MANX jobs and ferry passengers services could be in jeopardy following the loss of major freight customers, the boss of the the Steam Packet has warned.

Tesco and Shoprite have confirmed they have signed up to rival Mezeron’s Douglas to Liverpool lift-on, lift-off container service, which was launched last Monday.

Steam Packet chief executive Mark Woodward told iomtoday a ‘significant proportion’ of freight revenue had been lost.

He said: ‘This is very, very bad news for the Isle of Man. We have to fight this. This is about the survival of a company that has served the Isle of Man well for 180 years.’

Mr Woodward said freight revenue subsidised passengers fares and to retain and win back freight business, rates would have to reduced which would mean passengers’ fares going up.

But with the user agreement putting a cap on fare increases, the other option was to cut back on passenger services which he said were presently ‘well in excess’ of the bare minimum set out by the user agreement with the government.



You reap what you sow, springs to mind on this one.



Direct copy from the IOMonline website.