreased 10.6% to 39.3m from 44.0m in 2022-21. The decrease was 4.2% adjusted for Channel.

Ferry – passenger: The number of passengers continued to recover and increased 30.5% to 384k equal to 88% of volumes in May 2019, the latest comparable month pre-Covid-19. The number of cars equalled 89% of volumes in 2019.

For the last twelve months 2023-22, the total number of passengers was 4.3m compared to 1.6m in 2022-21 and 5.1m in 2019.

DFDS reports monthly ferry volumes for freight and passengers to provide insight into the development of volume trends in DFDS’ European route network. DFDS’ ferry routes enable trade and travel in and around Europe. Click on the link to see a map of the entire network. The June 2023 volume report is expected to be published on 12 July 2023 at around 10.00am CET.