More Crossings For Pont-aven

[fisher]

Evening Herald
10 September 2004

Brittany Ferries is extending the season of its £100 million superferry the Pont-Aven, despite her recent high-profile problems. The 41,700-tonne ferry came into service on the Santander route in March.

It soon became a popular choice with passenger numbers up by 25 per cent on last year.

But on August 10, a software problem during routine maintenance work caused the water cooling valve to jam open and 1,200 tonnes of sea water flooded the engine room.

What followed was a difficult time for the company as it worked to put right the problems and re-direct thousands of frustrated passengers.

General manager Maria Hammett praised the way staff had handled the problem and said the company had done its best to mimimise inconvenience for passengers.

"Things were developing hour by hour and we had to get the problems with the ship sorted out. We were feeling our way through the early hours and days contacting people on a rolling basis," she said.

After 48 hours, the Pont-Aven had its power restored and travelled to Brest where the engine room was steam-cleaned to counter the effects of the sea water.

Investigations are now under way both at Brittany Ferries and at the yard that built the ship to try to establish the reason for the fault.

Brittany Ferries says it has not yet been able to calculate how much the incident has cost the company.

With the vessel now back in full working order and normal sailings resumed, it is now trying to make up the ground it lost with the very public breakdown of the ferry.

Marketing manager Richard Price said bookings had taken a knock, but said the company was expecting to make a full recovery.

He said the ferry service was a realistic alternative to air travel.

"Things aren't as good as they were but we are still ahead of last year. We think it's an alternative to the no frills charters," added Mr Price.

Some sailings are now back at capacity with many travellers who live outside the South West unaware of the ship's problems.

Because of its popularity with passengers Brittany Ferries has decided to extend the length of the Pont-Aven's operating season by around six weeks.

The ferry was originally meant to sail until November, but will now sail until mid-December.

And from October 1, the company will be increasing the capacity on its Plymouth to Roscoff route by bringing back the Bretagne, which came into service 15 years ago. She will take over from the Duc de Normandie and will carry an extra 600 passengers.

[James]

A "software problem" ?

[Normandie]

Isn´t it a bit frightening to realize a softwareproblem can cause a problem like that ? So literally some malfunctioning software could, if it comes to worse, sink a ship. I didn´t ever think of such, but believed that something mechanically did break or so.
I also did not know things like that are controlled electronically. Wonder, how things like that are on older ships like the Duc de Normandie ?

[iledebrehat]

Old ferrie like the duc are unique because today we want fast and high desingne ferries.my point of view,old ferries are more resistant like the duc , the duchesse anne and the quiberon
when the sea is really bad (force 9/10),i will feel less sea sick on the old ferrie than the new one.
the worst is the weather ,the more fun u get.april 1998.the best one ever.5 hrs delay,no food,no drink,all sat in the bar looking worries.we made it .on the quiberon.the duty free at the time was upside down,so was the parfum shop(with a amazine parfum...probably the most expensive one on the floor) and i still remember this lady who was drinking water every 10 mn and looking for a sick bad straight after.i was feeling so upset for her,i decided to tell her to stop drinking and to be patient,just wait till we arrived. :1244:

[Normandie]

I think the sea does effect same on new and old ferries. I have been on older ones which were just horrible seakeepers, as well newer ones which are just horrible seakeepers. However I found the worst seakeepers are some ferries of the 80ies with a rather box-shape design and broad bow. Includes the Pride of Provence, Stena Germanica, Nils Holgersson and Regina Baltica. While some new ships like the Seafrance Rodin, Superfast 8 & 9 for example are excellent seakeepers.
I also think we can not say yet if our new ferries will not last as long as the old ones we have now, literally here - time will tell I was just a bit worried about the use of electronic onboard, sounds there can happen stuff what would never happen on any of those old ones which are not stuffed with electronic.

[John]

Similar things for your car Cornelia, electric windows, central locking, electronic management systems!

[Normandie]

I don´t know about cars as I never owned one, but I think the problem with a car´s electronic going crazy can not be as bad as the same onboard a ferry if such happens in situation like severe weather or when berthing or am I wrong here?

[Jonathan]

Isn't it like this for everything that is electronic or computerised, ie great when everything is working ok, not so great when it isn't? If feel the Pont Aven's honour needs defending here, as for something so state of the art to have only one real problem in its first 6 months, albeit a rather big problem, is not at all bad. By means of comparison, I am told the new trains that are springing up all over the place are far less reliable than the old slam-door trains they are replacing. So the PA has done ok!

[R]

To be fair to the new trains it's actually because they go a lot further every day than the old ones did - Miles per casualty figures have trebbled in some instances

*returns to corner*

[Normandie]

Yes, but I think every one is just welcoming the most modern ferries etc, and I wonder, the extensive use of electronic, may perhaps not just been a good chance but also might have some dangers. I think some of the errors happen with electronic - what is including trains, cars and ships - could have never happened with the old stuff.