Stena benefits from 'insulting' Ryanair

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Reporting a 10% rise in passenger traffic on its flagship Dublin to Holyhead service, Stena's chief executive Gunnar Blomdahl said: "I think we have benefited from all the trouble you have at the airport.

"First you are insulted by a Ryanair person. Then you have to go through security.

"We have gone the other way and made it easier. The ferries are also much better than they were four or five years ago."

On Ryanair's services, Blomdahl continued: "Everybody is talking about it so there must be an opinion that it is not fun. They have gone the other way when it comes to improvements. We have improved our product."

Ryanair's chief executive Michael O'Leary dismissed what he called "the ramblings of Stena Line's Captain Hook", adding: "Ferries are for transporting bullocks."

Stena admitted growth had come on the back of special offers to win passenger car traffic after a 15% decline in freight use.