It is in the handling of passengers and their treatment that the cruise and ferry industries have similarities. Indeed, the so called "cruise ferries" offered ferry passengers high quality environments and entertainment facilities in ships that have the appearance of cruise ships in many ways. Royal Haskoning's experience in the provision of specialised passenger access walkways and the planning and design of terminal building facilities is directly relevant to this type of service.
However, in most other repects, these two modes of shipping differ. For instance, cruise terminals do not have to cater for car and freight traffic but do usually have to accommodate a large amount of coach traffic.
In recent years, the fast ferry has become a very important sector of operation, with fast ferry facilities having been constructed all over Europe. These developments required a completely new approach to the design of ferry berths, but in the opinion of Royal Haskoning the setting up of a fast ferry is seldom accompanied by such new thinking. Royal Haskoning believe that a fast ferry service should be regarded as an overall concept, starting at the entrance gates, continuing through to the approach or marshalling areas, into the fast ferry and finally out at the destination port.
The length of the voyage will be greatly reduced relative to that experienced in a traditional ferry, so that the length of time experienced by the traveller on shore becomes a significant proportion of the overall journey time. Unless this shore time is controlled, the whole concept can lose its viability.
