The new owners of a cross-Channel ferry route said the number of people travelling to and from the Continent had soared since it took over the service three months ago.

Louis Dreyfus Transmanche said the number of cars on its Newhaven to Dieppe route was up 31 per cent to 8,000 in May, compared with 6,120 in the same month last year.

The rise followed a six per cent increase in April and a 15 per cent rise in March, despite the number of daily crossings being cut to two during these months. The service still runs three times a day during summer.

Last year 250,000 people travelled by ferry between Newhaven and Dieppe.

LD Transmanche reckons that number could increase by 50,000 this year after it introduced two new ships to its fleet.

LD Transmanche spokesman Claude Sokolski said: "We noticed in the winter hardly anybody was using the Newhaven to Dieppe service so we cut the service to twice daily.

"That has helped us to reduce our deficits considerably. Passenger numbers have increased at the same time, which is good news."

Meanwhile the new summer link between Newhaven and Le Havre created by LD Transmanche Ferries' sister company, LD Lines, carried 2,250 cars in May.

The Newhaven to Dieppe service used to be popular with tourists but things started to go wrong when flights became cheaper and the tunnel opened.

In 1999 the private operator running the service closed down.

For two years no ferries sailed and the docks in Newhaven and Dieppe fell into disrepair.

Then in 2001 the Seine Maritime local council in France formed a company, Transmanche, which bought up part of Newhaven docks and reinstated a service.

Now it looks like things are on the up again.