Cross-Channel ferry route to be axed (From Daily Echo)

"A HAMPSHIRE ferry company is to withdraw from a busy route"

Obviously not busy enough!

is P&O a hampshire company

long distance ferry crossings are not attractive, there was one in the 90's from Southampton to Beyonne which failed. People want a quick/cheap crossing, hence why Dover to Calais is the most popular route

Note that Brittany Ferries recently moved their Poole-N Spain service to Portsmouth and LD Ferries also operate a similar service out of Portsmouth so competition is fierce.
Also the charter cost for the Pride of Bilbao has always been high and the company owner Dubai Ports World has some financial issues so not unexpected news.
Sorry to hear about the job losses tho'

Condor Man wrote:
long distance ferry crossings are not attractive, there was one in the 90's from Southampton to Beyonne which failed. People want a quick/cheap crossing, hence why Dover to Calais is the most popular route

you could not be more wrong. Brittany ferries have just purchased a Ferry to increase sailings to Santander. They are becoming MORE popular and are forecast to become increasingly popular. The P&O story is not to do with popularity , its to do with many other factors. One that springs to mind is on the Pont-Aven you can get a fantastic french meal that would exclipse most meals you can get from UK restaurants at £18 per head.... on the pride of bilbao the food is nowhere near the same standard.... just one example.

stickymcglue wrote:

Condor Man wrote: long distance ferry crossings are not attractive, there was one in the 90's from Southampton to Beyonne which failed. People want a quick/cheap crossing, hence why Dover to Calais is the most popular route

you could not be more wrong. Brittany ferries have just purchased a Ferry to increase sailings to Santander. They are becoming MORE popular and are forecast to become increasingly popular. The P&O story is not to do with popularity , its to do with many other factors. One that springs to mind is on the Pont-Aven you can get a fantastic french meal that would exclipse most meals you can get from UK restaurants at £18 per head.... on the pride of bilbao the food is nowhere near the same standard.... just one example.

Also, as I recollect, the Soton to Bayonne service was freight only (perhaps 12 drivers carried)
It was the Stena Sealink service which operated out of Soton to Cherbourg with freight and passengers in the 1990's.
Very popular service but again the cost of vessel charter (the ship was one of the original Olau Line vessels which traded between Sheerness and Vlissingen)was too high to make the service viable liong term

God Brigade tells us the Jesus walked on water; now without the ferry will they be able to drive over it?

Paramjit Bahia wrote:
God Brigade tells us the Jesus walked on water; now without the ferry will they be able to drive over it?

American tourist visiting the Sea of Galilee and asks a local boatman how much he charged for being rowed across. "$100.00 my dear friend" quotes the ferryman.

Elmer "$100? That's a rip-off!"


Ferryman "But Sir- these are the very waters that our Lord walked upon..."


Elmer "I aint surprised at that price!!"

King Mush wrote:

Paramjit Bahia wrote:
God Brigade tells us the Jesus walked on water; now without the ferry will they be able to drive over it?

American tourist visiting the Sea of Galilee and asks a local boatman how much he charged for being rowed across. "$100.00 my dear friend" quotes the ferryman.

Elmer "$100? That's a rip-off!"


Ferryman "But Sir- these are the very waters that our Lord walked upon..."


Elmer "I aint surprised at that price!!"

pmsl

Interesting aspect to this is that DB Schenker have just started operating a refrigerated perishable rail service from Spain to UK (Willesden) via Channel Tunnel. Much of this refrigerated freight can go on to freight hubs like Daventry, Wakefield and Widnes without being unloaded. DBS have a French subsidary now (ECR). This may be a sign of things to come for bulk freight from Spain to UK. Without the articulated lorry market the Blbao service would be a hopeless loss maker. I think the rail service timing to UK border is comparable with the ferry but those inland hubs give it the business edge.

Andy
Whilst I suspect Freight is a useful revenue stream for this service, the problem has always been the priority given to passengers during the summer months and reduced freight capacity during this period. Most of the freight is northbound and a fair proportion of Iberian lorry drivers have historically been one man band operators who prefer to drive overland (girlfriends en route etc) than stick their unaccompanied trailer on the ship and arrange for a British haulier to deliver to the UK destination.
I am not disputing what you say but I believe P&O very nearly withdrew the service at last charter review but possibly Brittany moving their new ship to Pompey was the final straw

Now where shall we start that bridge??

Ben Doone wrote:

stickymcglue wrote:

Condor Man wrote: long distance ferry crossings are not attractive, there was one in the 90's from Southampton to Beyonne which failed. People want a quick/cheap crossing, hence why Dover to Calais is the most popular route

you could not be more wrong. Brittany ferries have just purchased a Ferry to increase sailings to Santander. They are becoming MORE popular and are forecast to become increasingly popular. The P&O story is not to do with popularity , its to do with many other factors. One that springs to mind is on the Pont-Aven you can get a fantastic french meal that would exclipse most meals you can get from UK restaurants at £18 per head.... on the pride of bilbao the food is nowhere near the same standard.... just one example.

Also, as I recollect, the Soton to Bayonne service was freight only (perhaps 12 drivers carried) It was the Stena Sealink service which operated out of Soton to Cherbourg with freight and passengers in the 1990's. Very popular service but again the cost of vessel charter (the ship was one of the original Olau Line vessels which traded between Sheerness and Vlissingen)was too high to make the service viable liong term

Soton to Bayonne (Bordeaux) was opererated by McAndrews MV Goya, built in 1977 she carried 12 drivers and 34 lorrys.

McAndrews commenced a weekly Soton-Bayonne-Bilbao
-Bayonne-Soton service in September 1977 initially with a chartered vessel for a month untill Goya came into service in Ocober 1977.

McAndrews started there service after the withdrawel of Southamptons last Spanish connection with Swedish Lloyds MV Patricia on there Southampton-Bilbao (Santurzi) route.

At that time it was getting more common for passengers and freight to use the shorter crossings to France.

McAndrews ceased the service in 1980 and Goya was sold to an operator in the Caribbean and later became Townsend Thoresens Freight ferry Viking Trader in 1983.

It was after McAndrews stopped there above service that berth 3 bacame available and Townsend Thoresen transfereed there services over from berth 6 which is on the other side of the basin, where the RSYC is situated now.

Viking Trader operated Southampton-Le Havre on Townsend Thoresens freight service before being transferred to Portsmouth a year after the passenger services from Southampton had finally moved to Portsmouth which was actually 01/01/84

This was due to the shortage of link spans at Portsmouth which at that time only had two and the Viking Trader operated out of Southampton up untill October 1984 when a third link span was made available at Portsmouth.

Stena Lines Soton-Cherbourg service commenced in April 1991 with the Stena Normandy, she was the Ex Prinsessan Birgitta of Sessan Line, a Swedish company that has now ceased trading, she operated with her identical sister Kronprinsessan Victoria on the Gothenburg ( Sweden ) to Frederikshavn route.

Prinsesan Birgitta was chartered to Sealink in 1985 and renamed the St Nicholas for there Harwich-Hook of Holland route replacing the St Edmund which was time chartered to the MOD and had been renamed Keren operating from Cape Town to the Falklands before the runway at the Falklands was rebuilt.

St Nicholas was renamed Stena Normandy in March 1991 in preparation for Stena Lines new route from Southampton.

Stena Lines Soton-Cherbourg service finnished service on 28th October 1996 and Stena Normandy was sold to ICG Irish Ferries and renamed Normandy for there Rosslare-Cherbourg/R
osscoff routes.

Normandy is currently laid up in Greece and her sister is now the Stena Europe operating from Fishguard to Rosslare for Stena Line

Olau Line twin sisters Olau Britannia of 1982 and Olau Hollandia of 1981 operated on the Sheerness-Vlissingen service untill 1989 and 1990 respectfully after being replaced by a much larger pair of twin sisters bearing the same name.

Olau Line ceased operating in 1994 and these latter vessels were soon snapped up by P&O Ferries for there Portsmouth-Le Havre route. They continued untill P&O Ferries stopped there Portsmouth-Le Havre service in September 2005.

These two vessels now operate from Naples/Rome to Palermo for an Italian company.

The previous two Olau Sisters are still sailing, one for Eckero Lines on there Talinn-Helsinki route and the other for Fastnet Line which comences service from Swansea-Cork in March.

For example at the height of the pasenger/freight ro/ro services to France and Spain from Southampton in 1974 there were over 60 sailings a week from the Princess Alexandra Ferry Terminal ( now Ocean Village ).

Other than P&O Normandy Ferries Soton-Le Havre and Townsend Thoresens Soton-Cherbourg/Le Havre routes there were services from Soton to Lisbon ( Portugal )-Algerciras ( Spain )-Tangier ( Morocco ) and also a route to San Sebastion ( Spain ) both with P&O Southern Ferries.

Swedish Lloyd operated a service from Soton-Bilbao ( Santurzi ) from 1967 to 1977.

Aznar Line operated a service from Soton-Santander from 1974 to 1977

Kloster Ferries operated a short lived service for only four months from April to July 1966 from Soton-Vigo-Lisbon-Vi
go-Soton

After the withdrawel of Swedish Lloyds Soton-Bilbao route in September 1977 it was felt that the UK-Spain ferry trade had ceased but Britanny Ferrys started a Plymouth-Santander route less than a year later with there Armorique.

The rest is history Britanny Ferries have expanded over the years with larger and faster vessels for there UK-Spain routes and it was only time before P&O Ferrys was squeezed of there Portsmouth-Bilbao route especially as the charter of the Pride of Bilbao was due for renewal in September this year.

Britanny Ferries offer a far superior service than P&O Ferrys with larger, newer and more luxurious ferrys, am not being biased either as I have worked for both companys as well as Stena Line!

Britanny ferries in 2010 will have four UK-Spain crossings, 3 from Portsmouth and one from Plymouth as well as a weekly weekend dedicated freight service from Poole-Santander.

High oil prices, labour costs and over supply at the time killed off Soton-Spain services.

I hope you enjoyed my short condensed story of Southampton and its cross channel ro/ro trade.

Anyone want to know anything about the history of The Port of Southampton feel free to ask !!!!!

Sean
Wonderfully informative piece as always.
Any info on Seagull Feeries which had a short time in late 60's? from 49 berth to Channel Isles.
Wasn't there also a short lived freight only service from Soton to Bayonne in the late 80's?
Plus there was Ro/Ro Express from 30 berth to Lexios (incorrect spelling?) in Portugal and Gibraltar followed by another freight only service (Channel freight Ferries?) from 30 berth to the old military port near Rouen (who's name escapes me)
Also didn't Aznar Lines originally bring in Spanish Tomaatoes (to 38/9 berth) before the service moved to the purpose built shed in the Western Docks?