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Latest Ferry NewsThe latest ferry news for December 2005 is below:
Eurotunnel launches self check-inDate: 15 Dec 2005Source: Eurotunnel Eurotunnel has launched a new self check-in service for customers. Customers will have the choice whether to use the new service from mid December 2005 or to continue to use the traditional Check-In method. Self Check-In is simple and easy, and with step by step instructions on the touch screen display, customers will be able to process their booking within minutes. All they need to do is to proceed to the signposted Self Check-In lanes and look out for the newly installed machines. Customers will then need to enter their eight digit booking reference number and follow the simple and clear instructions. Help is at hand if they do get stuck by pressing the button. Once their booking is processed, their boarding pass will be printed which will need to be displayed as normal on their rear view mirror. Condor Ferries offer ticket reassuranceDate: 14 Dec 2005Source: BBC News Condor Ferries has said it will not put up its fares between Jersey and St Malo despite being the only carrier on the route until next February. Management from the company has been meeting politicians after the news Emeraude Ferries will be pulling out of the route in the same month. This is to enable Emeraude's Solidor Five ferry to have its annual re-fit. It means, until then, Condor will be the only ferry operator on the route, but it says its prices will not change. There had been concern that loss of competition could force prices up, but Condor says discounts on advance tickets will still be available. It says extra services will also be put on just before and after New Year to make sure passengers are not badly affected. Politicians are to meet representatives from Emeraude Ferries later this week. Deal is reached in Irish Ferries disputeDate: 14 Dec 2005Source: BBC News A deal has been reached between management at Irish Ferries and union officials which will allow sailings between Britain and Ireland to resume. The dispute centred on plans to replace 540 Irish Ferries employees from the Irish Republic with foreign workers. The deal was brokered by the Labour Relations Commission in Dublin. It is understood pay and conditions will be underpinned by a binding legal agreement and the company will be allowed to "re-flag" vessels abroad. Negotiators from management and unions are expected to recommend the deal to the board and to staff. Irish Ferries services are expected to resume again on Wednesday. None of the company's three ships between Ireland and Britain have sailed since 24 November. The dispute has also paralysed an Ireland-France service involving a fourth Irish Ferries ship. A statement from Brendan Hayes, vice president of the Siptu union, said: "The union has been successful in ensuring that the threshold of decency has been defended and that vulnerable migrant maritime workers have the protection of Irish law. "Siptu now calls upon the government to enforce and enhance our labour legislation so as to ensure that a situation such as that which occurred in Irish Ferries never happens again." Eamonn Rothwell, chief executive of Irish Ferris, said the company was committed to restoring all of its services as soon as possible. Negotiations at the Labour Relations Commission in Dublin resumed on Tuesday after the company threatened to cut a redundancy offer and take one of the vessels out of service if sailings did not restart. The dispute began in September when Irish Ferries offered redundancy to a third of its workforce in order to replace them with lower-paid workers from central and eastern Europe. It escalated more than two weeks ago when Irish Ferries crew members on the vessels Isle of Inishmore and the Ulysses barricaded themselves on board. The ships have remained moored in Pembroke Dock and Holyhead respectively while the dispute went on. Condor Ferries plan French rail link upDate: 11 Dec 2005Source: BBC News A Channel Island ferry company says that it is planning to link its services with a new train service from St Malo to Paris. France's famous high-speed train the TGV is operating the direct route to the French capital reducing the journey time by about half an hour. Condor Ferries will be providing islanders with the chance to buy a combined ferry and rail ticket. The new rail service begins in France on Sunday. Fleet changes with Brittany FerriesDate: 5 Dec 2005Source: Brittany Ferries Brittany Ferries today announced the sale of Val de Loire to DFDS Seaways and the medium term charter of Duke of Scandinavia (to be renamed Pont l'Abbé), again from DFDS Seaways. Pont l'Abbé has can accommodate 410 cars and 1,200 passengers in comfort. The ship has a considerable amount of public space and sun decks for day crossings, with nearly 400 cabins on offer for night crossings. She will be used on the Plymouth-Roscoff route, with Bretagne returning to the St Malo-Portsmouth route. These changes to Brittany Ferries' fleet are part of a longer term plan to build a brand new state-of-the-art ship, currently code-named Bretagne II, specifically designed for the Roscoff-Plymouth route, and which the company intends to launch in spring 2008. Cross Channel Ferries sail again after blockadeDate: 1 Dec 2005Source: BBC News Industrial action by French fishermen protesting against EU quota cuts has been disrupting ferry services leaving the Kent port of Dover. Blockades at the French ports of Calais, Boulogne and Dunkirk which began early on Thursday morning were lifted at 1200 GMT. Five P&O sailings were cancelled, while SpeedFerries cancelled two. SeaFrance and Norfolkline suffered slight delays. Cross-channel ferries began to sail from Dover again just before 1000 GMT. The action led to heavier traffic that usual in Dover, but there was no major disruption in either the town or on the main routes into it. The delays at Dover were compounded by technical problems at the Channel Tunnel in Folkestone, which also forced passengers to wait to cross the Channel. |
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