Muri (Aargau), Switzerland, Norderstedt, Germany and Reading UK, 28 September 2021 – Cruise & Ferry Center AG of Switzerland has recently launched its new online ferry reservation service www.ferrycenter.ch. 

Aimed at B2C and B2B market sectors, Switzerland’s leading ferry agent developed the state-of-the-art Internet Booking Engine (IBE) based on Pharos’s Xchange API.

“We knew that building a high-performance, very user-friendly IBE with response times similar to those on flight or hotel websites is a most ambitious undertaking”, comments Rebecca Giger-Senn, CEO of Cruise & Ferry Center AG. “With Pharos Xchange, we found the one ferry API that offers direct access to the most ferry operators together with the fastest response times.”

The first user of the white-label version of Cruise & Ferry Center’s IBE is FerryExperts, a German ferry agent. Since its foundation in 2011, Ferry Experts has been the official representative of Destination Gotland and later became GSA for Ölandslinjen in the German-speaking countries.  

The common reseller API enables a single connection to all trading partners together with a commercially transparent interface and fully integrated functionality.

Alan Warburton, managing director of Pharos Data Ltd., added: “Due to their excellent reputation in the industry coupled with their remarkable IT implementation skills, Cruise & Ferry Center AG was able to go live in only a few months. We look forward to working closely with Rebecca and her team.”

Founded in 1992, Pharos offers a unique industry-neutral independent reservations service enabling mainstream travel players to succeed in E-Commerce mass ferry distribution. 

Ferry OTAs, such as Aferry and Directferries, leading camping and caravan clubs, the camping holiday provider Eurocamp, Germany’s B2B ferry reservation service FerryKnowHow.pro, and the E-Commerce platform of the French supermarket chain Group Casino, Cdiscount, all use the Pharos platform. 

In addition, ferry operators themselves, such as Brittany Ferries and Eurotunnel, use Pharos’s proven ferry sales hub. Overall, the system connects over 36 ferry operators to 40+ resellers, tour operators, travel organisations and networks. 

The Pharos service is key to widespread E-Commerce integration in mainstream travel to improve ferry distribution by trade partnering.