In a move to return its business to pre-pandemic levels Macau ferry operator TurboJET has announced plans to cooperate with the SAR’s six gaming concessionaires.
This direction aligns with Macau’s development to build a gaming hub as a city of performing arts and is said to provide a better experience for those wishing to attend concerts and non-gaming activities.
According to Macau local media, Wong Man Chung, director of TurboJET’s business and service department, said that the company has launched discounts on ferry tickets to attract customers, such as a pop-up discount on return trips during the Labor Day period, in order to stimulate passenger volume.
In addition, Wong mentioned that since TurboJET resumed operations in January last year, they have increased their daily sailings from 16 to more than 60. Daily sailings now run about every half an hour, with night sailings occurring once an hour.
However, this is still far short of the number of daily trips pre-pandemic. The group notes that currently, due to manpower issues and the recommissioning of ships, the workforce is unable to increase the ferry schedule, which has returned to about 50 percent of the pre-epidemic level. It also cannot support overnight operations, with the last sailing at midnight. In the future, there is hope that the number of sailings can be increased during certain periods, notes the executive.
TurboJET has also been facing the problem of an aging workforce. Some employees have retired after the epidemic, while others have completed internal training and transferred to other industries.
Considering that the position of a ship driver is a specialized field, the company, in addition to continuing to search for suitable talent in the market, has also restarted an internal training program, hoping to train a group of ship captains and engine room personnel to assist in operations. However, returning to 100 percent capacity will depend on several factors, including manpower, vessel arrangements, and passenger volume.
Since the opening of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, there has been a certain impact on the passenger volume of shipping companies. Therefore, Wong hopes to cooperate with market development in the future and consider increasing the number of manpower, vessels, etc., in accordance with market demand.
