WatcherZero
Established Member
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- 25 Feb 2010
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- 10,272
Strategy for next 20 years published.
Can be summarised as theyve managed to reduce annual subsidy from two and a half to a million a year over the last 5 years though they are now at the plateau of possible savings and they have had to skimp on capital investment during that period.
Commuter services are heavily loss making requiring £4.60 subsidy per passenger each way, or £9.20 per passenger per day (revenue 210k operating cost £840k), charters are also an unprofitable operation. River cruises however are a success story and highly profitable though relies on there being two boats available, its doubtful if they could support the running costs of a dedicated ship though its by their revenues alone that the continuance of a two boat operation can be justified (three times the annual passengers as the commuter services) The boats are 50 years old and need replacing, the landings are also old and becoming ever more costly to maintain.
Their proposed strategy is thus purchase a new boat in 5 years and 15 years time. Immediately retire one of the existing boats when the first new one enters service to be broken up and used for parts for its sister. When the second enters service a decision will have to be made whether to retain a third boat for cruises/charters or to retire it too.
One of the Wirral landings (woodside) to close and be decommissioned as there arent enough commuters generated by the region to justify keeping both and they are expensive to maintain. They will also consider having them berthed off river overnight rather than at the landing as this reduces maintenence costs though will lead to reduced operating hours.
As the Manchester cruises are very profitable they are considering adding another call in Warrington to the service.
http://moderngov.merseytravel.uk.ne.... 1 for Mersey Ferries Long Term Strategy.pdf
Can be summarised as theyve managed to reduce annual subsidy from two and a half to a million a year over the last 5 years though they are now at the plateau of possible savings and they have had to skimp on capital investment during that period.
Commuter services are heavily loss making requiring £4.60 subsidy per passenger each way, or £9.20 per passenger per day (revenue 210k operating cost £840k), charters are also an unprofitable operation. River cruises however are a success story and highly profitable though relies on there being two boats available, its doubtful if they could support the running costs of a dedicated ship though its by their revenues alone that the continuance of a two boat operation can be justified (three times the annual passengers as the commuter services) The boats are 50 years old and need replacing, the landings are also old and becoming ever more costly to maintain.
Their proposed strategy is thus purchase a new boat in 5 years and 15 years time. Immediately retire one of the existing boats when the first new one enters service to be broken up and used for parts for its sister. When the second enters service a decision will have to be made whether to retain a third boat for cruises/charters or to retire it too.
One of the Wirral landings (woodside) to close and be decommissioned as there arent enough commuters generated by the region to justify keeping both and they are expensive to maintain. They will also consider having them berthed off river overnight rather than at the landing as this reduces maintenence costs though will lead to reduced operating hours.
As the Manchester cruises are very profitable they are considering adding another call in Warrington to the service.
http://moderngov.merseytravel.uk.ne.... 1 for Mersey Ferries Long Term Strategy.pdf
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