After receiving Andrew Turner’s announcement about Wightlink, raising questions over the tax arrangements of their owners yesterday, we contacted the company for a comment on it. Below is their response, just arrived, due to having to be cleared by Macquarie. We’ve followed up asking why 17% interest is being paid internally – Ed.
Wightlink has recently revised its timetables to match more closely with customer demand. In response to very low passenger numbers, a small number of overnight sailings no longer operate.
Despite an extensive marketing effort to increase passenger numbers, the night sailings were poorly used. The affected sailings operated at very low capacity (on average, 93% empty for passengers and vehicle decks 80% empty) with staff often outnumbering passengers.
Like many local businesses, Wightlink has been impacted by the challenging economic climate. Falling tourism and higher fuel costs are some of the factors that are impacting our business.
The timetable changes were made to secure the long term future of Wightlink for the benefit of all islanders and customers.
The provision of ferry services has recently been commented on by the Department of Transport. They point out that with three providers of cross Solent services with 230 daily crossings, there is an adequate ferry provision, even if a small number of services at unsocial hours have been curtailed.
The owner of Wightlink, Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund 1(MEIF1), has remained committed to our company despite difficult economic conditions. It has demonstrated this commitment with capital investment of more than £50 million for new ships and shore infrastructure. Furthermore, no profits or cash have been taken out of the business during its current ownership.
Both Wightlink and MEIF1 abide by all applicable tax laws.
Image: mike__lawrence under a CC BY-SA 2.0 license
