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Latest Ferry NewsThe latest ferry news for July 2008 is below:
Dutch firm linked with Rosyth Euro-ferry serviceDate: 25 Jul 2008Source: www.dunfermlinepress.com Rosyth's Euro-ferry could be set for a late reprieve with speculation growing that a rescue deal is on the cards. Talks between the Scottish Government, Forth Ports and a potential operator have been going on this week in a bid to make sure the Zeebrugge service continues when Superfast pulls out in September. However, the Press understands the negotiations have been progressing well but some significant hurdles remain. These include issues as fundamental as the suitability of the vessel and funding packages and so things could still fall through. However, if agreement is reached, the major operator involved – believed to be based in Holland – will be in place to offer a freight and passenger service in September. It is understood that the deal would also see a second vessel added to the service next year, which would allow a return to a daily service operating between Rosyth and the Belgian port. With haulage operators already looking at alternative routes, the pressure is increasing to let customers know where they stand. It is now expected that an announcement will be made some time in the next week. Rosyth SNP councillor Douglas Chapman told the Press yesterday (Wednesday), “I was speaking to Stewart Stevenson (transport minister) today and he seems fairly confident the service will continue. “However, everybody’s keeping very tight-lipped at the moment until there’s something to announce. “I know that Alex Salmond is still keeping a very close interest in how things are progressing.” Mr Chapman and SNP MEP Alyn Smith met with representatives of Forth Ports at Rosyth on Friday. Mr Smith said afterwards, “The omens from the European Commission are very, very positive and I’m working closely with Fife Council, Scottish Government – frankly anybody – to access as much EU support into any operator coming in and out of Rosyth as possible. “The important thing is to make sure that we have a service coming out of Rosyth for freight and passengers and I feel very positive about it.” A spokesman for Forth Ports said, “Discussions are on-going with a number of potential operators and we remain hopeful of identifying a suitable replacement for Superfast.” Shetland businessman John White told the Press that he had heard no more this week about his bid to run a ferry service linking Rosyth with Norway and Zeebrugge. He is expecting a decision on EU funding any day but also wants to expand the project to provide a more regular service to and from Rosyth. “I’ve still heard nothing so it’s still a case of wait and see I’m afraid,” said Mr White. MSP Jim Tolson said, “While talks are going on everybody in West Fife will be hoping that the service continues in September and we’re hoping for good news soon. UK ferry operators tighten their beltsDate: 24 Jul 2008Source: Lloyds List TWO of Britain’s leading ferry operators have introduced recruitment freezes and other tough belt-tightening measures, with the surging cost of bunkers a prominent factor in both cases. P&O Ferries admit that things are so bad that it would have had to issue a profits warning if it were still a listed company, while Red Funnel has had to axe over 20 round-trips between Southampton and the Isle of Wight each week to appease its investors. News of the two companies’ troubles will spur fears that the sector could be facing a difficult year, as holiday travel is typically one of the first areas of discretionary spending to be hit during economic downturns. All staff at P&O Ferries recently received a memo from chief executive Helen Deeble, revealing that the business faced what she called “acute financial challenges”, with fuel costs leading the way. If the prices prevailing at the end of last month hold, P&O Ferries’s fuel bill for 2008 will be £40m up on last year, Ms Deeble said. There have also been operational difficulties with the vessel Pride of Canterbury and higher port operating costs in the North Sea. “Based on these [factors], we foresee considerable profitability challenges for the rest of the year,” she went on. As a result, a sweeping austerity package has been deemed necessary. P&O Ferries has therefore introduced a total recruitment freeze on all vacancies, full and paort time, with only limited exceptions on a case-by-case basis. All discretionary expenditure has also been frozen, will the use of all consultancy services has been discontinued. A similar memo went to staff at Red Funnel in May, which admitted frankly: “Trading performance for the first quarter has been severely damaged by a number of issues ranging from the state of the credit markets, fall off in discretionary spend, disjointed and early Easter, poor weather through school holidays, problems with trade bookings, lost calls and related issues... and website deficiencies.” Fuel costs were said to be running “well above budget”, as a result of which the decision was taken to reduce two-week fuel inventories to a “more reasonable” level. Weekday high speed ferry crossings during the lunchtime period have been cut from every half hour to every hour, cutting ten sailings each week, while overnight freight crossings have also been consolidated, knocking a further 11 sailings out of the schedule. While no redundancies are envisaged, vacant positions are not being filled unless necessary. Red Funnel was yesterday keen to stress that it is still advertising for some categories of staff. A spokesman for P&O said that the cutbacks were simply a matter of good housekeeping, at a time when it looked as if fuel prices were getting out of control. But the fall in prices in recent days is easing the pressure somewhat. “The difference that makes is massive to a company that gets through the amount of fuel we do,” he added. Jonathan Green, sales and marketing director at Red Funnel, said: “We have been far from immune from fuel costs. We have very much been looking to reduce costs wherever we can.” The company has also instituted promotional pricing and a larger marketing spend in a bid to boost business. This campaign appears to be having results, with a pick up in bookings since the memo was issued, Mr Green argued. Portsmouth Port berths will be lengthened for LD Lines' ferryDate: 15 Jul 2008Source: Portsmouth.co.uk Portsmouth's port is to be restructured to accommodate LD Lines' new ferry. The 186 metre, 800-passenger Norman Voyager is set come into service in early November – but is longer than any ferries currently in service at the port. Extra capacity of to up to 50 metres is planned for two of the harbour's four berths, lengthening them to around 200 metres, and allowing them to cater for much bigger ships. The move is expected to cost around £1m, but Portsmouth City Council, which controls the port, said it will easily recoup the spending with the extra revenue from The Norman Voyager and other supersize ships. Phil Gadd, Portsmouth Ferry Port manager, said: 'It's like anything, if you don't invest, you don't attract new business. 'What's happening is ships are getting bigger. 'We need this lengthening process to get longer vessels into the berth. 'It's good news from our point of view because it is a real business need. 'It's an economy of scale taking things across the channel now, and other ports are doing a similar sort of thing.' The development means the building of an additional 10-metre wide, 25-metre deep dolphin – a steel or concrete island, driven deep into the seabed and connected to the dock by a walkway, capable of taking the weight of the 25,000-plus tonne vessel. Ropes will tether the bow to the dolphin to prevent the ship from drifting. The extra capacity was approved by Portsmouth City Council's executive on July 7, and will benefit berths three and four. Contracts for the work will go out to tender in August, and work is expected to be completed by Easter. In the meantime the Norman Voyager will use 'interim measures' to tether itself to the berth. To book an LD Lines ferry ticket, please visit our LD Lines page. New ferry is a bit of all Wight for LymingtonDate: 15 Jul 2008Source: Portsmouth.co.uk A new ship has been launched by a Portsmouth ferry firm. The Wight Sun, due to sail between Lymington and Yarmouth, hit the water at the Kraljevica shipyard in Croatia on Saturday, June 28. Due to enter service in 2009, she joins the Wight Light and Wight Sky, launched in January and April respectively, and also due to serve the Lymington – Yarmouth route. It is the last of three new 'Wight Class' vessels, which replace the older service 'C-Class' fleet along the route. The next ships the firm will launch will be two new catamarans, currently being built in the Philippines and due to come into service on the Portsmouth – Ryde route in July 2009, replacing the three older catamarans now in service. The upgraded ships form part of a £57m investment to the firm's fleet, modernising its ferry fleet and upgrading its dock facilities. Clive Tilley, commercial director of Wightlink, which employs 600 workers in Portsmouth, said the new vessels were a welcome upgrade to the firm's long-serving fleet. He said: 'This brings us closer to getting ferries built which are fit for purpose.' Subsidy raises hope of saving Scottish ferry link to ContinentDate: 14 Jul 2008Source: The Herald Scotland's only ferry link to the Continent could be saved thanks to a European Commission subsidy, it was revealed yesterday. Superfast, which runs a Rosyth-to-Zeebrugge ferry, will end operations in September for, it says, financial reasons. But the EU Commission says a new operator on the route would be eligible for a 30% subsidy. Four ferry operators - one Scottish, one Danish and two Norwegian - are said to be interested in providing a service from Fife. Instead of simply running between Rosyth and Belgium, the ferry could also go to Norway, possibly also calling at Shetland on certain days. Saving the service would be a boost for Scots holidaymakers who use the ferry every year to escape "under the bridges" to Europe, and who will otherwise have to drive to Tyneside for the nearest sea link. Proposals to be considered under the scheme have to be submitted by the end of September, but may not be considered by the commission before December. The subsidy would be allowable under the Motorways of the Sea scheme run by the EU, which already supports ferry routes in the Mediterranean and the Baltic. Edinburgh-based SNP MEP Alyn Smith contacted Transport Commissioner Antonio Tajani, asking if the Rosyth-to-Zeebrugge service would qualify for the financial support. He has received a letter confirming it may. Mr Smith said yesterday: "I put the case to him that surely linking in a big chunk of the UK mainland to Europe via Zeebrugge is clearly eligible to my mind for the Motorway of the Sea programme." In his reply, Mr Tajani wrote: "I agree with your assessment that the potential exists. First, linking Scotland to Europe's mainland enters into one of the two objectives of the Motorways of the Sea programme to increase cohesion by connecting peripheral regions to the centre of Europe. "Secondly, there is an undeniable potential of shift of transport away from the road." Mr Smith is to meet officials from Forth Ports Authority this week to discuss the issue. He says speed is now crucial as freight operators who have been using the Superfast service from Rosyth are already signing up to other ferry companies sailing from Tyneside, Hull and the Channel ports. Margaret Smith, the Edinburgh West MSP who earlier joined other Holyrood politicians in calling for an alternative operator to be found, said: "The Rosyth-Zeebrugge ferry link is vital to the surrounding economies and Scotland as a whole." Dunfermline West MSP Jim Tolson said the Scottish Government's priority should be to ensure a "seamless" handover to a new operator no later than September. Motorways of the Sea subsidises ferries between Corsica and France as well as in Sweden and Estonia. LD Lines to introduce a new Dover - Boulogne ferry serviceDate: 8 Jul 2008Source: Lloyds List French ferry newcomer LD Lines has announced plans to add an English Channel service between Boulogne sur Mer and Dover to the two it already operates between Le Havre and Portsmouth and Dieppe and Newhaven, writes Andrew Spurrier in Paris. The new service, the company’s first in the Dover Strait, is due to start on July 1 next year, and will use a single vessel to offer four round trips daily between the two ports. The Boulogne chamber of commerce, which runs the French port, said that the new line would probably make use of Norman Spirit, the vessel which is in service between Le Havre and Portsmouth. LD Lines has yet to take a final decision on which ship it intends to use for the route, but it has already indicated that it plans to introduce a second vessel at an early stage. The company expects to handle 120,000 trucks, 130,000 cars and 300,000 passengers in the first year of operation of the new line. The start of the service will mark the opening of a new RoRo hub at Boulogne, pictured, where work has already begun on a new multi-purpose ramp, with a second due to follow in a matter of months. Boulogne Chamber of Commerce chairman Francis Leroy said that the port was looking to obtain a sizeable share of the Dover Strait freight market through the new line but without taking traffic away from its neighbours, Calais and Dunkirk. The port intended to take advantage of the “general progression of cross-channel freight traffic”, he said. LD Lines made its debut on the English Channel in October 2005 when it took over the Le Havre-Portsmouth route abandoned by P&O Ferries. Last year, the company won a concession from the Upper Normandy regional council to take over the Dieppe-Newhaven service operated by Transmanche Ferries. It announced recently that it will be introducing a second vessel between Le Havre and Portsmouth in November and is due to take delivery of another new vessel from Singapore’s ST Marine in 2010. To date, it has made a speciality of offering RoPax services using vessels designed primarily for the transportation of trucks but offering some limited passenger facilities For more information on LD Lines, please visit our LD Lines page. Ferries to Madeira from PortugalDate: 1 Jul 2008Source: Directferries.co.uk Canary Islands Ferry operator Naviera Armas will be starting a ferry service from the Portuguese mainland port of Portimao to the Madeira Island port of Funchal from 15th June 2008. The route will be served by a new ferry - 'Volcano of Tijarafe' of the Naviera Armas fleet and will travel once per week between Funchal (Madeira) and Portimao (Portugal). This represents a historical moment for Madeira as this is the first time in over 30 years that there has been a ferry service from mainland Europe and so begins a new era of travelling to the Madeira Islands. For more information and booking, please visit the following pages: Ferries to the Madeira Islands Ferry to Funchal Naviera Armas Portimao Ferry Port Newcastle in fight to keep Norway routeDate: 1 Jul 2008Source: Lloyds List A high-profile campaign has been launched to save the ferry route that links Newcastle's Port of Tyne with Norway. Politicians and tourism leaders from Newcastle are so keen to keep the service afloat that they are considering offering incentives to potential operators. They have met with their Norwegian counterparts to discuss what could be done following DFDS’s announcement that they will be shutting down the route from September. DFDS, which made the announcement in May, blamed rising fuel prices for the decision to axe the route, that takes in the Norwegian ports of Stavangar, Haugesund and Bergen. As well as 250 jobs being at risk, the connection with Norway is believed to be worth at least £25m ($49m) a year to the economy of northeast England. Many Norwegians travel to Newcastle on shopping trips, taking advantage of the favourable exchange rate. Andrew Dixon, chief executive of Newcastle Gateshead Initiative, that is responsible for promoting the region, was one of the officials at the meeting with the Norwegians. He declined to discuss what incentives may be offered, although it is understood one suggestion might be to cover the operator’s promotional and advertising costs. Mr Dixon said: 'Our culture, tourism and business connections with Norway are extremely important to both our economies and we will do everything possible to secure another operator by working collaboratively with our partners. The ferry between the Tyne and Norway has been running for 140 years, so there is a strong and sustainable market with the right-sized ship.' A Port of Tyne spokesman said: 'The discussions are in their infancy but all partners are eager to work together. Obviously, the aim is to have a ferry service between Newcastle and Norway reinstated and that is something that the Port of Tyne is happy to support.' Portsmouth - Santander with Brittany FerriesDate: 1 Jul 2008Source: Portsmouth.co.uk A new luxury ferry link between Portsmouth and Santander has been announced. Brittany Ferries' vast 2,400-capacity flagship vessel Pont-Aven is to begin operating from Portsmouth next April. The £130m ship will ferry passengers on a 24-hour overnight crossing to Santander in northern Spain – eight hours faster than other passenger services on that route. She will sail to Spain and back on Mondays and Tuesdays, and will provide much-needed extra capacity on the Portsmouth-St Malo route from Wednesdays to Mondays. The Pont-Aven will replace the 2,056-capacity Bretagne, which had sailed from Portsmouth to St Malo, and will now move to Plymouth, operating a separate passenger service to Santander. The firm said Portsmouth's access to London and the home counties made it the strongest candidate to capitalise on the growing market for passenger journeys to Spain, as well as the booming freight traffic between the two countries. Stephen Tuckwell, Brittany Ferries' director of Portsmouth's port operations, said: 'It will definitely lead to an increase in traffic to Spain. The other reason is to add to the St Malo route because during the summer it's absolutely choc-a-bloc.' 'It may be that in these difficult economic times, people are staying closer to home rather than flying off around the world. Phil Gadd, Portsmouth ferry port manager, said: 'The French routes Brittany Ferries operate from our port are very popular and we are sure the Santander crossing will be just as successful. 'This new destination offers more choice to our loyal passengers who use Portsmouth regularly, and it will also attract new customers who are keen to get to northern Spain by ferry.' |
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