2Go woos young travelers

Logistics giant 2GO Group Inc. is launching a mobile app next year to lure younger travelers.

The company is hoping to bolster its passenger freight business, which is seeing increasing competition from rival shipping operators and even budget airlines.

“We just want to be always available, especially to the millennials” Paul Capundan, business development manager for 2GO Group, said in an interview on Friday. He declined to give a target when the company’s mobile app would be available.

He said 2GO Group’s passenger sales distribution network was currently limited to physical outlets and its website.

As a result, it is missing out on opportunities from customers who prefer to book their tickets using a mobile phone. The market is vast given the Philippines’ mobile penetration rate of over 100 percent and during an era of cheaper smartphones.

“Airlines are coming up with their midnight promotions. We are capable of launching those types of promos but the channels where you can buy 2GO Group tickets are closed,” Capundan said.

“If we can make ourselves available on a mobile platform, then the better,” he said, adding that 2GO Group could increase ticket sales by about 30 percent.

2GO Group posted a P189.4-million loss in the first half of 2019. This came as the core shipping segment saw revenues dip 1.2 percent to P4.87 billion while cost of sales increased.

Capundan said 2GO Group was also increasing revenues through various training programs for maritime and hospitality students.

Its programs, which range from a few days to a two-month offering, can partly alleviate an expected global shortfall of 150,000 officers by 2025.

At the end of 2018, 2GO Group had a fleet of 27 operating vessels, including five roll-on/roll-off vessels for long haul domestic routes.

Its operating vessel fleet has a combined gross registered tonnage of 128,985 metric tons, total passenger capacity of about 7.45 million and an aggregate cargo capacity of 338,305 twenty-foot equivalent units.

2GO controls 95 percent of the market in and out of Metro Manila. Its freight market share stood at 23 percent last year. —MIGUEL R. CAMUS