Ferry News Archive
Holidaymakers forced to take slow boat
Date: 29 May 2007 00:00 Source: timesonline.co.ukThousands of families will have to take the slow boat on holiday this summer as rising fuel prices force ferry companies to withdraw high speed vessels.
Many of the ferries, which travel at more than 40 mph, were designed in the 1980s and 90s when oil was a quarter of its current price. They use more than twice as much fuel as a conventional ferry but travel twice as fast.
Ferry companies are upgrading their slower boats with better restaurants, shops and entertainment in an attempt to persuade passengers to view the crossing as part of the holiday, rather than an inconvenience to be endured for the shortest possible time. The vessel which is most vulnerable to the high oil price is the Stena HSS, an aluminium catamaran the size of a football pitch which revolutionised ferry travel when she was introduced in 1995.
The HSS, which carries 1,500 passengers and 360 cars, halved the sailing time on routes between Ireland and Britain and across the North Sea between Harwich and the Hook of Holland.
But Stena has withdrawn its HSS Discovery from the North Sea and reduced the number of sailings by her two sister ships on the Irish Sea. The Swedish company has also reduced the period in which it uses a fast craft on the Fishguard to Rosslare route from eight months to less than five.
Gunnar Blomdahl, Stena’s chief executive, said that Stena would have to consider withdrawing all its HSSs if, as some forecasters were predicting, the oil price rose from the recent level of $70 (£35) a barrel to $100 a barrel.
The cost of fuel for a crossing is eight times higher for an HSS than for a conventional ferry. The HSS uses gas oil, which is similar to kerosene used in jet aircraft and four times the price of standard marine fuel. It consumes 90,000 litres of gas oil on a 220-mile round trip on the North Sea, compared with the 40,000 litres of marine fuel used by a conventional ferry.
The crossing, which took three hours and 40 minutes by HSS, will now take six hours and 30 minutes. The ferries replacing the HSS will travel at only 25mph but have been lengthened to add more cabins and create room for restaurants and shops.
The HSS Discovery is being stored, awaiting a buyer, at the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast. Mr Blomdahl admitted that she might never carry passengers again and be scrapped, despite having at least 15 years of working life left.
He said: “The HSS was designed on the assumption that oil would remain around $20 a barrel. If oil was $100 a barrel it would be a threat to all fast craft and probably would threaten [using the HSS] on the Irish Sea. It would be a test of whether passengers were prepared to pay extra for going fast.” He said that about ten high-speed ferries were up for sale in Europe after being removed from various routes.
Bill Gibbons, director of the Passenger Shipping Association, said: “The HSS is the Concorde of the shipping industry – futuristic but not the success that was hoped. The problems are the high cost of fuel and the costly shore infrastructure it needs.
“Ferry companies are now trying to make the time spent on board conventional ferries more rewarding rather than something to endure. Travelling more slowly gives you more time to enjoy the crossing.”
Even on slower ferries, companies are trying to conserve fuel by installing equipment that runs the engine at the slowest speed possible.
Sea change
HSS Discovery Built: 1997 Gross tonnage: 19,638 Length 124m Breadth: 40m Vehicles: 360 cars Passengers: 1,500 Speed: 46mph
Stena Britannica Built: 2003 Gross tonnage: 45,000 Length 240m Breadth: 29.3m Vehicles: 170 cars and 180 lorries Passengers: 900 Speed: 25mph
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