Ferry sailings to Cherbourg being halved

[Yann Ferries]

From: http://www.thisisbournemouth.co.uk/d...EWS_NEWS0.html

Date Published: Friday 07 January 2005

Ferry sailings to Cherbourg being halved
by Diana Henderson
Daily Echo, Dorset 10:39

BRITTANY Ferries is to halve its Barfleur sailings from Poole to
Cherbourg this summer, leaving holidaymakers with only a midnight
departure slot.

Poole Harbour Commissioners and the Borough of Poole have both
expressed disappointment but the ferry company says it had little
choice.

The peak season daytime sailing of the Barfleur is to run from
Portsmouth to Cherbourg from March 16, in a triangular service with
Poole.

"It's obviously going to have an effect on the Port of Poole's
activities," said Steve Warner, Brittany Ferries' general manager in
Poole. "I would emphasise it's a decision we didn't take lightly."

The need to juggle ships was forced on the company by the decision
of the Office of Fair Trading to refer the proposed charter of two
P&O ships on the Le Havre route to the Competition Commission, he
said.

The decision is expected on May 23 but this arrangement will run
until November, with an evening Barfleur service back from Cherbourg
to Poole.

The fast ferry, Normandie Vitesse, will offer a morning service from
Poole between May and September - weather permitting.

The busy trust port's ferry sailings will be down from five a day to
four, as the freight-only Coutances will be crossing twice a day
from March, instead of once.

"As a port we are disappointed on behalf of ourselves and the
passengers that we will only be running one Barfleur sailing a day
during the peak season," said Jim Stewart, chief executive of Poole
Harbour Commissioners.

He said he understood the commercial reasons behind the short-term
measure and added: "The pill has been sweetened a little bit by
getting an additional Coutances sailing."

Cllr Ron Parker, Borough of Poole cabinet portfolio holder for the
local economy, said: "We have got to organise public opinion so that
Brittany Ferries realises that it's a very valuable link, which so
many of our residents use, not only through twinning but for one-day
shopping trips.

"We want to maintain the viability of the port, in particular any
plans the harbour commissioners have for extra dredging, so that
Brittany Ferries can bring in larger vessels and hopefully attract
small cruise liners," he added.

Borough of Poole tourism manager Graham Richardson said: "This is
very disappointing for Poole. The ferry service does bring people
into the town prior to their departure. Hopefully the loss of this
sailing won't have a big impact."

First published: January 7

[Queen of the Seas]

Perhaps laying up the DDN was a bit quick... hindsight is a wonderful thing! Its a wonder they dont send one of the Caen boats over each day now they have the Normandie Express... guess it is a capacity thing.

[Unregistered User]

Originally Posted by Queen of the Seas

Perhaps laying up the DDN was a bit quick... hindsight is a wonderful thing! Its a wonder they dont send one of the Caen boats over each day now they have the Normandie Express... guess it is a capacity thing.

Although we feel that the ideas put forward are commendable we do not believe that the consequences of these have been thought through. In the first instance the decision to withdraw the Duc De Normandie from service, was made for various reasons best known to Brittany ferries and also that decision was made long before the announcement by P&O that they were intending to withdraw from certain services. As we explained in another thread, please see http://www.bfeforums.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=1175&page=2, the last posting, especially the eighth paragraph which possibly explains the reasoning behind such a move.

As to the thought that one of the vessels operating the Caen service could be used to operate out of Poole, that would create a scheduling nightmare, in as much as one could possibly reduce the Caen service to 3 return voyages per day to 3 every 2 days. This would have the effect of reducing that service, which is very busy most of the year, by 50%. Hence the loss of a considerable amount of revenue, probable loss of customer confidence and capacity problems for the road transport industry. One only has to look at the problems that occurred when the Mont.St.Michel was delivered many months late and Quiberon had its capacity reduced because of SOLAS regulations. These problems included bringing in a “freighter” to cover the under capacity on the freight side of the business. The second problem being that, at present, it is doubtful that either of those vessels would be able to get into Poole Harbour, due to the restriction imposed by the depth of water. At present there are to be trials by Val De Loire in March this year to ascertain the feasibility of using larger vessels on this service. Another point being is that the approach channel is not, as far as we know, due for dredging until later in 2005. Also it should be noted that the "Normandie Express" will only operate to Caen on Fridays, Saturdays, & Sundays and then only one return crossing on each of those days.

We feel that the decision taken by Brittany Ferries is the right one as they are maximising their earning potential with the infrastructure they have to hand.

Micheil & Jacqui

[nick hall]

How about the the morning sailing to Caen being diverted to Cherbourg from Pompey. This would give Caen 2 & Cherbourg 1 return daily. this would be feasable until the comp. comm. reach a ruling and the Olaus can be chartered.

[Queen of the Seas]

Originally Posted by nick hall

How about the the morning sailing to Caen being diverted to Cherbourg from Pompey. This would give Caen 2 & Cherbourg 1 return daily. this would be feasable until the comp. comm. reach a ruling and the Olaus can be chartered.

That was my suggestion, not to send one of the Caen vessels to Poole, but to divert a day time sailing to Cherbourg.

[Unregistered User]

Originally Posted by nick hall

How about the the morning sailing to Caen being diverted to Cherbourg from Pompey. This would give Caen 2 & Cherbourg 1 return daily. this would be feasable until the comp. comm. reach a ruling and the Olaus can be chartered.

Again this is not a feasable suggestion as both the morning sailing from Portsmouth and the afternoon sailing from Caen are normally fairly full during the period from May to September. Also you would then have problems with the rotations as the "Mont St.Michel" is always scheduled to operate the Friday evening service to Caen (capacity), and remember that there is no Wednesday AM sailing to Caen or Portsmouth so where is one going to get a vessel from to operate Wednesday AM to Cherbourg as both the Mont St Michel & Normandie have a layover at Caen & Portsmouth respectively for rotational and possibly crew change reasons?

Question, why would one want to jepodise the very profitable Portsmouth - Caen service to service a possible but unproven need? Another thought why would anybody in their right mind want to send two vessels to the same destinatrion within an hour or so of each other, unless of course there is going to be 3000 people everyday of every week wanting to go to Cherbourg? Remember that companies are in business for one reason, to make money and hopefully a profit not throw good money after bad.

Lastly trying to presuppose the outcome of the Competition Commission inquiry is a bit like throwing the baby out with the bathwater. What if the Competition Commission rules against the BF proposal, what happenns then, answer us that one!! Top use the scenario mentioned above, in our opinion, would be tantamount to commiting commercial suicide. Profit is the name of the game, not let's see would can make the biggest loss.

We quote, the president of BAI: "We will not make the same mistakes as P&O." That says it all.

Micheil & Jacqui

[nick hall]

A fair comment Micheil, but you could also apply the same arguement to the Poole service & BF have cut that service to cater for the unproven demand that you mention. I don't think the capacity of Normandie & Pont Avon are an issue, they are much more alike than the Duc & Normandie and therefore the layover is unecessary. Normandie Express could make a daily run to Caen rather than two returns to Cherbourg to cover the absent morning ferry to Caen. I also think BF will operate the Le Havre route with the Olaus one way or another whatever the U.K. authorities verdict is come May.

[memorykarl]

Originally Posted by nick hall

Normandie Express could make a daily run to Caen rather than two returns to Cherbourg to cover the absent morning ferry to Caen.

Fair comment, but why do you think that Bf have specially built to Ro-Pax vessels for that route?

the answer being that the route must carry a fair ammount of freight, as a conventional Ro-Ro Ferry would have been designed if they didnt need the freight space! Freight is still a substantial part of Brittany Ferries business, it even has its own website! taking away half the freight space on Caen route, i fell would be a catastrophic desicion. and remember a lot of people visit Cherbourg for day trips & Booze cruises, as it is the shortest route to france and therefore either more time can be enjoyed in France in the day, or more time for buying booze! that is why there is sufficient demand for 2 fast craft sailings a day.

[nick hall]

I don't disagree, so why is Barfleur at Porstmouth when Normandie Express would be enough. Also, Barfleur is a ro-pax designed for the freight market at Poole. All I'm trying to say is that BF don't have enough vessels at the moment to serve Portsmouth - Cherbourg and there established routes. To compromise the older routes is a mistake and every arguement made against cutting sailings to Caen applies just as much to Poole - Cherbourg.

[R]

Am I right in thinking they're increasing Coutance sailings on Poole-Cherboug to beef up the freight provision on that route whilst Barfleur does the Pompey run? Also bare in mind the Portsmouth and Poole-Cherbough routes effectively compete with each other so it seems that this is in fact the best 'use' of demand by BF as you won't have two ro-pax ships leaving Cherbourg together as suggested?