Harbour Traffic Information

Douglas Harbour  

April 2017

Below is a summary of the Isle of Man passenger traffic statistics for the Island’s Harbours for April 2017. The movement of Easter from March in 2016, to April this year has had a massive impact upon passenger figures.  April saw a very substantial increase of almost 20,000 passengers or 46.3%, a much greater improvement than the decline seen in March.  In summary:

Overall passengers

• A total of 62,980 passengers used the Isle of Man Harbours in April 2017, a huge increase of 46.3%, being 19,920 more than in April 2016.
• Whilst the late Easter had a substantial impact, the additional traffic generated in April far outweighed the reduction in March, with both scheduled and non-scheduled doing very well.

Scheduled passengers and vehicles

• Scheduled traffic was up by 18,500 - almost 44% - from 42,273 to 60,773.
• Liverpool achieved a remarkable result with a 66.5% increase of over 14,000 passengers.
• Heysham also did well with a 9.1% increase, up by over 1,800.
• Both Belfast and Dublin contributed solidly with over 2,600 additional passengers added between them.
• Overall, the increase in scheduled passengers was more than double the decrease in March.
• The number of scheduled passenger vehicles also soared - by almost 70% - with 15,053 vehicles passing through the Port, 6,160 more than in April 2016.

Non-Scheduled passengers

• Non-scheduled traffic also did very well.  Early season cruise passengers numbered over 800, the royal Navy added 428, and 78 trainees used the Port
• Fishing crews increased by 200 and the Karina opened her season with 32 passengers
• Support movements were down compared with 2016.