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Latest Ferry NewsThe latest ferry news for April 2006 is below:
Isle of Man Fast Ferry back in actionDate: 15 Apr 2006Source: BBC The fast ferry from the Isle of Man to Liverpool is back in service after essential repairs were carried out. The Isle of Man Steam Packet Company said the Superseacat Two spent two days in dry dock in Birkenhead. Damage to a water-jet that powers the vessel, which may have been caused by floating debris, is being investigated. The vessel recently spent eight weeks undergoing refurbishments. Passenger areas were improved and standard engine maintenance was carried out. A cafe bar was created, its lounge extended and the toilet facilities were upgraded. The Superseacat Two was the first of the firm's fleet to be upgraded. P&O still confident on Bilbao routeDate: 14 Apr 2006Source: Lloyds List DP World-owned P&O Ferries has increased sailings between the ports of Portsmouth and Bilbao, ahead of the opening of a Spanish ro-pax ferry service between the two ports next month. "We recently increased the frequency of our service to a departure every three days by dropping a weekly call to Cherbourg (France), said P&O Ferries spokesman Brian Rees. Spanish ferry operator Acciona-Trasmediterranea announced its entrance into the UK market this week, with the opening of the new ro-pax route between the British and Basque ports due on 16 May. The company will use the Fortuny, a ship formerly deployed between the Spain's mainland and Mediterranean islands. Trasmed is selling its new Bilbao-Portsmouth service by offering "four-day mini-cruises." Despite the new competitor, P&O remains positive over growth prospects. "We're well established on the Portsmouth-Bilbao route, having started the service over 10 years ago”, Rees said. “We've got a strong following, and are currently doing very well, particularly for passenger bookings in the peak summer period. It may be that the market is big enough for three operators (Brittany Ferries operates from Portsmouth to Santander), but we will have to wait and see how Trasmed gets on.” Bilbao will have further new services next year, after Spanish prime minister José Luis Zapatero and his French counterpart Dominique de Villepin signed an agreement of intent last October to launch a sea motorway between Bilbao and one of the French Atlantic ports. Norfolkline introduce smoke free travel on new shipsDate: 14 Apr 2006Source: Norfolkline Norfolkline’s multi-million pound investment in a new fleet of three purpose-built car ferries for the Dover – Dunkerque service, introduces a new style of cross channel travel dedicated to the motorist. Features of the new ships include the first ever ferries to provide smoke-free travel, to maximise passenger comfort and well-being. Inside all of the ships’ passenger areas smoking is not permitted, although there is a covered outside deck area where smoking is allowed. Norfolkline’s tourist business is entirely focused on the motorist, carrying only cars, cars and caravans, motorhomes and motorcycles and not coaches or foot passengers. The design of the new ships completely separates passenger and freight decks for vehicle loading and freight drivers and motorist passengers are also provided with exclusive on board facilities. Smart, spacious and now smoke-free, passengers can experience unparelled levels of service choosing from three restaurants offering fast, continental café and self-service food options, and make big savings on high street prices in the onboard shop. There are also play, entertainment or gaming areas and an exclusive First Class Executive lounge. Norfolkline has recently introduced Maersk Dunkerque and Maersk Delft, the first two of the fleet of three new purpose-built ships for the Dover – Dunkerque route. The third enters service in July 2006. Each ship has capacity for 200 cars, 780 passengers and up to 120 freight vehicles. Crossing time is 1 hour 45 minutes and the route provides 22 sailings daily. Norfolkline also offers the most competitive fares from Dover to France in 2006 with a lead-in price of £19 one way for a car and up to nine passengers. Wightlink Easter strike suspendedDate: 13 Apr 2006Source: BBC A planned strike by workers at ferry operator Wightlink has been suspended. Members of the RMT union, working for the Hampshire ferry company, had voted to take industrial action over the Easter weekend. The RMT union said the strike had been suspended to allow its members to vote on a revised pay offer, but it did not rule out future action. Three 24-hour-strikes had been scheduled to take place on Good Friday, Easter Monday and 23 April. Bob Crow, RMT general secretary, said: "The RMT executive has suspended the action scheduled for the bank-holiday weekend to allow time for our members to vote on whether or not the new offer is acceptable." He said the action was being suspended and not cancelled, and if union members reject the offer, further industrial action could be re-scheduled. The company operates routes from Portsmouth and Lymington to the Isle of Wight. Stena Line announces additional vessel for Holyhead to Dublin routeDate: 12 Apr 2006Source: Stena Line Leading ferry company Stena Line has announced plans to increase freight capacity on its Holyhead to Dublin route with the introduction of an additional vessel. The company will redeploy an existing ferry from its North Sea fleet, the Stena Seatrader, to commence operations on the Central Corridor during July 2006. The new service will complete one round trip per day between Holyhead and Dublin, leaving Holyhead at 22:15hrs and Dublin at 15:15hrs, increasing capacity on the corridor significantly. ”In recent years, we have seen Holyhead Port grow in importance to freight customers who now see Holyhead as the main gateway for transport to and from Ireland,” said Vic Goodwin, Stena Line Route Director for the Central Corridor. ”This is due to the opening of the A55 dual carriageway in 2001 which has reduced the journey time to the port and enabled freight traffic to grow by 100% through Holyhead port since the turn of the decade,” he added. The announcement comes on the back of a successful year for Stena Line, which saw total freight volumes grow by 8% during 2005. The company’s five Irish Sea routes were particularly successful enjoying growth of 16%, with the biggest increase taking place on the Holyhead to Dublin Bay routes where the number of freight vehicles travelling on these routes jumped to 173,000 units. This success has prompted the company’s latest decision, as Stena Line CEO Gunnar Blomdahl explained: “Stena Line has a long term commitment to improve its service on the Irish Sea and as a result of recent growth in this area, we have now decided to increase frequency and capacity on the Central Corridor by introducing another freight vessel. ”On top of this we have also invested almost £1M in upgrading services onboard the Stena Adventurer and facilities at the Dublin ferry terminal this year,” added Gunnar. Stena Line Freight Commercial Manager Frank Nieuwenhuys believes that the addition of the new ferry will have great practical benefits for customers. “In addition to providing greater frequency and capacity for our freight customers, we believe the new sailing times will prove attractive for customers who want to arrive in Dublin and get underway before the morning rush hour and return early thereby improving vehicle turnaround time and fleet utilisation,” explained Frank. “This year, we are introducing new tonnage on our North Sea routes from Killingholme to to Hoek of Holland with two new ships due to start service in July and December. This gives us the opportunity to expand our freight services on the Irish Sea by redeploying a vessel from our North Sea fleet to start this service,” he concluded. Stena Line offers customers a choice of over 50 sailings a day across eight routes on the Irish and North Sea. These include Stranraer-Belfast, Fleetwood-Larne, Holyhead-Dun Laoghaire, Holyhead-Dublin, Fishguard-Rosslare, Killingholme-Hoek van Holland, Harwich-Hoek van Holland and Harwich-Rotterdam. Corsica Ferries to boost Toulon capacityDate: 11 Apr 2006Source: Lloyds List Corsica Ferries is to boost its transport capacities on the routes from Toulon to Corsica and Sardinia through the acquisition of three second-hand ferries this year. “We are prepared for even more ship acquisitions, depending on the results of the public service tender for ferry routes between South France and Corsica, which will govern the trade as from January 2007,” confirmed Corsica Ferries director general Pierre Mattei. The company, currently the largest ferry operator between South France and Corsica with almost twice as many passengers carried as rival SNCM, has made no secret of its intention to bid for entry on the Marseilles-Corsica route. The service has until now been operated by SNCM but Mattei argues his service would be “better and cheaper” for the Corsican tax-payer. Corsica Ferries currently operates eleven ships, including three 530-passenger fast ferries, three Mega Express ferries of 1,700-2,100 passengers, and five traditional ferries. New Portsmouth Bilbao service goes live!Date: 6 Apr 2006Source: Directferries.co.uk Spanish ferry giant Acciona Trasmediterranea have announced that they will be operating a new twice weekly ferry service between Portsmouth and Bilbao under the name AT Ferries. The service can be booked online from today with the first sailing from Bilbao scheduled for 16th May and from Portsmouth on the 18th May. The crossing from England will take 29 hours and from Spain 34 using their new Fortuny Sorolla superferry. The service is currently only available to be booked in Euros although it it scheduled to be available in GBP sometime next week. For more information and booking, please visit our AT Ferries page or alternatively please contact our reservations centre on 0871 222 3312. Wightlink faces Easter disruptionDate: 5 Apr 2006Source: Isle of Wight County Press Wightlink staff voted overwhelmingly for strike action today (Thursday) with an overtime ban coming into force first from midday on Good Friday. And unless the dispute is settled, there will be disruption to car ferry and FastCat services from Good Friday with the loss of up to three sailings a day, followed by two 24-hour strikes from midday on Easter Monday (April 17) and on April 23. The overtime ban will mean union members will not agree to any short-term changes to rosters and any vessels running more than 20 minutes late at shift change times will not leave port or will have to tie up until the next shift starts work. The ballot figures for those afloat were 150 votes cast with 114 for strike action and 35 against. On the question of an overtime ban, 141 were for and seven against. Shore staff cast 98 votes, 75 for strike action and 23 against. Eighty seven were for an overtime ban and ten were opposed. In both cases there were some spoilt ballot papers. One Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union member, who did not wish to be named, said this could mean the loss of up to three sailings a day on a normal day and possible more on bank holidays. He said: "If they are running late by lunchtime, those sailings will stop and the boats will have to stand off or tie up until new shifts come in." The company was being informed yesterday of the overwhelming support of union members working afloat and ashore and of their commitment to action. A meeting had already been arranged between the RMT and Wightlink bosses for Monday and the company said earlier this week it was hopeful any outstanding matters could be resolved then. In any event, the company was committed to do everything possible to minimise any disruption to services and its passengers that may result from any action. RMT regional section officer Phil Byialyk said he has been told by the Macquarie-owned company it could not afford a pay rise because of a large bond that has to be re-paid. Wightlink said in a statement that when it was bought by Macquarie last July, the new shareholders injected significant funds into the company and reduced its debt. "As a result, the debt service obligations are less now than they were prior to July 2005. It is therefore not correct to suggest Wightlink staff or customers are being asked to subsidise debt," a Wightlink spokesman said. Dave Groocock, chairman of the tourism executive for the IW Chamber of Commerce, Tourism and Industry, said: "This is absolutely disastrous. "I would have hoped Wightlink and the union would have worked something out and hope it's not too late because this would be detrimental to the Island economy, not just for tourism but business as a whole. "Also Island residents will be totally cut off from the mainland. I would hope common sense will prevail. "The link could not be severed at a worse time than over the bank holiday period when we get an influx of visitors to the Island. It will just be disastrous." France takes note as Brittany Ferries flags up high costs of operating its fleetDate: 1 Apr 2006Source: Lloyds List Brittany Ferries has won an assurance from the French government that it will look at ways of reducing the French flag cost disadvantage which the company says is threatening its long-term viability. Despite posting a net profit of €17.6m ($21m) on its financial year, which ended September 30, at a time when many of its competitors on the English Channel are losing money, the company says that the fact that it operates under a French flag with all-French crews means that it is bearing heavy extra costs which ultimately threaten its survival. Chairman Alexis Gourvennec said that, following a recent meeting, transport minister Dominique Perben had recognised the company’s case by promising to exonerate it this year from the portion of social charges for which the government does not already reimburse it — a measure he said he expected to see extended to other French flag ferry operators like SNCM and SeaFrance. But he said that the minister had accepted that this was not enough and had agreed to study with the company and concerned members of parliament ways of bringing its costs into line with other European Union operators. Mr Gourvennec claimed that crewing under a French flag was costing the company 50% more than its counterparts in Italy and 40% more than those in Britain. “You can’t do the same job on the same market with colossal costs,” he said. “Sooner or later, they will lead to the disappearance of this activity under a French flag.” Mr Gourvennec said that despite its crewing cost problem, the company had achieved better results than most of its fellow English Channel ferry operators in what had been “a very difficult context”. The passenger market, in particular, had contracted overall under the effect of competition from low-cost airlines and a decline in France’s image as a holiday destination, compared with the United States, eastern Europe and other Mediterranean countries. Brittany Ferries’ traffic increased, nevertheless, in all categories as the company benefited from the withdrawal of P&O Ferries from western and central Channel routes and strong growth on lines to Ireland and Spain, helped by the introduction of new ships in 2003 and 2004. The company’s passenger total for the year ended September 30 rose 9.3% to 2.77m, while its tourist vehicle total was up 6.4% at 803,079. Freight vehicle numbers increased 10.1% cent to 224,878. Net income was nearly € 2m down at €17.6m, however, despite a 5.1% increase in turnover to €364.4m. Mr Gourvennec said that the company was “probably more satisfied” with its results than other Channel ferry operators and said that it could look forward to consolidating its position two or three years hence following the delivery of a new freight vessel at the end of 2007 and a new passenger vessel at the end of 2008. In the meantime, he said, it was discussing with its tourist industry partners in France ways of restoring France’s attractiveness as a holiday destination, notably via measures to improve the welcome the company’s largely British clientele received and to modernise tourist reception facilities. |
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