DFDS: Flying the North East flag

Aug 21 2009 By Alastair Gilmour, The Journal

WHEN the King of Scandinavia carries your logo, you know you’re in business. Similarly with the Princess of Norway.

But these royals are no blue-blooded figureheads, they’re the two giant ferries that carry thousands of passengers and vehicles regularly between the North East and the Netherlands.

Every day, one or the other will glide silently between the twin piers at the mouth of the Tyne, entering or leaving Royal Quays at North Shields. It’s a dramatic sight, regardless of how many times you’ve witnessed it.

“It’s good when your brand is coming up and down part of the river every day,” says John Crummie, DFDS Seaways UK managing director. “People can see it clearly, it’s just like a big billboard.”

John, a softly-accented Irishman, has spent his entire working career in the travel business, first in retail and domestic trade with Butlins, Haven and Rank Hotels and also for WH Smith when it had a retail travel arm. His long career in passenger shipping has seen him become chairman of the Passenger Shipping Association, which promotes the business of sea travel and lobbies national and European governments on various issues.

“Newcastle to Amsterdam is DFDS Seaways’ big volume route – a million passengers a year and 100,000 vehicles,” he says. “Our niche is in passenger shipping on overnight routes, a nice short-break concept where you have a cabin and can make use of the various restaurants, live entertainment, casino and ‘shopertainment’.

Mini-cruises are what we’re known for, it’s our core business, and what makes our business work. Har-wich to Copenhagen is our only other direct route from the UK to Scandinavia since we had to close our Norway route last year.”

DFDS Seaways blamed “skyrocketing” oil prices for its decision to scrap its North East route to Norway. The Danish company, which took over the loss-making service from the region to the western Norwegian ports of Stavanger, Haugesund and Bergen in 2006, closed the business in September 2008.

John Crummie, however, remains upbeat and positive. “There’s definitely growth in this market,” he says. “The ship sails at 5pm then you can relax and unwind and arrive in Amsterdam at 9.30 next morning to spend the whole day there. It sails back at 5.30pm and you’re back in the UK next morning at nine. It’s the perfect antidote to a stressful world.

“A lot of people use us to travel to France, Germany and Poland, it’s a very big percentage of our business now. They even go as far as Italy. We also take a lot of special-interest groups such as vintage car and motorcycle enthusiasts – we always see a huge groups of Harley-Davidsons – and fishermen going to Denmark. We recently had 420 Scouts, all lined up in uniform.

“Football fans come from the Continent to watch Premier League matches, although there’ll be a bigger focus on Sunderland now. As a family combination, high-quality sport and high-quality shopping is very attractive. Inbound we’re seeing a 20% increase from Holland and Germany – that’s down to the strong euro.

“One North East and NewcastleGateshead Initiative work very closely to promote North East England as an attractive destination and we see that as a very important partnership for us. The Port of Tyne is another key partner and we have a good, close working relationship with them. It’s good to see ports investing in infrastructure. We have huge potential and we’re pushing at an open door, although medium to short term the trading climate is tough for tour operators and accommodation providers.”

The King of Scandinavia is a fascinating vessel – nice touches of detail include GPS tracking that shows on-screen where the ship is in relation to the coast at any given time and it has attractions ranging from a buffet with smoked salmon to a high-quality steak restaurant and perhaps an Abba tribute band.

John says: “One of the biggest challenges we have is the people who haven’t travelled on a cruise ship since donkeys years ago – it’s a great maritime experience but it’s a perception thing. Now customer satisfaction rates are running at 90% of passengers who say the experience is as good as or better than expected.

“In business there are key opportunities to pursue – we’re taken a little bit for granted and only 9% of British car owners have ever taken their car abroad, so we see big opportunities there.”

John has long identified the internet as the primary source of business, it’s where 70% of DFDS Seaways’ bookings originate, plus it “works” 24/7. He is intrigued by the fact that when the website was relaunched a couple of years ago, the first booking came from China. He loves that story, plus the one about the local couple who have travelled with the company more than 160 times in 33 years.

“This is what business is about, real customer loyalty,” he says. “They’re actually ambassadors for our brand.

“At the moment we’re trying to grow volumes from the Newcastle area. We already have a good North East customer base and a lot of people come from Scotland and stay somewhere on the way here or on the way back, so the economic benefits continue. I also sit on the board of Tourism Tyne & Wear, which is obviously keen to see a level of economic benefit.

“We look at what people want – good food, wine, entertainment and relaxing all under one roof, all at very, very attractive prices. We’ve got a really good mix of customer; some of them are spending £1,500-£2,000 with us, but we fit all budgets from commodore deluxe accommodation to standard inside cabins.”

The well-travelled John Crummie sometimes feels he has come full circle. “It’s interesting that when I was young I spent my seaside days at Newcastle, County Down,” he says. “Now I’m based at Newcastle, Tyne & Wear.”

John Crummie on influence

What, in your opinion, is influence?

Business influence is about having the ability to bring about change to help grow and sustain your brand’s attractiveness and appeal.

Is influence the same as power?

They are related but not the same; I view power as the ability to influence. Without power you will have limited influence to bring about required change to benefit your business or industry.

Who or what have you been most influenced by?

My family and some great managers I have worked for have influenced my views and philosophy to business life which feed off the core thought ‘that there is nothing permanent but change itself’. Embrace change, do not fight it!

Who or what has most benefited from your influence?

Over time I have influenced a number of very talented managers to make the switch into working in the travel and tourism industry. They helped to grow our business and it is great to still see many of them attain positions of power and influence in what is a challenging, demanding but fun industry to work in – an industry which in my view is undervalued by Government given its growing economic impact and sustainability potential

To be influential you must ...

Acquire, master and develop the personal skills and management competencies to realise opportunities to achieve a position of power.