This comprehensive report published by Inmarsat and conducted by JG Maritime Solutions Ltd details the challenges faced by the ferry industry and the increased need to adapt and embrace digital solutions to become leaner, more agile and more efficient.

Prior to the exceptional events of last year, the shipping industry found itself facing multiple challenges; digital transformation, critical environmental concerns, and the additional administrative burden brought about by Brexit has left the sector facing several significant hurdles.

Digitalisation provides the ferry industry with a priceless dual opportunity. Increased deployment of digital solutions can reduce ferry operator costs thanks to enhanced operational efficiencies. Digital solutions can also assist operators to reach new customers and grow much-needed revenue via an improved passenger experience and boosting ancillary revenues. Indeed, three years’ worth of digital transformation happened in just 3 months during the 2020’s initial lockdown and organisations need to follow suit and meet the new ‘digital-first’ customer’s unmet needs but also their unknown needs. Offering more than the core service boosts ancillary revenues and by taking full advantage of digitalisation organisations can keep pace with digitalisation transformation opportunities.

The events of the last year have meant that the value of customer experience is even more keenly felt. In today’s hyper competitive marketplace where ferry companies operate on such fine margins, the sale of ancillary products (from destination excursions to meals onboard) can be the difference between profit and loss.

Digitalisation opens more ways to attract new customers and to monetise a captive audience. Ticketing platforms are the backbone of revenue generation, and the ‘best in class’ solution, Ticknovate, co-developed with Attraction & Ferry Operators, addresses the issues that make a ticketing business less efficient - overstaffing, laborious manual processes, ad hoc work-arounds and barriers to selling across a variety of ticket sales channels. This Software-as-a-Service ecosystem has the potential to transform any ferry operator business.