Ferry Business - Spring/Summer 2021

8 3 P&O Ferries has continued to invest to improve ferries such as Pride of Hull throughout the pandemic range of products and the ludicrously cheap prices will drive onboard sales and make our passengers very happy.” Another advantage of ferry travel is that passengers have plenty of time to enjoy a drink, a sit-down meal or entertainment, particularly on longer sailings. “You can easily spend four or five hours going out for dinner and a drink onshore, so we’re working on some ideas to help us offer a similar experience on our vessels,” says Hebblethwaite. “For example, sailing roundtrip from Dover to Calais takes four hours and we can easily provide a nice dinner and a wine tasting in the Club Lounge on the way out, followed by onboard entertainment and duty-free shopping on the way back home. “We’ll be implementing new food ranges and entertainment packages (including aerial acrobats), as well as upgrading our gaming proposition and digital journey. Plus, we’re upgrading all the cabins and adding new onboard facilities such as hairdressers, nail bars, bigger retail spaces and maybe even a golf range. We’re applying all of these customer principles to freight drivers too.” Throughout the pandemic, Hebblethwaite has worked hard to protect the finances P&O Ferries needs to implement these changes and reposition the business for future growth. “We never gave up on the fact that we were going to come out of this crisis and, when we do, we will still have a responsibility to significantly enhance the customer experience,” he explains. “Some of this investment has continued over the past year and some is currently underway – such as the new gaming area onboard Pride of Hull and the new food court on Spirit of Britain – but there’s much still to do. We’ll work on this in line with the return of our passenger business.” For now, P&O Ferries is focused on preparing to welcome passengers back when restrictions lift. ”To encourage passengers back we must have taken all of the barriers to ferry travel away,” says Hebblethwaite. “The value equation that existed pre-Covid has changed, now price, plus quality, plus flexibility, plus safety equals value. We have the safety protocols in place, but we need to ensure that we have the systems capability to offer full flexibility before passengers start to come back.” “We’ve never cut corners when it comes to the health and safety of our passengers and crew, and that hasn’t changed throughout the pandemic. We’re very proud of our record and we work fiercely hard to protect it so that our customers can be 100 per cent certain that P&O Ferries ships are safe. We’re looking forward to the day the world is ready to embrace tourists travelling across borders again.” CFR