Harbour Traffic Information

Isle of Man Monthly Harbours’ Traffic Summary 

July 2018

Below is a summary of the Isle of Man passenger traffic statistics for the Island’s Harbours for July 2018. The disappointing result for June, recording a 4.9% decrease, continued for July with a 6.8% decrease.

Overall passengers

• A total of 81,291 passengers used the Isle of Man Harbours in July 2018, down by 5,922 or 6.8%. Much of this increase was due to a fall in scheduled traffic, but the withdrawal of the Karina pleasure boat also had a marked effect.
• This meant that cumulative total harbours’ traffic since the beginning of the year is now 4.2% below the cumulative for the same period for 2017

Scheduled passengers and vehicles

• Overall, scheduled service passengers were down by 3,896 passengers or 4.8%, with just over 76,800 passing through the Port of Douglas
• The Liverpool route saw a 6.2% decrease, from 45,494 to 42,676 passengers.
• Heysham, however, carried almost the same number of passengers as in July 2017 with only 112 or 0.4% fewer in July 2018
• Belfast sailings carried 26.7% fewer passengers than in 2017 with just 3,852 using the route.
• Dublin, by contrast, saw growth over July 2017 of 16.7%
• Scheduled passengers’ vehicles saw a slight increase of 90 vehicles or 0.4%, with 20,315 vehicles arriving, and departing from the Island

Non-Scheduled passengers

• Non-scheduled traffic was markedly down by 2,026 passengers or 31.2% to 4,473 passengers and crew
• The Primary cause of the decrease was the ceasing of the pleasure trips operated by the historic vessel, Karina, responsible for carrying 2184 passengers in July 2017

However, on the positive side, the cruise ship market has again served the Island well in July, bringing 3,128 visitors, 772 more than in 2017, up by 33%