Spanish ferry operator Balearia heavily invests in modernization measures while looking back at a successful year.
Chairman Adolfo Utor today presented the company’s strategic investment plan for the next five years which accounts for 450 mill. €. It is aimed at gaining competiti[ds_preview]veness. A big share of this strategy take the three LNG-fuelled ferry newbuildings, which were ordered already. Another aspect are terminals that use smart technology solutions.
According to Utor, there will be a bigger fleet modernization. Thus, the investment plan provides for both the construction of newbuildings – one at the LaNaval shipyard and another two at Cantieri Navale Visenti – as well as the purchase of other units and the modernization of existing ships through repowering.
According to the company, the plan also includes building new smart terminals for passengers in Barcelona, Valencia and Palma, as well as opening up to new traffic.
Utor highlighted, that after closing the annual accounts (its fiscal year is November to October), the Group’s turnover totaled 329.5 mill. €, which is 13% more than the prior year. This result is due to its increased offer with new ships and lines. The consolidated Gross Operating Result (EBITDA) was 78.8 mill. € in 2016, with 39 mill. € in profits, which the company attributes to the lower fuel prices and increased demand.
More passengers and cargo for Balearia
The chairman added, that balearia carried 10% more passengers, vehicles and ro-ro cargo in 2016 in comparison with the year before, thus reaching 3.5 million passengers, 750,000 vehicles and more than 5 million linear meters of goods. This applies to all routes it operates in Spain (Balearic Islands, Ceuta and Melilla) and abroad (United States-Bahamas, Morocco and Algeria).
25 vessels travelled more than a million miles in 2016 on 18 routes, which accounts for 20% more than the year before, mainly due to the opening of new connections with Melilla and Algeria and expanded services for its Balearic Islands routes.
Expansion in Africa and America
In the north of Africa, Baleària added new lines to the connections from Algeciras to Ceuta and Tangier. Thus, routes were opened in 2016 from Melilla to Almeria and Malaga, in addition to a connection from Valencia to Mostaganem. »This made it possible to record a 7% increase in the number of passengers for a total of 1.65 million passengers, and 8% more transported goods (975,000 linear meters)«, the shipping company reported.
In addition, the Caribbean subsidiary established 5 years ago, which sails between the United States and the Bahamas, recorded 5% growth and a total of 150,000 passengers. All in all, passengers on international lines represent 20% of the total for the Baleària group.
