ferries. In Scandinavia in particular
the ferries are very popular. Ferry
ships in Scandinavian waters
account for seventy per cent of
the total volume of beer sold. The
remaining thirty per cent is mainly
sold on the ferries that operate
between the UK/Ireland and
Continental Europe. The popularity
of ferries in the Nordic region is easy
to explain: excise duties on alcohol
in countries like Finland and Sweden
are extremely high. In a bar in
Stockholm, for instance, you have
to pay as much as ten guilders
for a beer. The ferryboats operate
between various Scandinavian cities,
e.g. between Stockholm and the
Finnish capital Helsinki (a fourteen-
hour voyage) and sell duty free beer
to passengers during the trip.
Scandinavians seize the opportunity
with both hands. "There, it is even
customary to celebrate your birth
day on board a ferry."
Scandinavian breweries are strongly
represented on the Nordic ferries.
They supply their beer at very low
prices. The ferryboats serve as an
extension of their domestic field of
operations. For Heineken these fer
ries represent a somewhat less
attractive market as regards product
pricing. But that does not apply to
Global Duty Free - nowadays also
referred to as the Travel Retail
Market - represents an annual
turnover of 21 billion US dollars.
Globalisation is the keyword
behind this trend and this applies
in particular to the airlines, cruise
companies and the retail trade.
In response to these changes and
trends Heineken Duty Free has
rapidly adapted by switching
from a geographical allocation
of activities to one in which the
responsibility lies with each
discipline. The following
disciplines have been defined in
this new approach: airlines, global
retail, cruises, ferries, military
and others (including diplomatic
4 supplies and border shops).
z
the ferries that sail between the UK
and the Continent of Europe. On the
3 vessels of Stena Line and North Sea
Ferries cellar beer systems were
installed one after the other in
recent years: these consist of a big
cold-storage cell containing 4-5 tanks
of 1,000 litres each that are coupled
up to some eight to ten dispenser
points throughout the ship. It has
proved to be a successful operation.
"And yet you can see changes occur
ring in this area as well. One of the
ferry lines has decided to introduce a
high-speed ferry, a sort of catamaran,
on the Hook of Holland-Harwich
route so that it can compete better
with the Shuttle train service that
operates via the Channel Tunnel. That
ferry can zip along at a maximum
speed of 85 kilometres an hour and
completes the crossing in three and a
half hours instead of the usual nine.
It sails twice a day back and
forth between Holland and England.
For Heineken that means much less
on-board consumption."
CRUISES
For the past few years the brightest
future for Heineken Duty Free has
been offered by the cruise market.
Anyone who still mainly associates
cruises with seriously rich, slightly
older married couples making a
round-the-world trip has got an
outdated picture of this form of
tourism. The cruise companies have
worked hard to dust off that stuffy
image. They have put bigger vessels
into service which place greater
emphasis on fun, entertainment and
luxury. The cruise ships, also known
as floating resorts, are seen more and
more as direct competitors of hotels.
The growth in cruise holidays is
enormous. "An annual increase of
some ten per cent. At the moment
6.5 to 7 million people go on a cruise
each year and their numbers are still
growing substantially. Over the next
five years around 40 to 50 new ships
will be brought into service. Cruises
are seen more and more as offering
value for money."
Especially for Americans the Caribbean
is an attractive cruise destination.
For Europeans such holidays are
less attractive because of the long
flight to get to the region. That is the
reason why more and more com
panies are deploying their cruise
ships in Europe during the summer
months. Eight-day Mediterranean
cruises, sailing from Barcelona, are
growing in popularity. As the summer
in Europe draws to an end in
September, the vessels cross back over
the Atlantic and return to the Caribbean.
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