High Level Summary of Statistics Trend Last update: Tuesday, October 06, 2009
Ferry Services
In 2008, CalMac ferries carried about 5.1 million passengers. The most heavily-used routes were: Wemyss Bay - Rothesay (741,000); Largs - Cumbrae (711,000); Ardrossan - Brodick (707,000); Oban - Craignure (554,000) and Gourock - Dunoon (551,000). CalMac services carried a total of 1.1 million cars, the numbers on the the specified routes being: 160,000 for Wemyss Bay - Rothesay; 143,000 for Largs - Cumbrae; 131,000 for Ardrossan - Brodick; 110,000 for Oban - Craignure and 88,000 for Colintraive - Rhubodach.
There were 2.1 million passenger journeys between Scotland and Northern Ireland in 2007 : 1.2 million on the Stranraer - Belfast route, 646,000 on Cairnryan - Larne and 231,000 on Troon - Larne. The service between Troon and Belfast was withdrawn in December 2004. The numbers of cars carried on these routes (in 2007) were: 257,000 for Stranraer - Belfast ; 156,000 for Cairnryan - Larne and 66,000 for Troon - Larne.
In 2008, 1.3 million people used the Western Ferries Gourock - Dunoon service, which carried 588,000 cars. The Renfrew - Yoker ferry carried 141,000 passengers, and about 70,000 people used the Gourock - Kilcreggan service during 2008.
296,000 passengers and 68,000 cars were carried on the Northlink ferry services to and from Orkney and Shetland in 2008. Orkney Ferries intra-island services carried 319,000 passengers and 83,000 cars. 805,000 passenger journeys were made on Shetland Islands Council services in 2007, which carried 347,000 cars.
The Rosyth-Zeebrugge service (which started in May 2002) carried 110,000 passengers in 2007. The service ceased operation in early 2008 so no figures are available, however, the route reopened in May 2009 under a new operator.
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Source: Scottish Transport Statistics
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