Abolition halves Polferries sales

Dermot Davitt

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Polish ferry company faces loss of key routes

Polish ferry group Polferries has suffered a 50% drop in its onboard retail revenue since Poland joined the EU in May 2004, losses that could force it to close a key Danish route. Last year intra-EU duty-free sales from Poland were outlawed, making the company's routes to Scandinavia less profitable.

Polferries onboard service manager Tomasz Lamparski told ravenfox.com: "Our sales are down by 50% as a result of abolition. Liquor and tobacco are the worst-hit, although fragrances are still very profitable. Liquor and tobacco prices are the same as on the Polish domestic market. Because 60% of passengers are Poles they see no advantage in buying onboard. Our efforts are aimed at attracting Scandinavian passengers with the new allowances. They can now buy large volumes of everything except tobacco, where the limit is still 200 sticks."

Partly because of the loss of duty-free, the company's Swinoujscie-Copenhagen route is no longer profitable. "The board of the company is expected to make a decision on the future of the route during the winter season. With the free flow of goods and people through Europe now, many travellers choose to travel through Germany to Denmark these days," said Lamparski.

Polferries, which has been slated for privatisation for the past eight years, is still seeking a strategic investor for the business.