Stena Line has achieved a record full-year passenger and car volume on its North Sea route in 2012.

The ferry operator, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2012, transported 521,000 passengers and 110,000 cars on its Harwich-Hook of Holland service through the course of the year.

The numbers represented the highest annual volumes on the current timetable, which was implemented after the end of 2006.

In its golden anniversary year Stena Line carried an additional 12,000 passengers and 5,000 cars to Holland compared to the previous year, a 2.4 per cent and 5.2 per cent increase respectively.

Annual numbers of passengers booked on Stena Line’s combined rail and ferry ‘dutchflyer’ package grew even more significantly, with a ten per cent year-on-year increase.

By contrast, British outbound travel as a whole remained flat in 2012.

Lars Olsson, Stena Line’s general manager for travel on the North Sea, said: “It has been particularly important for
Stena Line to achieve ongoing growth in North Sea volumes following our 2010 investment in two Superferries, which are larger than their predecessors and the largest of their kind. This makes the past year’s record success all the more welcome.”