During my companies relative short time on the Island we have seen the demise of four ferry companies, Flebasa, Iscomar from the Mainland, and then we have had two French companies operating out of Sete in France, no doubt there have been more over the years, all I know is that there is now nowhere else to go.
You have two companies left that operate a very tight ship, their prices are very similar, some might call it even a cartel, but I will let you decide on that.
Operating costs, ferry's alone have gone up 31% since January 2011, as far as freight traffic is concerned, you are given a yearly tariff by the ferry operator, but it is then adjusted weekly to reflect fuel costs. this week it is an extra 148 Euros on top of the standard tariff per crossing.
This is also true on the channel routes.
Fuel in France is 15% dearer than Spain, and the road tolls are just under 600 euros from Calais to Barcelona and return that's up 20% in a year.
My company looked into running containers on the weekly rail service to Barcelona from Ashford in Kent, not a saving worth considering at all.
There is just no way of reducing these fixed costs, unless Mr Ede knows different, and maybe he can enlighten us all
The fact is that prices are going to increase, or there will not be a professional, regular reliable service at all.
Even the Man and Van operators with their lower operating costs by booking private on the ferries are beginning to give up.
Can you believe it is cheaper to ship a container from London to Sydney, Australia than it is from Barcelona to Palma!
Bill
Calvia
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