Throughout Q1, ForSea has operated the world’s largest battery-powered passenger ferries, Aurora and Tycho Brahe, on the Helsingborg-Helsingør route. The environmental benefits have been significant: The ferry operator’s total emissions of CO2 and harmful particles have been halved compared to the prior year. Leisure and professional customers have welcomed the very specific improvements. The offering of a quiet and environmental sailing experience thus appeals to a wide group of customers, and the quarter’s moderate decline in the number of passengers and cars was solely caused by timing as the Easter traffic was placed in Q1 in 2018.

• The number of transported trucks remained high in Q1 at 111,000 units. The number of departures was 12,100 – slightly higher than in Q1 2018. The precision remained very high, and capacity utilisation on the car deck was almost on Q1 2018 level.
• ForSea transported 227,000 cars in Q1 2019 (2018: 239,000), corresponding to a decline of around 5%, while the total number of passengers declined by around 4% to 1.24 million in Q1 2019 (2018: 1.29 million). These developments were mainly due to timing of the Easter traffic, which was placed in Q1 in 2018.
• Bus traffic on the route increased by more than 5% to over 2,600 transported units in Q1 2019 (2018: almost 2,500). The increase was driven by new cooperation agreements with bus companies ensuring compensation for the negative effects of the Swedish currency in Q1 2019.
• The use of AutoBizz Smart increased by 6% compared to the same period last year.

”Battery operations of our two large ferries have been a success. Only minor adjustments have been necessary during the running in period, and we have been able to maintain stable operations with almost 100% precision in the first quarter with battery operations. The environmental benefits are obvious. In total, our ferry company’s energy utilisation and emissions of CO2 and harmful particles have halved compared to Q1 2018,” says Johan Röstin, CEO of ForSea.

”Customers have welcomed our initiatives. In addition to the most stable crossing of Öresund, we now offer what is clearly the most environmentally friendly route as well – to leisure and professional customers alike. It plays a role for everyone to know that they are able to travel with ForSea without noise and smoke, and that we have simultaneously been able to save 4,500 tons of CO2 compared to the same period last year,” says Johan Röstin, who expects to be able to further improve the environmental footprint in the coming quarters.

For additional information, please contact:
Johan Röstin, CEO ForSea AB, tel. +46 42 18 60 00