Raja Ferry looking at Andaman Sea route

This expansion is part of the company’s investment plan until 2020, said managing director Apichart Chayopas. 
Raja Ferry Port mainly carries passengers between mainland Surat Thani and Koh Samui and Koh Pha Ngan.
“We want to link two oceans – the Pacific [to the East] and the Indian [to the West],” Apichart said.
He added that the company should find out this year if this would happen after it submitted the proposal for the ferry operation and port construction to relevant agencies for consideration. 
He said the new route was designed to not only serve leisure and business travellers but also merchants who lived on the Andaman Sea side and who wanted to sell their craft products on the Gulf of Thailand side. 
The company was considering operating a 200-seat ferry that can also carry goods.
“We have done a feasibility study on the new route for a year and found it is worth investing in,” said Apichart. 
However, Apichat declined to elaborate more on the new route’s destination. 
Apichart said the company also planned to make Koh Samui a “meeting station” rather than a destination point, with locals having a pride in the location that reflected the excellent location and food in a bid to woo more travellers from all over the world. 
Under the plan, he said Raja Ferry aimed to buy a second-hand mid-sized ferry with 300 seats worth Bt120-130 million via an auction in April. If successful, it would be the 14th ferry of its fleet. 
Raja Ferry suffered a decline in sales in November and December due to a drop in Chinese tourist arrivals has a result of the government’s policy to suppress any illegal businesses related to the tourism industry. The company also suffered from the severe floods in the South, but it still posted a revenue growth for the full year, Apichart said.
Raja Ferry last year completed construction of its new wharves on the mainland and on Koh Samui, resulting in traffic at both ports increasing 10 per cent, he said. 
Raja Ferry Port posted Bt70.08 million in net profit on Bt522.05 million in revenue for the frist nine months of 2016. 
Apichart said the company had linked its ferry services with air and bus services to provide a transport loop to provide travellers arriving to and departing from Koh Samui more convenience at reasonable prices. 
He said about 90 per cent of chattered flights from China arriving at Surat Thani Airport opted to travel by Raja Ferry to Koh Samui. 
“We now enjoy around 2,000 Chinese passengers flying in on chartered flights from China a day, doubling from earlier.The key success factor is that we can deliver our customers to the door of their destinations even if the flight is delay,” he said. 
He said Raja Ferry had targeted continuous revenue growth of between 5 per cent and 10 per cent a year. 
Between 60-70 per cent of Raja Ferry’s revenue comes from freight sales and the rest comes from passengers, with its load factor about 70 per cent, said Apichart. 
As fuel oil is the company’s major production cost, he said that its revenue might be affected if oil price rose.
The oil price is expected to reach US$60-80 (Bt2,100-Bt2,800) per barrel this year. It is currently at between $45-50 a barrel.