SSA traffic continued soft through July

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Soft traffic volumes of passengers and automobiles on Steamship Authority routes continued for the first seven months of this year, when compared with like figures for 2012. The only bright spots were passengers to and from Nantucket, up four percent, and freight, up four percent on both Nantucket and Vineyard routes.

Talking dollars, the line reported revenue increases of 2.3 percent overall for passengers, half a percent for cars, and a whopping 11.1 percent for trucks, compared with the same period in 2012. The increase in truck (freight) revenue amounts to $1.4 million. Offsetting rate increases account for the revenue jumps.

Nantucket passenger traffic volume, up four percent, was not sufficient to offset a two-percent drop in Vineyard traffic, so that volume on the line as a whole fell nine tenths of a percent.

Auto traffic was off to both ports, down 1.6 percent on Vineyard runs and 2.9 percent on Nantucket routes.