Oman to Iran trips a hit for national ferries firm

Muscat: More than 1,700 passengers travelled to Iran on National Ferries Company (NFC’s) vessels since the launch of the service in July 2016.
NFC's annual statistical bulletin showed that for the last five months of 2016, 1,703 passengers used the Company’s regional trips to the Iranian ports.
Around 220,859 passengers travelled onboard the company’s vessels in 2016 compared to 205,579 passengers in 2015, achieving an annual growth of 7 per cent, according to the company’s figures.
The statistics also showed that 54,078 vehicles were carried by NFC during the same period compared to 52,771 vehicles in 2015, recording an increase of 2 per cent.
The cargo traffic witnessed grew to 15,179 tons compared to 8,232 tons in 2015.
The Company’s annual stats for 2016 revealed that the it carried in the second half of last year around 120,988 passengers forming 55 per cent of the total number of passengers in 2016 in addition to 29,438 vehicles which make 54 per cent of the total number of vehicles as compared to 99,871 passengers and 24,640 vehicles in the first half of the year.
Shannah- Masirah route maintained its leading rank as 167,996 passengers were carried through this route making 76 per cent of the total number of passengers achieving the highest occupancy rate of 46 per cent.
Moreover, 48,828 vehicles have been carried through this route which account for 90% of the total number of vehicles carried by the Company vessels in 2016.