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P&O breaks 12-year traffic record on Dover-Calais route

P&O breaks 12-year traffic record on Dover-Calais route
P&O has reported a 12-year record number of passengers crossing the English Channel on its vessels, which, despite the ongoing migrant crisis, it has mainly attributed to investment in a new class of super-ferry.

Following news of a 172% increase lorry traffic in July, P&O reports it carried 1,177,053 people between Dover and Calais last month, a 2.5% per cent increase on the previous year and the highest monthly figure since August 2003. The group acknowledged that it had “also seen additional demand because of the well-publicised disruption at Eurotunnel.”
 
The group pressed a sixth ship back into service on the English Channel in July in order to increase capacity.
 
"We have been able to carry well over a million people in August because of our investment in the new Spirit-class of ships which have helped to transform our customers' experience of cross-Channel travel,” said chief executive Helen Deeble. “The Spirit of Britain and the Spirit of France are both capable of carrying 2,000 passengers, twice the capacity of a standard ferry.”
 
“This summer has been one of the most challenging ever for cross-Channel travel and I am very pleased that P&O Ferries has helped to keep tourists and freight moving between Britain and France in huge numbers.
 
"We expect further busy periods during the half-term holiday and also the winter sports season, with a growing number of skiers choosing to drive to the Alps via one of our ferries rather than fly."

TAGS: Ports