there'll never be a funnel as terrible as the Pontiac l'abbe or whatever that hideous thing is called, its the height of the ship itself, I can only assume the did that to allow extending the vessel upward if future needs dictated
Not only did both operate from Rosslare , but they both worked for Stena Line at one time .on this page you will find pictures of Stena Europe and Stena Normandy see if you can spot the difference http://www.irish-ferries-enthusiasts.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1236730733/15#15Great pic btw :)
Below from www.shipspotting.com , both sisters at Rosslare.
.. why would this be ?? are the captains suppost to reduce speed or do some just keep her at it at full speed ??
hope it doesnt sound like a stupid question !
Thanks
Quote.. why would this be ?? are the captains suppost to reduce speed or do some just keep her at it at full speed ??
hope it doesnt sound like a stupid question !
Thanks
I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you ;D ;D
Do you not enjoy trying to make up the lost time in your truck getting out of Holyhead or even better we could point VOSA your way :D :D :D
Green or blue docket????
hahaha da vosa is not open in holyhead very often thank god !! :D .. usually theres an owl pc plod though (mr jones) and yea sometimes to make up lost time we have to bypass the limiter ya know lol still within the legal speed limit though
i do enjoy makin up the lost time but yeahh lol
i will hopefully make a trucking diary along with mv ulysses in the middle of it :D taddy ho !
Im only his co pilot .. lol my dads the driver .. he drives a scania R620 v8
Morgan McLernonSawyers / Morgan Mclernon & Woolsey the threo of lateness "I'm only 5 mins away....." at sailing time. ;D ;D
Woolsey/Sawyers are the same company lol
Where you one of the ones that bent the Ulysses new safety barrier on deck 5?
QuoteWhere you one of the ones that bent the Ulysses new safety barrier on deck 5?
No not me this time ;D ;D they have been damaged twice already, same gang. The engineering crew on Ulysses are not to happy.
QuoteQuoteWhere you one of the ones that bent the Ulysses new safety barrier on deck 5?
No not me this time ;D ;D they have been damaged twice already, same gang. The engineering crew on Ulysses are not to happy.
Yeah I know ;D ;D
QuoteQuoteQuoteWhere you one of the ones that bent the Ulysses new safety barrier on deck 5?
No not me this time ;D ;D they have been damaged twice already, same gang. The engineering crew on Ulysses are not to happy.
Yeah I know ;D ;D
MAKman I take it you work on board?
MAK as in MaK cat engines?
It all cloak and dagger, as Eamonn could have us both ending up in a Russian transit zone ;D ;D ;DQuoteQuoteQuoteQuoteWhere you one of the ones that bent the Ulysses new safety barrier on deck 5?
No not me this time ;D ;D they have been damaged twice already, same gang. The engineering crew on Ulysses are not to happy.
Yeah I know ;D ;D
MAKman I take it you work on board?
MAK as in MaK cat engines?
Just like you said previously "I could tell you but then I'd have to kill you" ;D ;D
or in the back of a russian ford transitThat would be a GAZ GAZelle. Pretty rare in Ireland I would have thought but you never know! Perhaps its what damaged the barrier as a result of its eastern bloc underpinnings failing ;D
something like this might be nice
(http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc63/bncrewceb/ifer_zps20b69b64.jpg)
decided to fire up the old isle of inishturk name for it and all
something like this might be nice
(http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc63/bncrewceb/ifer_zps20b69b64.jpg)
decided to fire up the old isle of inishturk name for it and all
Hear on the grapevine that ICG have agreed to charter the Cartour Epsilon, wonder where that will be deployed ???
Could it join the Ulysses out of Dublin - Holyhead
Replace Inishmore out of Rosslare allowing Inishmore to go to Holyhead
Replace Oscar Wilde allowing Oscar to replace Inishmore allowing Inishmore to Holyhead
Start new route from Cork-Spain/France
Any thoughts ???
I dont think theyd take the IOI away from he current route
Anybody know the capacities (vehicles, persons, cabins etc) of this ship? that might help to work out where she will be deployed.
From the photo, she doesn't look to have much passenger area, so I guess she will primarily be handling freight.
I would say Holyhead-Dublin with similar sailing times as Stena Nordica.
QuoteI would say Holyhead-Dublin with similar sailing times as Stena Nordica.
IOI times over Christmas are:
Dublin - Holyhead Isle of Inishmore Dep: 13:00 Arr:16:30
Holyhead - Dublin Isle of Inishmore Dep:18:30 Arr: 22:00
So would they add a 2nd round trip at these times
Dublin - Holyhead Isle of Inishmore Dep: 01:00 Arr: 04:30
Holyhead - Dublin Isle of Inishmore Dep: 06:30 Arr: 10:00
Anybody know the capacities (vehicles, persons, cabins etc) of this ship? that might help to work out where she will be deployed.
From the photo, she doesn't look to have much passenger area, so I guess she will primarily be handling freight.
QuoteAnybody know the capacities (vehicles, persons, cabins etc) of this ship? that might help to work out where she will be deployed.
From the photo, she doesn't look to have much passenger area, so I guess she will primarily be handling freight.
She is a sister of the Stena Lagan/Mersey and also Celtic Horizon and so from the first "run" of production of the flexbow Visentini's. For more info this is the page for the current Celtic Horizon (Cartour Beta) http://www.naos-design.com/en/design-en/44-p244-cartour-beta.html. IIRC Cartour Gamma was the last of the 4 sisters of the original flexbow generation, with later ships having slightly modified designs (Scottish Viking, Norman Asturias, Scintu, etc).
Personally I think Ireland - Spain (or France) makes sense. These are ships more or less designed for Motorway of the Seas work after all. Maybe Pembroke - Rosslare with the Inishmore going North would be possible but I just don't see her operating to Dublin as these ships are stern loading freight movers (with a bit of passenger accommodation reliant on the fact that passengers will spend most of their time asleep in a cabin - I couldn't personally see the Stena Lagan coping well with Stena Superfast passenger levels for example) but a refit could rectify the accommodation issues.
There are probably cheaper options out there for a short sea freight mover (European Seaway for example has only about 200m less capacity and is a bow and stern loader), can anyone think of a Visentini ropax which operates a 3-4hr crossing? The other possibility is she replaces Oscar (more economical?) which then moves elsewhere either for IF or chartered out to another operator.
On a related note, what where the issues with the Stena Forwarder which made her unsuitable for the Holyhead run? I would imagine Cartour Gamma might have similar issues? I wonder what the minimum turnaround time on one of these ships is?
OK,... it would appear Carotur Epsilon is possibly too big for Pembroke given the port says the berth is only suitable for vessels of 150m length and 6m draught (though I am aware Oscar Wilde has berthed at Pembroke before Despite a 6.5m draught and innishmore is some 182m long, however Epsilon pushes both of these figures higher) http://www.mhpa.co.uk/ferry-terminal/
Motorway Of The Sea funding is also available for a route from Cork - Nantes (France).
It is too early to see what routes will get Connect Europe status from January but it is said to be very likely that one of the Cork - UK route options will be in there.
Looking at Irish Ferries first half of year report it shows an increase in passenger numbers but a fall in cars carried which it says is mainly due to the value of Sterling , however freight volumes are showing heavy growth.
If this new addition is not for a MOTS service then its likely that freight expansion on either Dublin - UK services or possibly a freight boost for its Ireland - France service may be on the way.
As a matter of interest the report makes several references to one of their ships being troublesome and having higher than expected maintenance costs , if its the Oscar Wilde they are referring to (and I suspect it is) then having a second freight vessel on that run would enable the company to cut back the number of sailings Oscar Wilde does in the off-peak season.
To be honest when i ever be on ulysses there not stuck for space for freight .. its possibly the same story on stena adventurer aswell .. not sure about the nordica thoughThat would tally with what I have been reading. AFAIK the majority of freight is on fixed length contracts (so less likely that a customer will switch from SL to IF overnight) as well so hard to see where enough traffic to fill an additional ship would come from. However stranger things have happened I suppose.
Stena seem to have no issues filling the Nordica on a nightly basis and the Adventurer nearly always has a large number of trucks (over 100) on every night crossing.I'm also hearing Stena are having no problems filling their space at night, to the extent that Nordica is considered not big enough anymore as she is always full on the night sailings. I was surprised when looking at the free to view shippax issue just how much freight P&O are carrying through Liverpool - obviously they are doing something right! With Birkenhead - Belfast getting a capacity boost Stena are obviously winning a lot of business but where is it coming from? Have freight volumes increased THAT much? Perhaps there is merit in IF adding frequency to Holyhead, but I'm still not convinced Epsilon is the right ship for the job.
On Dublin - Holyhead, Irish Ferries with the Ulysses have 4,000 lanemeters on every crossing, Stena have 3,500 with the Adventurer and 2,000 with the Nordica.
However P&O carry nearly as much freight as Stena every month on the Dublin - Liverpool service as well with much less passenger traffic but with approx 90 less sailings and these crossings are nearly always full.
Just to put a cat among the pigeons based on Septembers figures, the Adventurer and Nordica carried more passengers and freight than Stena's Flagship Harwich - Hoek route ! though using twice the number of sailings to do that.I knew Dublin - Holyhead was nearing Hoek levels but didn't realise they where actually exceeding them now. The January figures that are available on the free shippax issue show 25% growth year on year for Holyhead. Not surprised its taking more sailings on the central corridor route to take the same carryings - the Hoek twins have 5500lm each after all!
Also only part of the Oscar Wilde's journey will require low sulphur, the 2015 SECA regulation changes for ferries do not include the Irish Sea, only areas east of 5W (longitude) on the English channel, practically a straight line from Falmouth down to the tip of FranceAh, that changes things a bit though is it possible to run Oscar on 2 types of fuel without modification? Would be great to see Dawn Merchant back, so long as she has shaken the jinx.
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/air/transport/pdf/Report_Sulphur_Requirement.pdf
Also the Stena Alegra will be available for redeployment within the Stena Network and that could heading towards the Irish Sea soon to provide refit cover on the main routes, assuming it has shaken of its curse !!
Looking at it from the trucking companies point of view, is it cheaper to drive to Liverpool and catch the longer crossing, or pay the extra road costs to Holyhead and take the shorter service? in short, how do ferry prices compare?Another factor (and one Norse Merchant used to try to use to their advantage on Belfast - Liverpool) could be driving hours. The longer crossing means the driver is taking their rest break while the cargo is still moving, as opposed to having to pull up somewhere as they didn't get their break allocation on the ferry. The 11hr daily rest period has an allowance for driving on and off the ferry so the driver can get their daily rest with the crossing making up the bulk of the allocation. Additionally he daily rest can be split into a no less than 9 and no less than 3 hr period which taking the above (and waiting to board, etc) into account should be doable - any comments from the drivers on this? So my understanding is you have a driver coming off the ferry able to do a full days driving (and perhaps tip and reload and get back to the ferry) as opposed to a part day. Whereas with a shorter crossing the driver would only have had the 3hr portion of the split rest and still have to spend 9hrs of that 24hr period off the road.. Perhaps this is why P&O are carrying such high volumes?
Taking a guess at 8mpg and diesel at £1.40/ltr it will cost an operator an extra £71.50 to travel the extra 90 miles to Holyhead.
no offence to whoever did it but that photoshop is shit compared to the one i did
I also agree Larry, yours is WAY better. Well Collision, remember they haven't exactly repainted the Oscar Wilde into proper livery, so I wouldn't get your hopes up.
Nice to know the rumours are true and it's been confirmed.
I still think that the new ship would've been the Kaitaki/Innisfree, had her charter expired and she returned to ICG.
I'm sure Larry would have let them "borrow" his image if they asked nicely! ;)
QuoteVery true , however I think it was a deliberate decision to leave Oscar Wilde with the blue base livery as it holds better than all-over white does on the French routes , poor old Normandy used to look very bad towards the end of season.
Irish ferries could have painted Oscar Wilde as the 3rd photo.
Pictures taken from "Irish ferries an ambitious voyage" by Miles Cowsill , Justin Merrigan.
(http://i40.tinypic.com/mbh2fl.jpg)
(http://i40.tinypic.com/10n99w5.jpg)
(http://i40.tinypic.com/2r6p5ah.jpg)
Ferryman, when we seen those pictures planned for Ulysses we all agreed she looks much better as she is.
QuoteQuoteVery true , however I think it was a deliberate decision to leave Oscar Wilde with the blue base livery as it holds better than all-over white does on the French routes , poor old Normandy used to look very bad towards the end of season.
Irish ferries could have painted Oscar Wilde as the 3rd photo.
Pictures taken from "Irish ferries an ambitious voyage" by Miles Cowsill , Justin Merrigan.
(http://i40.tinypic.com/mbh2fl.jpg)
(http://i40.tinypic.com/10n99w5.jpg)
(http://i40.tinypic.com/2r6p5ah.jpg)
I think they could've painted the Oscar Wilde in the second livery (green hull). Interesting that she may be going to Dublin, it'll be a first for her operationally I think. I do agree that the Ulysses, Jonathan Swift and Isle of Innishmore look as good as they are.
QuoteQuoteQuoteVery true , however I think it was a deliberate decision to leave Oscar Wilde with the blue base livery as it holds better than all-over white does on the French routes , poor old Normandy used to look very bad towards the end of season.
Irish ferries could have painted Oscar Wilde as the 3rd photo.
Pictures taken from "Irish ferries an ambitious voyage" by Miles Cowsill , Justin Merrigan.
(http://i40.tinypic.com/mbh2fl.jpg)
(http://i40.tinypic.com/10n99w5.jpg)
(http://i40.tinypic.com/2r6p5ah.jpg)
I think they could've painted the Oscar Wilde in the second livery (green hull). Interesting that she may be going to Dublin, it'll be a first for her operationally I think. I do agree that the Ulysses, Jonathan Swift and Isle of Innishmore look as good as they are.
Oscar did a Dublin-Roscoff sailing on the 26th May 2008, was meant to be Cherbourg but due to a dispute she sailed to Roscoff. Her & Inishmore were diverted to Dublin due to high winds in Rosslare & they were unable to dock.
Well it's all happening on Dublin-Holyhead route at the moment. So if I time this right, I can sail out on the Stena Europe from Holyhead and sail back on the Oscar Wilde from Dublin?
Yep, booking engine says no space when you put in foot passenger.QuoteWell it's all happening on Dublin-Holyhead route at the moment. So if I time this right, I can sail out on the Stena Europe from Holyhead and sail back on the Oscar Wilde from Dublin?
I think Oscar Wilde is only taken car & freight bookings on the Dublin-Holyhead route.
Also interesting that the French routes are being curtailed for the winter , I know that there has been an ongoing discussion with Brittany Ferries about the Cork - Roscoff service going year-round and a frequency increase , that route had a 15% increase in passenger numbers this year beating the projected 12% increase that had been forecast at the start of the year.
Nordica has taken foot passengers since April 2012.I have heard that Stena have been looking for a larger ship to replace Nordica for a while - despite being a good fit for the route she just hasn't got enough space. With this in mind I don't see Nordica being replaced outright. I would imagine with Stena owning Holyhead they would have known IF where increasing frequency. Personally I can see one of four options:
IFs new sailings look like they're intended to fully disrupt the Nordica's sailings, by being no more than 55 minutes beforehand. You get the impression it's Ferry Wars!
I always thought there was some unwritten co-operation that Ulyses would always leave before Adventurer from Dublin and vice versa from Holyhead, but doesn't look like this is applying to the new schedule.
I doubt we've seen the last of the changes yet and the next one will be Stena's response.
sadly the epsilon will never operate the rosslare to pembroke route because pembroke dock’s ferry berth is only for vessels up to 150 metres long and the epsilon is over 180 metres long but what about the swift to operate the rosslare pembroke route???I thought this too, but earlier in the thread this is debunked. I would have thought the IoI was a better ship anyway???
So there will be 4 IF ships running on the central corridor Christmas week then?
Plus Stena's 3, and probably not much freight to be moved that week either. Sounds like a bit of overkill to me, and possibly chaos at Rosslaire if Stena Europe has any glitches.
TBH guys either Irish Ferries have either lost the plot or they are planning to dump fares for Christmas or something. In lane meters terms you they are going to have 8000lm available across 3 conventional vessels plus swift. Theres also talk inside Stena about the need to react according to my sources, so it will be interesting to see what they can pull out of their (rather substantial) hat.
Regarding Rosslare, from my understanding there is only the traffic down there to sustain one operator long term. Neither operator wants to pull out probably due to the negative publicity (or to concede defeat on a historic link). Looking back to the reports into the DFDS takeover there was mention that there was another Stena route which hadn't made a profit in years (in fact Stena came in for much criticism for not giving Fleetwood as long a reprieve). From what I know the 2 routes with the lowest traffic are Grenaa - Varberg and Fishguard to Rosslare. I know for a fact Irish Ferries carry more freight through Rosslare than Stena (you only have to look at where the Welsh ports are for a potential reason why). It seems neither operator are bothered about disrupting services from Rosslare (remember Europe is going up to cover Nordica and then to her own refit without replacement) and Oscar Wilde could easily have been sent up to Dublin rather than IOI for Christmas.
UPDATE: Looking at the booking engine currently Oscar Wilde is in Dublin and Rosslare at the same time! Obviously things are still changing. Epsilon has disappeared without trace!
TBH guys either Irish Ferries have either lost the plot or they are planning to dump fares for Christmas or something. In lane meters terms you they are going to have 8000lm available across 3 conventional vessels plus swift. Theres also talk inside Stena about the need to react according to my sources, so it will be interesting to see what they can pull out of their (rather substantial) hat.
Pete the Swift cant really push its times out any later due to the crew sleeping on Ulysses & if they pushed out Ulysses sailing time any later a lot of freight would move to Stena as Ulysses arrives first into Holyhead for the trucks heading down south.
Swift could also move to later slots perhaps leaving Dublin at 0945 rather than 0845 giving a 1250 departure from Holyhead and her next lap being 1530 Dublin and 1830 from Holyhead.
Ok, now my head hurts.
Pete
I meant they had lost the plot if they had all 4 ships timetabled! However Epsilon isn't timetabled so maybe she is playing relief ship for Swift as the others would have more passenger accommodation.QuoteTBH guys either Irish Ferries have either lost the plot or they are planning to dump fares for Christmas or something. In lane meters terms you they are going to have 8000lm available across 3 conventional vessels plus swift. Theres also talk inside Stena about the need to react according to my sources, so it will be interesting to see what they can pull out of their (rather substantial) hat.
I don't think Irish Ferries have lost the plot with bringing in the Epsilon. The Nordica is sailing full most of the time and even rumoured to be leaving stuff behind. Stena's answer to this was to look at bringing in a bigger ship to replace the Nordica and carry more cargo. Irish Ferries I presume looked at this and thought if a bigger ship comes they would loose part of their market share of the Dublin / Holyhead crossing. So bringing in the Epsilon was vital to retain their market share and even possibly even take a bit of business from Stena. Now that there is extra capacity on this route Stena may rethink replacing the Nordica for a while until they see how things settle out.
I doubt Irish Ferries will have all four ships running in the run up to Christmas, the IOI will only be used if the Swift cancels.
Fair point Ferryman - never thought of the Swift Crew and their sleeping arrangements! So the flexibility for Swift is really only in that 8am-7.30pm window. Can still tweak within that a bit!Explorer only currently doing the 1 round trip - 10:30 from Holyhead and 13:30 from Dun Laoghaire which puts her on the wrong side of the Irish Sea. I see Stena have also cancelled the last sailing from Holyhead on Xmas eve meaning the last crossing leaves at 13:50 but the 21:50 ex Dublin on Adventurer is still running so both Stena ships laying over in Holyhead. IF finish off at 14:10/15 in both directions.
That puts the tourist flexibility on to Stena so. If they go for a 4/5pm return from Dun Laoghaire then they can also provide overflow cover for trucks from Nordica. Even the neighbours in Dun Laoghaire could live with a dozen trucks each day.
Pete
QuoteFair point Ferryman - never thought of the Swift Crew and their sleeping arrangements! So the flexibility for Swift is really only in that 8am-7.30pm window. Can still tweak within that a bit!Explorer only currently doing the 1 round trip - 10:30 from Holyhead and 13:30 from Dun Laoghaire which puts her on the wrong side of the Irish Sea. I see Stena have also cancelled the last sailing from Holyhead on Xmas eve meaning the last crossing leaves at 13:50 but the 21:50 ex Dublin on Adventurer is still running so both Stena ships laying over in Holyhead. IF finish off at 14:10/15 in both directions.
That puts the tourist flexibility on to Stena so. If they go for a 4/5pm return from Dun Laoghaire then they can also provide overflow cover for trucks from Nordica. Even the neighbours in Dun Laoghaire could live with a dozen trucks each day.
Pete
Thats the irony! They will even get to watch from Stena House in Holyhead! You would have thought they might have done the 2 round trips on explorer, but had probably taken advanced bookings making it hard to change the timetable. Perhaps they are concentrating too hard on keeping costs down?QuoteQuoteFair point Ferryman - never thought of the Swift Crew and their sleeping arrangements! So the flexibility for Swift is really only in that 8am-7.30pm window. Can still tweak within that a bit!Explorer only currently doing the 1 round trip - 10:30 from Holyhead and 13:30 from Dun Laoghaire which puts her on the wrong side of the Irish Sea. I see Stena have also cancelled the last sailing from Holyhead on Xmas eve meaning the last crossing leaves at 13:50 but the 21:50 ex Dublin on Adventurer is still running so both Stena ships laying over in Holyhead. IF finish off at 14:10/15 in both directions.
That puts the tourist flexibility on to Stena so. If they go for a 4/5pm return from Dun Laoghaire then they can also provide overflow cover for trucks from Nordica. Even the neighbours in Dun Laoghaire could live with a dozen trucks each day.
Pete
The idea I suggested was that Explorer would leave Holyhead about 11 and then spend the afternoon in Dun Laoghaire before leaving at 4/5pm getting to Holyhead about 6 or 7 filling the mid morning/late afternoon gap. It's an idea for the spring though, I reckon things will stay as they are (for Stena) over Christmas. Stena will need to react though, it's a growing trade but IF could rob it from under their noses and even using their port!
QuoteI see Stena have also cancelled the last sailing from Holyhead on Xmas eve meaning the last crossing leaves at 13:50 but the 21:50 ex Dublin on Adventurer is still running so both Stena ships laying over in Holyhead. IF finish off at 14:10/15 in both directions.
Steven note a.) on Stena timetable Adverturer departs at 18.30hrs on 24 December 2013 as she has for number of years.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10201738314012379&set=p.10201738314012379&type=1&theater
could not resist sharing this image.
IFs second ship will provide a good back up for the Swift on windy days, though it seems as though the Swift's capacity is greater than the Epsilon's.In terms of cars and freight though Nordica beats the HSS, which beats the Swift. If Stena where that bothered about pax capacity they could have brought Europe up for the festive period and sent Nordica south. My understanding is that even rammed full the HSS is going to loose money running at full speed plus there's the added complexity/confusion for passengers of running to Dun Laoghaire. Even running Explorer at half speed is probably much less economical than switching Europe and Nordica and the HSS also has a low freight and coach capacity compared to the conventional ship.
There's a certain irony that in days gone by, the Explorer provided a service with plenty of capacity leaving Holyhead at 8.55am (the slot now taken by the Nordica) and another that arrived back in Holyhead around 5.45pm. Because the Nordica only provides a fraction of the capacity of the Explorer, they left themselves exposed to IF mopping up the excess, which they've done.
A possible solution for Stena therefore is to stop the daytime Nordica and replace it with an Explorer trip departing and arriving in Holyhead at similar times.
Surely though, will the Christmas week sailings not be more about moving passengers between ports as opposed to freight, which will most probably be a fraction of the usual load?
Surely though, will the Christmas week sailings not be more about moving passengers between ports as opposed to freight, which will most probably be a fraction of the usual load?Yes, but explorer is the most expensive possible option. If bookings warrant it Europe could always come up or as suggested Explorer deployed but whoever decides these things obviously doesn't think that will be needed at this stage. There will probably be a decent amount of freight still as well - the stock to fill the shops for example has to come from somewhere!
What is the realistic likely hood of a new Rosslare to France route or a Cork to western France/Spain as a result of the new regs in 2015 and also the addition of Epsilon with IF!?
Are they doing up the epsilon for Irish Ferries in italy? and what I mean by that is, are they installing café lafeyete, boylan's brassari, painting, etc;?????
does the isle of inishmore always have the same captains every day or do they change?
Cartour Epsilon is back at her berth in Messina. Surely she must leave for Dublin within next 24 hours as IFs extra sailings commence next Sunday.The extra sailings are being provided by Oscar Wilde for the first 2 weeks, not Epsilon.
Ah yes Oscar finishes her 2013 season next Friday and sails to Dublin for Sat. Gives Cartour Epsilon a little bit more time to sail to Dublin.
epsilon is to operate the Rosslare to Cherbourg and Cherbourg to Rosslare routes for a few weeks this December and early JanuaryThanks. Not surprising, and a route I would think she is a lot more suited to. I take it Oscar is operating from Dublin during this time?
No:Thanks GG
Oscar Wilde - Rosslare - Pembroke from Dec 20th at 20.45 as Inishmore goes to Dublin for Christmas and to cover Ulysses refit in Jan, then Inishmore refit which returns Feb 1st Pembroke 14.45 to allow Oscar to go for refit.
So will the Oscar Wilde be in Dublin at the end of November?
QuoteSo will the Oscar Wilde be in Dublin at the end of November?
HSS: Oscar Wilde is in the online booking system till the 7th December & Epsilon it taken over on the 8th December, if she arrive onto the Irish sea on time.
(http://i40.tinypic.com/2qjcflx.jpg)
Oscar Wilde Making Her Way Up To Holyead
Possibly true, but in the latest IF facebook pics it does show that the upper car deck has been painted green also as the funnel....maybe im jumping to conclusions but would be logical to paint the rest of her too!Surely this would be a dry dock job though, AIS is still showing her in port. As someone said above, the funnel is probably the easiest bit to paint. Hope she does get the full repaint but not holding my breath for it either. Sorry to deflate you, but this image (and others) would seem to show that C&T Visentini vehicle decks are green anyway
http://www.irishferries.com/uk-en/news/news131127/
If the Epsilon is tied up on a Dublin to Cherbourg run between Saturdays and Mondays, isn't his going to leave the newly launched daily additional sailings between Dublin and Holyhead somewhat uncovered?
Weekends including Mondays are quiet days for freight. For example P & O ships tie up Mondays as there's no work for them . The Holyhead ships run nearly empty on Mondays .Additionally Stena skip a round trip each way on Belfast - Birkenhead on Mondays and Hibernia doesn't operate either over weekends or on Mondays both of which would also indicate lower volumes of freight on these days.
For someone living in Dublin or northern Ireland it might be very convenient to drive to Dublin Port rather than the 2 hour + drive to Rosslare or Cork. However I would agree its a long passage from Dublin to Cherbourg on a ship with little facilities. Lastly European Ambassador (Stena Nordica) was always full when she did the run to France many years ago. we will wait and see.... :)
Cartour Epsilon still in Messina, seems to be no rush to get the ship to Dublin.
I don't think the logos have been painted on the sides.
It looks like she is stopping off at Gibraltar for bunkers, she should be there tomorrow night.
QuoteI don't think the logos have been painted on the sides.
It looks like she is stopping off at Gibraltar for bunkers, she should be there tomorrow night.
From Matrix Ship Management face book page
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=586193854781965&set=a.517591141642237.1073741828.517082148359803&type=1&theater
She has left Gibraltar and has just passed Tarifa. She is due in Cherbourg tomorrownight at 9pm.
i think so, im not sure if she'll head straight on to dublin or if she'll just drop anchor for a few hours
i saw a proposal for this, it was excellent but costly and i really cant see ireland being sensible enough to ever invest that kind of money into something that could really work, the proposal i saw involved modification of the rail lines, addition of cranes, dredging of the harbour, all sorts of excellent ideas i just dont see anyone investing that kind of money in the place but it would be a dream come true
Thanks gift grub, in get it now.
Is there any chances of irish ferries removing cartour, and just have epsilon?
How full are the Swift sailings these days?
Not noticed it before, but there appears to be a large door in Epsilon's port side. Can she do side loading as well?
was the pride of bibalo ever painted in the irish ferries livery?
Quotewas the pride of bibalo ever painted in the irish ferries livery?
No, never sailed for Irish Ferries.
cartour epsilon has been renamed epsilon.
https://www.facebook.com/IrishFerriesOfficial/photos_stream
Has anybody else noticed how the Epsilon is now stopping off again at Rosslare on her return journey from Cherbourg?
I don't think IF intended to do this. I assume this is to flush out LD lines a bit especially with regard to freight? :o
These are Oscar Wilde sailings on Rosslare - Pembroke route as the Isle of Inishmore is still in drydock in Liverpool for servicing.
Quotecartour epsilon has been renamed epsilon.
https://www.facebook.com/IrishFerriesOfficial/photos_stream
Think that image could be photoshopped and the ais is still Cartour Epsilon, if you look closely the mooring rope seems to be quite different and there is a blur where Cartour would be.
Images of the Oscar Wilde in drydock in Falmouth:
Not available in the harbour webcam view unfortunately.
http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=1972705
http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=1972704
http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=1972701
http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=1973135
http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=1973085
http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=1973073
take a look at this picture, how come there is smoke coming out of the Ulysses funnel on Christmas Day 2013, sure there would be no one onboard.????????????
Err, can't see no picture, so I'm guessing it will be from the generators, which will be kept running to power everything from the AIS transponder to the meat freezer.
Or someone in engineering may have been cycling the engines either as part of maintenance....Is it not bad enough to be on board & away from your family over Christmas, but to be doing maintenance on Christmas day, I hope not.
Many ferry crew members would be from cultures that dont celebrate Christmas , for them december 25th is just another working day.
Oscar Wilde is on the way back to Rosslare from Falmouth all repainted and fully serviced.
Images of the Oscar leaving drydock in Falmouth here:
http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=1981194
http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=1981154
http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=1981152
http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=1981150
http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=1981149
Just passing the France bound Celtic Horizon in the image from Marine Traffic below.
I see in Dublin tonight that the Cartour is being painted out of Cartour Epsilon so finally looks as if the name changed has happened.
No change in hull colour then ! (Personally I like the blue, it suits her lines)
Maybe I've missed something, but the 'Ferry Site' shows that ('Cartour') Epsilon is owned and operated by IF. ???
Maybe I've missed something, but the 'Ferry Site' shows that ('Cartour') Epsilon is owned and operated by IF. ???Wouldn't be the first time ferry site got something slightly wrong though. For example they still list Stena Mersey as being owned by Epic shipping, they have the passenger capacity at the pre refit levels and the vehicle deck lm is wrong as well. Its one of the reasons research for my website is taking so long as I want to make sure I get the correct information which relies on waiting for replies or searching through publications rather than taking other websites at face value.
When Irish Ferries bought Oscar Wilde the ferry market was very different , there were waiting lists at yards for new tonnage and in the secondhand market you all but had to take whatever was available , and as very few ships were available prices even on older tonnage was quite high , secondhand ships are selling at a fraction of 2007 prices at the moment.
Can i just ask you what is the thing on the side of these ships thats like a huge door on the hull, as seen in the pic you posted above of Epsilon and what does it do?They are retaining lines for the MES rafts, you can see them on the picture of the Stena Lagan.
does anyone on here know where I could see how the MES works on the Vinsentini ships.
P.S. I posted on this before that I am fed up of the visintini ships, well actually to be honest, I'm not anymore, I actually like them now.
The charter of the 70-cabin Epsilon , which mostly services the Dublin-Holyhead route, was prompted by the improved economic outlook, according to ICG.
The improving economic outlook in Ireland has encouraged us in our recently announced investment in the charter of an additional vessel, the Epsilon, which has been trading since mid December.
It's great to see that Irish Ferries is growing year on year.
With regards to Epsilon, why did IF buy such a small vessel? I understand they needed to 'test out' the service and see if any additional freight units would use the service, but now that they know they will in big numbers, isn't it time to get rid of Epsilon and invest in a bigger and more suitable ship, one that could carry freight and passengers?
IF are alienating their foot passenger market by not allowing them to use Epsilon. As a foot passenger who regularly travels to Ireland using IF, the early morning departure times of Epsilon at 01:55 from Dublin and at 8am from Holyhead do better suit me when travelling and I think it's a bit unfair that we cannot choose to sail on her.
Ferry Operator Says Bunker Costs Will "Substantially Increase" in 2015
Monday March 10, 2014
Ferry Operator Says Bunker Costs Will "Substantially Increase" in 2015
The improving Irish economy has helped the company grow
Ferry company Irish Continental Group says it is preparing for new limits on sulfur emissions in 2015 that will "substantially increase" bunker fuel costs and require bunker surcharges, and it needs to educate its customers about the issue.
"This increased cost will have to be borne by the end customers," the company said.
"This action will be necessary in order to maintain a viable freight network for the benefit of Ireland's exporters and importers."
The ferry operator's revenues grew 3.4 percent in 2013 to €264.7 million ($367.0 million), and profit from continuing operations was up 14 percent to €23.3 million ($32.3 million).
The company's overall profit was down due to the sale of subsidiary Feederlink, which boosted its 2012 results.
“
This increased cost will have to be borne by the end customers
Irish Continental Group
''2013 was a successful year for the Group with a solid financial and operational performance in a competitive passenger and freight market place," said Chairman John B McGuckian.
"The improving economic outlook in Ireland has encouraged us in our recently announced investment in the charter of an additional vessel, the Epsilon, which has been trading since mid December.
"RoRo freight volumes are up 18% year on year, to date, despite adverse weather conditions which have led to cancelled sailings."
German carrier Hapag-Lloyd said in January that it was warning shippers of increased costs that the new rules in 2015 will necessitate but that few other carriers seemed to be doing the same.
Irish Continental Group plc ("the Company") is pleased to announce that it has today received €17.0 million in full settlement of all amounts due under the terms of the Bareboat Hire Purchase Agreement ("the Agreement") relating to the sale of the vessel SPL Princess Anastasia (formerly Pride of Bilbao) concluded in 2010. Under the Agreement, this amount was receivable in instalments from the Russian company, St. Peter Line, over the period to September 2016
http://otp.investis.com/clients/uk/icg/rns/regulatory-story.aspx?cid=500&newsid=402319
Possible senario winter 2014/2015
OW Rosslare - Pembroke
IOI Dublin - Holyhead
Eps Rosslare - Cherbourg
Possible senario winter 2014/2015
OW Rosslare - Pembroke
IOI Dublin - Holyhead
Eps Rosslare - Cherbourg
I don't think Oscar Wilde is suitable for the Rosslare - Pembroke route. She has way to much cabins for the run, with only deck 3 & deck 2 (via a lift) for high traffic & no open deck space for outside deck hazardous cargo or running fridges. I'm thinking would not make her suitable for the run.
Epsilon only has a passenger cert of 500 & with the limited number of cabins 68 x 4 berth + 2 x 2 berth ( disabled ). Would not make her suitable for a busy summer season to France. I can't see Irish Ferries doing any changes to her as she is only a chartered vessel.
My possible scenario for 2015
Epsilon: Rosslare - Pembroke
Ulysses: Dublin - Holyhead
Jonathan Swift: Dublin - Holyhead
Isle of Inishmore: Dublin - Holyhead (main dry dock cover vessel) & Dublin - Cherbourg ( if there is a demand for it from freight customers)
Oscar Wilde: Rosslare - France (all year round service with Epsilon covering dry docking when passenger numbers are low)
Irish Ferries Timetable
5th January to 31 January 2015
Rosslare Pembroke Dock - MV EPsilon
5th January to 15th January 2015
Dublin - Holyhead
Isle of Inismore & Oscar Wilde & Swift.
16th January to 31st January 2015
Ulysses & Oscar Wilde.
Was aboard Isle of Innishmore last night , ship and crew were up to their usual high standard , just wondering if anyone knows if the ship still has the former O'Flahertys pub and Turlok Tea Bar still in place in the disused section of deck 7 ? , based on current passenger numbers I concur there is no need to use them , however these would be very useful when the ship is operating from Dublin.
Epsilon is showing as cancelled from Dub tomorrow due to technical reasons? anybody know what is happening?Yes.....
Since nobody is gonna biteEpsilon is showing as cancelled from Dub tomorrow due to technical reasons? anybody know what is happening?Yes.....
Epsilon appears to have moved in the past few days, but only across the river. The following is posted on the IF service update page:Since nobody is gonna biteEpsilon is showing as cancelled from Dub tomorrow due to technical reasons? anybody know what is happening?Yes.....
I have heard she made contact with the berth on Thursday night/Friday morning and may have been holed, but can't confirm that last bit (its a bit hard to see from Belfast ;) ). She has been tied up opposite the berths and off service ever since to my knowledge.
Re Tuesday 20th May
Irish Ferries regret to advise that due to technical reasons our MV Epsilon departure from Dublin to Holyhead 20th May @ 0155hrs has been cancelled.
All passengers with valid tickets will be moved to our Cruise sailings departing as follows
Dublin / Holyhead 2055hrs
Dublin / Holyhead 0805hrs
Thanks for the info Steve! Any idea if she will need dry docking or will be back in service soon?
Good to hear!Thanks for the info Steve! Any idea if she will need dry docking or will be back in service soon?
From what I hear she will not need dry docking. She is due to enter service Tuesday at 14.15 ex Dublin, if all goes to plan.
Noticed Ulysses docked in Berth 52 (Ro-Ro 7), alongside Seatruck Precision (?) yesterday 26th May. Thought this was unusual, have never seen Ulysses on this berth? Anyone any idea why this was?
She actually went to Dublin first, then back down to Rosslare - as shown on AIS.Makes sense. Less likely hood of the passengers going WTF!
....or disembarking in Rosslare, thinking they were in Dublin. :DAnd then going WTF as they see the ship sail away lol
Inishmore running two hours late today and this afternoons return to Rosslare and 20.45 to Pems both cancelled for technical issues....anybody got further information?
I went to Alton towers this morning with my family. We went on the 08:05 HRS sailing from Dublin to Holyhead on the Ulysses. I have plenty of pictures and I will upload them when I get home at the end of the week. I was on the Inishmore 2 weeks ago and let me tell you, the Ulysses is far more luxurious, friendly, etc; than the Inishmore
Inishmore running two hours late today and this afternoons return to Rosslare and 20.45 to Pems both cancelled for technical issues....anybody got further information?
No info on the cause/s though it presumably is now rectified as when I looked at the Latest Sailing Information a few hours ago tomorrow's 02.45 & 08.45 were to be confirmed but are now scheduled to run.
I have 2 questions to ask... can anyone answer them...
1) How may captains has the Inishmore have?
2) Anyone know of anywhere there is a pic of Inishmore and Normandy togeather?
For Christmas, do all Ulysses staff go home for Christmas? or do they stay on the ship and celebrate Christmas onboard?Is there anyone on there that would actually care about Christmas? :)
For Christmas, do all Ulysses staff go home for Christmas? or do they stay on the ship and celebrate Christmas onboard?
Is there a particular reason each arrival of the Isle of Inishmore is shown as xx:46 (rather than xx:45)? In reality it is irrelevant but is there an accounting or other reason behind it?
For Christmas, do all Ulysses staff go home for Christmas? or do they stay on the ship and celebrate Christmas onboard?Is there anyone on there that would actually care about Christmas? :)
For Christmas, do all Ulysses staff go home for Christmas? or do they stay on the ship and celebrate Christmas onboard?Is there anyone on there that would actually care about Christmas? :)
I suppose Irish Ferries staff wouldn't care about Christmas because they are from the Phillippeans and it would take too long to get home for Christmas and back to Dublin again for the 27th December. Plus the majority of them wouldn't have families. BUT I'd say Stena's staff wouldn't stay on board for Christmas because they would be either British or Irish staff and they would probably go home to their families for the 25th and 26th December.
There are no Filipinos on the Irish Ferries fleet.
I will be onboard for Christmas, it won't be the same as being at home but we will make the most of it.
There are no Filipinos on the Irish Ferries fleet.
I will be onboard for Christmas, it won't be the same as being at home but we will make the most of it.
Do you work on an Irish Ferries ship? If so what's it like being onboard Christmas day?
Yes and no. If the ship is in the right port when she lays over then Stena's staff can go home for a few hours. TBH, plenty of people employed in the hospitality industry work Christmas Day - and when I say work it really is work with dealing with the general public, etc just like in a normal shift. Even in retail (particularly in supermarkets) there is often someone who has to "go in" on Christmas Day (for example to check the temperatures of refrigeration equipment, etc).BUT I'd say Stena's staff wouldn't stay on board for Christmas because they would be either British or Irish staff and they would probably go home to their families for the 25th and 26th December.For Christmas, do all Ulysses staff go home for Christmas? or do they stay on the ship and celebrate Christmas onboard?Is there anyone on there that would actually care about Christmas? :)
All this talk of Christmas when its summertime can't be right ::). Anybody know if the IOI will be on Holyhead-Dublin permanently next year?
From speaking to a staff member, I can tell you that absolutely nothing has been agreed past 31/01/15 at the moment (that's the last date on the booking engine). There's no provisional schedule for 2015 for France, but last year it was up on the site by August/September. Seems strange that they're letting Stena get out there so far in advance...
There are no Filipinos on the Irish Ferries fleet.
I will be onboard for Christmas, it won't be the same as being at home but we will make the most of it.
Do you work on an Irish Ferries ship? If so what's it like being onboard Christmas day?
There will be party games, carol singing and a Christmas service from the Captain 😉😉😉
I would actually be quite sad if the Inishmore left Rosslare because she is part of the early morning and evening background of the port.
I Love travelling on footpassenger day trips on her, and if Epsilon replaced her, you wouldn't have the same facilities. And worse again Irish Ferries don't even carry foot passengers on Epsilon, does anyone know why?
There are no Filipinos on the Irish Ferries fleet.
I will be onboard for Christmas, it won't be the same as being at home but we will make the most of it.
Do you work on an Irish Ferries ship? If so what's it like being onboard Christmas day?
There will be party games, carol singing and a Christmas service from the Captain 😉😉😉
I have this image of men in boiler suits playing pass the parcel in the engine room lol ;)
I would actually be quite sad if the Inishmore left Rosslare because she is part of the early morning and evening background of the port.
I Love travelling on footpassenger day trips on her, and if Epsilon replaced her, you wouldn't have the same facilities. And worse again Irish Ferries don't even carry foot passengers on Epsilon, does anyone know why?
Although I have been a member on this site for a few months, I have never posted before, but there is an ongoing rumour that bothers me immensely. I don't know if Irish Ferries monitor this site, I hope so. I am a frequent traveller (and a member of the IF group - check our spending history with IF), travelling mainly between Rosslare and Pembroke and between Dublin and Holyhead with the car, and between Rosslare and Roscoff every year with car and caravan. Perhaps I should write direct to IF but I don't know who to address the mail to. My concern is replacing the Inishmore with the Epsilon on the Pembroke route. We've used the Epsilon between Dublin and Holyhead and we all know it's nothing like the Ulysses or Inishmore. No club class and very very limited seating. If the rumoured move takes place we shall move to Stena who provide club class to Fishguard - without young screaming tots in the lounge too. Ok if you have a young family, we now don't - done that, and now appreciate quiter comfort, IF please note. We like the Ulysses and Inishmore. The Oscar Wilde for Roscoff with its dining options and sailing timings is perfect. IF please don't move the Inishmore and put Epsilon on the four hour Pembroke run, or all our money will be going to Stena, whichever vessel they use, as long as it's not the Horizon!. We live near Rosslare but I think we'd go to Dublin if ever the Horizon and Epsilon were on the southern corridor. Chris.Hi Chris, welcome to the site.
From speaking to a staff member, I can tell you that absolutely nothing has been agreed past 31/01/15 at the moment (that's the last date on the booking engine). There's no provisional schedule for 2015 for France, but last year it was up on the site by August/September. Seems strange that they're letting Stena get out there so far in advance...
Could be they don't want to show their hand too soon.
Spoke to IF who confirmed that provisional schedule will not be agreed until Early october with bookings available C 4 weeks thereafter. Seems that some sort of chage is in the offing to this years schedule....
From speaking to a staff member, I can tell you that absolutely nothing has been agreed past 31/01/15 at the moment (that's the last date on the booking engine). There's no provisional schedule for 2015 for France, but last year it was up on the site by August/September. Seems strange that they're letting Stena get out there so far in advance...
Could be they don't want to show their hand too soon.
Spoke to IF who confirmed that provisional schedule will not be agreed until Early october with bookings available C 4 weeks thereafter. Seems that some sort of chage is in the offing to this years schedule....
Epsilon is not suitable for Rosslare - Pembroke due to lack of passenger facilities for peak season where they have load of 1200 to 1500 passengers on some voyages and ease of access to accomodation block.
Dont be surprised if another ferry arrives on the seen for Rosslare - Pembroke if IOI were to go north which is far from certain in 2014.
My money is on a Stena Ferry displaced from Scandinavia "Stena Jutlandica or perhaps "Gotland or Visby" from Gotland line which have good freight and passenger accomodation.
There is plenty of work for Epsilon on the run to france or perhaps spain especially with the New Car imports and the haulage community looking for direct access to the continent.
Regards IF PETE
I think Stena might move the dieppe seaways to roslare,she has a very similar car and passanger max as the Europe , .I think she would give the roslare route a big publicity boost ,and roslare deserves a newer ship.Meanwhile the holyhead route is ticking along fine , nordica Which has a bigger freight than the super fasts , can plod on ,she is a fantastic work horse ,the adventurer the same , and the explorer seasonal, ,.I think this summer this layout has worked very well for stena.the old saying ,why try to fix something which ain't broken, springs to mind. .but hey what do I know. :)I doubt SF X will be anywhere near Fishguard tbh, I don't even think she would fit Fishguard OR Rosslare! Its OK saying Rosslare "deserves" a newer ship, the numbers just don't add up down there to justify the capital investment. Added to the fact that the Superfast VII class have significantly more capacity than Europe (over 100 more cars for a start and an additional 6-700 lm), a ship Stena can't fill as it is and its a non-runner IMO.
Here are the specifications of the ferries operating out of Rosslare and on Dublin - Holyhead Route
Stena Europe 2074 Pass 456 Cars 60 Trucks
Stena Horizon 1000 Pass 200 Cars 120 Trucks
Isle of Inishmore 2200 Pass 802 Cars 152 Trucks
Oscar Wilde 1458 Pass 730 Cars 90 Trucks
Norman Atlantic 1000 Pass 170 Cars 120 Trucks
Norman Albetros 825 Pass 185 Cars 120 Trucks
Stena Adventurer 1500 Pass 210 Trucks
Stena Nordica 405 Pass 375 Cars 122 Trucks
Stena Explorer 1500 Pass 375 Cars 50 Trucks
Jan 2015
Dieppe Seaways 1200 Pass 480 Cars 110 Trucks
Ulysses 1875 Pass 1342 Cars 300 Trucks
Epsilon 500 Pass 150 Trucks
Jonathan Swift 800 Pass 200 Cars
Possible Future 2017 on
Kaitaki (Isle of Innisfree ) 1640 Pass 600 Cars 130 Trucks
As you can see the current set up is actually close to optimum and is going to be very hard to improve upon.
Please bear in mind that except in rough weather Jonathan Swift carries a large portion of passenger and car traffic and some buses daytime on irish Sea with Epsilon carrying freight.
As you can see the Ocsar Wilde has more freight capacity that most night ferrys out there with the Exception of Stena Vision and Stena Spirit and Stena Britannia and Stena Holand
Even Stena will actually will be going backwards on the freight side to increase the passenger numbers to offset the loss of the Stena Explorer should she retire.
One wonders if Dieppe Seaways will also be a stopgap.
I wanted to post a comment yesterday however I could not log on for some reason.
Regarding accommodation on the Epsilon being basic, there is no reason why Irish Ferries cannot get an extra accommodation module pre-built and fitted in dry dock. there is ample space at back of the existing accommodation and it would look well...It would be probably be the cheapest and quickest way to improve her accommodation. it would mean going to dry dock for a week or two but i would imagine its feasible .
I was wondering it was possible to plug in a temporary passenger module in to add addition seating for a cinema and club class lounge. The module could occupy one third or half of the covered upper dect capopy.While theoretically possible to bolt on a a passenger module I would imagine the full consent for such a "conversion" would need to be obtained from the owners, even with IF promising to return her as she is. Not only that but the ship would probably need to be re-certified as obviously her weights would be modified. There also could be an issue with the fact that Epsilon is a stern loader and vehicles on the top deck need space to manoeuvre. Surely any additional module would not only encroach on her capacity but also this space. Perhaps someone more familiar with this particular ship may correct me, but I have a feeling the fixed internal ramp emerges quite close to the existing accommodation area? IIRC she is only on a 3 year charter so the cost vs benefit of such a conversion may weigh on the side of continuing the way things are anyway. Perhaps something could be possible by covering the open deck and extending the cabin deck astern and in the process totally reconfiguring her internal layout, but this would cost a small fortune I would imagine again for not much benefit.
A form of portoabin that is locked in place. Something similar to what Lufthansa have on their A340 Aircraft where they load a palet which is a self contained crew rest area.
The Epsilon is far more fuel efficient than the Ulysses Oscar Wilde or Inishmore, She averages 23 Knots on two engines whereas The Ulysses averages 19 knots on four engines (she is capable of 21 knots). Because she is newer the Engines on the Epsilon would be far more economical than the other ships in the fleet and as we know Fuel has rocketed in price since Ulysses and IOI were launched. Therefore it is far cheaper to move units on Epsilon than Ulysses for example. Irish ferries would be very aware of and as an option I could see them buying the Epsilon from its owners and increase the Accommodation... they will have to have an alternative when the charter is up in two years and I can see this as a very viable option as it would be much cheaper than building from scratch.
Just wondering with Epsilon on Rosslare - Pembroke in January 2015, I see it not taking foot passengers, any one know why as even with her limited capacity would not have thought it would be a problem at this time of the year and if I remember foot passengers embark and disembark in both Rosslare and Pembroke by bus so does anyone know any other why? Seems strange to be turning down business small an all as it is as the staff would be there to drive the bus any way.She doesn't take footies on her normal runs from Dublin either.
Just wondering with Epsilon on Rosslare - Pembroke in January 2015, I see it not taking foot passengers, any one know why as even with her limited capacity would not have thought it would be a problem at this time of the year and if I remember foot passengers embark and disembark in both Rosslare and Pembroke by bus so does anyone know any other why? Seems strange to be turning down business small an all as it is as the staff would be there to drive the bus any way.
Irish ferries dont leave a bus on the Isle of inishmore.....the last time i travelled as a foot passenger on the IOI they actually used a private taxi company bus for the short transfer. In pembroke they used their own mini bus.
In Pembroke...do you really think they are going to allow foot passengers along the vehicle ramp?
Id rather not read about some poor chap getting squashed under an articulated truck or car :o
Year to Date Volumes
Cumulatively, in the 46 weeks to 15 November 2014, total passengers carried were up 5% at 1,507,500, while cars carried were up 9% at 347,200. RoRo freight volumes in the same period were up 22% on last year at 216,200 units.
Group revenue for the nine months to the end of September 2014 was €224.1 million (2013: €205.6 million), up 9.0%. Revenue in the Ferries division was up 13.0% compared with the comparable period in 2013, while in the Container & Terminal division cumulative revenue was up 2.5% year on year. EBITDA for the nine months was €42.1 million (2013: €42.7 million), reflecting the additional operational costs of the Epsilon which was introduced in late 2013. Operating profit for the nine months was €29.0 million compared with €28.7 million in the same period in 2013. Net debt at the end of September was €57.6 million compared with €71.9 million at 30 June 2014. Subsequent to the quarter end the interim dividend of €6.4 million was paid.
I understand Irish Ferries have to decide in 2015 as to order a new built or buy second hand Ferry to replace the Epsilon for Dublin - Holyhead Route. She has been so successful her limited passenger capacity and inability to take foot passengers makes here replacement with a bigger ferry compelling. She has been a great success as a utility ferry and her large cargo capacity and lower car decks have made her ideal for carrying new cars from France to Ireland which greatly subsidises her running costs. I understand her lease was initially for two years with an option to extend.
I could see her used on more frequent sailings to France when her replacement goes into service on Dublin Holyhead.
A new build would not be available for three years which is too long away and Stena would be happy for the cash a lease or sale of the Stena Jutlandica would generate. The Jutlandica is a one off in the Stena Fleet.IF Stena where to sell Jutlandica, ICG are the last company they would sell or lease to! Does anyone really think that Stena have made this significant investment in the central corridor only to hand their competitor a ready made replacement for their own sub-standard offering? It would have cost a lot less to move Jutlandica in order to replace Nordica than the acquisition and conversion of Dieppe Seaways to Stena Superfast X. I doubt very much Stena are keen to help IF solve their "problem". While Stena is split into different business units/companies they work in their mural interest - not against each other!
Rumour heard through face book is the ulysses, may have had alittle of trouble berthing but contact with the berth is not ruled out. No further details or indeed on very loose foundation. I believe she is heading for drydock early next week. Isle of Inishmore to the rescue by all accounts!
Any details regarding Ulysses and I would be delighted to hear them.
I didn't get sick actually but was about to on numerous of times!!!A case of the flagship being able to do no wrong I suspect!
The Inishmore did hande the weather now very well I must say but still if youre not use to rough weather at sea you probably think its very rough. At the bar, I heard some guy talking to someone else say that "If you were on the Ulysses, you wouldn't feel anything like this".
The Jonathan Swift is in Liverpool for her annual service and will be out of service until the end of the month. No great loss considering the number of recent weather related cancellations.
I would say Irish Ferries reason for not allowing foot passengers on Epsilon has more to do with its very limited passenger space being given over to car passengers , with space for only 500 passengers it means the ship is full if it gets 100 cars with 5 passengers in each.
Any further rumours on the Superfast Ferries being checked out by irish ferries.
I had a look on Youtube and there are a good few videos on Superfast II and Superfast III.
Any further rumours on the Superfast Ferries being checked out by irish ferries.
I had a look on Youtube and there are a good few videos on Superfast II and Superfast III.
None , but Irish Ferries are expected to announce something before the end of Q2 , so I'd say whatever they are going to do is at final consideration stage.
Superfast I and II are quoted as having the following specs.I'd love to know where the traffic was coming from for that one!
Passenger Capacity Trailers Speed (kn) Length (m) Breadth (m) Decks
950 170 24 199 25 8
2295 Lane Metres
But looking at the videos and photos they look considerably smaller freightwise to Epsilon 2860 lane metres and underpowered for North Atlantic operation on Rosslare Pembroke and Rosslare Cherbourg.
I guess if they were purchased they would need to be rebuilt to increase freight capacity and add additional passenger comfort.
I wonder were Superfast XI and XII the real point of the visit. They have twice the power of Superfast I and II and considerably more overround capacity. They would make a mean pair on a Rosslare - Cherbourg Daily Shuttle Route.
Passenger Capacity Trailers Speed (kn) Length (m) Breadth (m) Decks
1640 120 Plus 31.25 199.9 25 10
100 cars
The issue they face with new builds in a two to three year time lage.That and the price of a new build, as well as the lack of capacity at yards capable of building large vessels. Loch Seaforth, which is tiny by central corridor standards (less than 9000 gt) cost £42m and was based on an existing design. For that type of money in the current market you could have a good second hand Visentini for example, or even a decent sized ex Baltic ferry. At present (in Europe at least) an order today would not be delivered until 2018 or after, and thats if the design is complete. Even the far east yards are very busy, with container ship orders - container ships from the 90's are already hitting the beach and need to be replaced by something after all. The problem is that the current owners are holding on to the good ships as replacing them with new is just too costly.
So Epsilon is not having a drydock / refit like the others, seems strange as IF traditional drydock each ship each year kind of puts it as the economy ship as such.Remember she is chartered tonnage, so little point in them spending money on her they don't have to as they'll never get it back again!
Would love to travel on her but give the price and lack of facilities I think it would not be a good investment as the stena ship at the same time has much better facilities for much the same price.
Any update on the reports of IF purchasing some EX Superfast's from the Med or maybe a new build/builds?This could be a case of a self-fulfilling rumour but some of the more reliable Greek sources have indicated that Irish Ferries have indeed looked over the Superfast XI and XII.
Any update on the reports of IF purchasing some EX Superfast's from the Med or maybe a new build/builds?This could be a case of a self-fulfilling rumour but some of the more reliable Greek sources have indicated that Irish Ferries have indeed looked over the Superfast XI and XII.
Proven as the Superfast class have been in various roles (and very nice as the XI and XII are) I'd suggest that the Olympic Champion and Hellenic Spirit belonging to the other partner in the Superfast-ANEK joint venture would be better purchases - they have rather better passenger accommodation and their owners are probably even more ready for a distressed sale at a reasonable price.
It would be fantastic to get either of those ships to the Irish sea. However I don't think either of them are available or even suitable, both ships are stern loading only (twin doors) and on one level and this would make them unsuitable for any link-span available at any Irish port or indeed at any relevant UK ports and would require a huge amount of modifications to make them suitable. I also don't see the point of replacing any of the current fleet with vessels which are already over ten years old.They're definitely available. Even relatively stable ones Greek shipowners like Attica would bite someone's hand off if they made a decent offer for their ships.
This could be a case of a self-fulfilling rumour but some of the more reliable Greek sources have indicated that Irish Ferries have indeed looked over the Superfast XI and XII.
If Irish Ferries were to purchase these ferries a bow door installation similar to Superfast X and minor modifications to the stern with addition of a club class lounge would be enough to make this ferries ideal for operation for both short and long journeys.
I travelled on a full swift on Friday. There has been some improvements made to her with extra seating, new floors and carpets and little touches based on crew feedback.
Swift fills its own market nice and its now better than ever.
Addition of podium for milk sugar etc opposite costa Bar with bin at base all in costa logo and colours behind cinema. This was specifically designed for Swift.
Shelf like table behind cinema so people can stand have a coffee and watch what is on screen.
Addition of podium for milk sugar etc opposite costa Bar with bin at base all in costa logo and colours behind cinema. This was specifically designed for Swift.
Shelf like table behind cinema so people can stand have a coffee and watch what is on screen.
I don't ever recall seeing a cinema on the Swift?
This investment suggests it's going to be around a while yet...
Irish Continental Group will issue an interim Management Statement on 14th May 2015.
Lets see if this throws any light on what they are planning to do.
Released : 14 May 2015
INTERIM MANAGEMENT STATEMENT
Volumes (Year to date, 9 May 2015)
Change
Passengers 418,600 +3%
Cars 94,800 +8%
RoRo Freight 91,800 +11%
Container Freight (teu) 100,000 -1%
Terminal Lifts 67,400 +3%
Irish Continental Group (ICG) issues this interim management statement which covers carryings from 1 January to 9 May 2015 and financial information for the first four months of the year, i.e. 1 January to 30 April. It should be noted that ICG's business is significantly weighted towards the second half of the year when normally a higher proportion of the Group's operating profit is generated than in the first six months.
In the period to 9 May 2015, Irish Ferries carried 94,800 cars, an increase of 8% on the previous year. Total passenger volumes increased by 3% compared to the previous year to 418,600.
In the Roll on Roll off freight market, Irish Ferries carried 91,800 units, an increase of 11% compared with the same period in 2014.
Container freight volumes shipped were down 1% on the previous year at 100,000 teu (twenty foot equivalent units), while units handled at our terminals in Dublin and Belfast increased 3% year on year, over the same period to 67,400 lifts.
In the first four months of the year, Group revenue rose 7.3% to €85.1 million, compared with €79.3 million in the same period last year. Operating costs (before depreciation & amortisation) were 1.6% lower at €74.8 million, versus €76.0 million the previous year, mainly reflecting the lower cost of fuel. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) was €10.3 million compared with €3.3 million in the same period in 2014. The operating profit (before interest) was €4.4 million compared with an operating loss of €2.3 million in 2014. Net debt at the end of April was €45.5 million compared with €61.3 million at 31 December 2014.
Following the completion of an extensive tender process by Belfast Harbour Commissioners, ICG announces that it has been awarded the Services Concession for the operation of a combined container terminal at Victoria Terminal 3 (VT3) in Belfast Harbour. The agreement is for a period of 5 years with a further 3 year option. This will involve the consolidation of the two existing container terminals in Belfast (one of which, BCT, is operated by ICG) into one location at VT3. The process of consolidating the volume of both terminals, which will involve some once off costs, will commence shortly.
Dublin
14 May 2015
Note - The comparative financial information has been restated to the 30 April 2014 which is on the same basis as the current year. In the previous year the financial information disclosed in the interim management statement for the first four months of the year was up to the 26 April 2014.
QuoteReleased : 14 May 2015
INTERIM MANAGEMENT STATEMENT
Volumes (Year to date, 9 May 2015)
Change
Passengers 418,600 +3%
Cars 94,800 +8%
OW was Bahamas flag when she was with Color Line, it was just never changed when she joined Irish Ferries.
It's hard to believe the Epsilons time on the Irish sea is near the end, her two year charter is up in December. Still no news on a replacement ...?
Wasn't it a 3 year charter?
Anyone know why Irish Ferries Irish Sea ships are always registered on one place and the Continental ship in another?
E.g. Ulysses, IOI, Swift - Cyprus and Oscar Wilde - Bahamas
The recent rumours i have heard are as follows,
Superfast XI and Superfast XII are still very much of interest to Irish Ferries.
I do not know if an LOI was signed for them yet but i would imagine it has if they really want them.
Irish Ferries are keen to establish a year round service to Cherbourg possibly with two ships offering a daily service to support the irish freight community.
Isle of Inishmore could be moving permanently back to Dublin in November if a suitable replacement vessel for Rosslare Pembroke can be found. She was designed for the route, has plenty of cabins, so very little work would be needed although the addition of a cinema would be helpful.
Epsilons current charter is to November 2015 with an option to extend.
I have not heard anything about Oscar Wildes future although it could be used for Pembroke - Rosslare for winter 2015/2016 and operate Rosslare - Roscoff or Rosslare - Brest - Spain in the longer term.
I believe the Swift is safe for now
Oscar Wilde has had some money spent on her and could be used to go to Brest and Spain without the expense of Marine Gas Oil because this route is west of the Low Sulphur zone.
Her accomodation is good for family with cars and can handle 90 trailers plus 100 cars despite her age.
The Superfast Twins if they come would be easier to add scrubber or other technology too and have much greater freight capacity.
At 25 knots they could reduce the journey time to Cherbourg allowing 2100 PM departure from Rosslare ideal for freight with late morning arrival into Cherbourg.
They would not need too much work done on them for this route unless IF want to convert them to two level drive through.
My ideal options for a combined service vessel are Normandie, Mont Saint Michael or Stena Vision.
I believe Irish Ferries would be the favourates to run a combined service to Pembroke given its cheaper crewing costs and the better roads from Pembroke for freight...... I suspect it will be Oscar Wilde or a wilde card perhaps one of the superfast vessels.......
IF have something in progress, hopefully they will announce something when they release their half year results at the end of August.
Expansion of Ireland - France and Dublin - Holyhead are on the agenda.
I take it ICG can't afford a new build then....They'd need to wait up to 4 years for it to materialise for a start! The cost of a new build would also be astronomical compared to acquiring something newish second hand, certainly if ordered from a European yard or one of the more respected (in terms of passenger ships) Asian yards.
Dont rule out the Superfast twins yet.
The greeks have no money and would take a reasonable offer if it was on the table.
Irish Ferries do not need to replace Tonnage before November in any case.
ICG wanted a new build (and have more than enough finance in place to build something impressive) there was a rumor that yard space in Finland may come available due to a cancelled order but I have heard very little about this option , from an accounting point of view with ICG's corporate structure a newbuild suits them far better than second-hand tonnage no matter how much better the second-hand is as a newbuild can have its full value depreciated over the vessels service life and increases the company's overall book value (very important when your shares are publicly traded).While there is some sense in what you say, the fact remains that the last 2 acquisitions for the ferry division (Oscar Wilde and Epsilon) have been second hand tonnage, with the latter on charter. Prior to that, the Normandy was also second (third) hand. Neither the Pembroke or France route are (in my view, as well as others) lucrative enough to justify the outlay for new tonnage, and in the case of Dublin, there is a ship (Isle of Inishmore) which is purpose built for the route already in the group, and which is too big for her current route. The logical next step would be to replace Epsilon with something more passenger orientated to see if the demand is there, before investing in any new build.
There is strong speculation that something will be purchased very soon.
Irish Ferries update:
20th July at 16.40 hours.
The MV Isle of Inishmore is expected to arrive in Rosslare this evening at 19.10 hours.
The vessel is expected to sail from Rosslare this evening at 20.45 hours.
Only realised today that it returns to Rosslare having unloaded in Dublin, always assumed it called on the way to Dublin, the Visentini's must run on fresh air to make that trip pay for itself!They near enough do compared to many vessels!
It could be a while before Superfast ferries begin their Florida - Cuba service,Around 30,000 a year already do for the sole purpose of tourism, despite it being illegal. Additionally some 600,000 mostly Cuban-Americans also visit Cuba every year using private charter flights by exploiting a well known loophole. The ferry link is more important from a cargo point of view at present anyway, with it now being possible for certain goods to be transported between the two countries as they are no longer covered by the trade embargo. Much of the hold up with ferry licences appears to be on the Cuban side, however Baja ferries, Balaeria, and Superfast (among others) now all have licences issued by the U.S. However, most of the restrictions on the Cuba side relating to Cubans visiting the US have now gone. Politically, things are moving very fast - the opening of a U.S. Embassy in Cuba in particular is going to be a huge step, and unthinkable not so long ago. Jet Blue also recently opened the first scheduled air service to Cuba from The U.S. recently.
Both John Kerry and his cuban counterpart have indicated it could be a while before us citizens can travel to Cuba.
The success of the Italian yard over recent years must show European bases can be competitive, if not for price then at least for quality. However, can we write off a British or Irish concern being invited to tender?Almost certainly. Much of the capability and skills (not to mention expertise) in building large passenger ships has now gone, or is outdated. In fact, much of the expertise in building any sort of large ship has gone. BAE Systems hangs on in the UK, thanks to government contracts. There is a handful of yards that would even have the facilities (such as a building dock of adequate size), and it would cost as small fortune just to get them up to being capable of such a project, which would of course put up the price of the finished ship hugely. I can't see any commercial operator being prepared to put up the cash, especially given that such a yard would have no track record either.
Nothing new to report in half year results operationally except improved numbers and steady as she goes,
They are extreamly happy with the Epsilon and appear to be concentrating on dept reduction within the group at this time.
I guess when they are ready to take things to the next stage they will make an announcement.
Any indications as to how much extra traffic the Swift had picked up in the absence of Explorer?
Any indications as to how much extra traffic the Swift had picked up in the absence of Explorer?
Irish Ferries have a delay in publicly publishing passenger stats but indications are that although far from all of the Dun Laoghaire passenger trade has transferred to the Dublin route, Stena's net loss is a no brainer compared to the savings from not operating the HSS and operating an additional port. Getting rid of the HSS is clearly the no-brainer it looked.
Any indications as to how much extra traffic the Swift had picked up in the absence of Explorer?
Irish Ferries have a delay in publicly publishing passenger stats but indications are that although far from all of the Dun Laoghaire passenger trade has transferred to the Dublin route, Stena's net loss is a no brainer compared to the savings from not operating the HSS and operating an additional port. Getting rid of the HSS is clearly the no-brainer it looked.
This is off topic a bit but just in reply to PaddyL. The reasons why HSS Explorer was withdrawn are clear and obvious (although obviously sad). The reasons she wasn't replaced a few years ago and Stena left Dun Laoghaire and surrendered that share to IF and the airlines are a seperate matter. More to it than cashflow & never forget the importance of market share in a competitive marketplace and nobody is more than surprised than ICG Plc at being given this share gift.
Pete
Pete
Friday 16:30 Swift only half way across Irish Sea, a bit windy out.Yes, I think I posted somewhere else that the 14:30 seemed to be available yesterday. Odd, perhaps some gremlins in the booking system.
Saturday 24/10/15 20:55 Ulyssess sailing delayed until 23:30 for technical reason?
Anyone got infor on this?
On my last post I mentioned that I tried to book the14:30 Swift for the 1st Nov (sail/rail) both the web and a call to reservations said it was full. I then booked Stena for the same trip, but looking at IF site today it now has availability for the same date.
Regarding the seasonal timetable, I would have thought it would have made more sense to continue the practice of moving IoI north to operate against Adventurer and SFX. Has there been a shortage of vehicle deck space on the southern corridor?
Oscar cancelled too many times over the last few years, not worth swapping Inishmore out I would think.
On my last post I mentioned that I tried to book the14:30 Swift for the 1st Nov (sail/rail) both the web and a call to reservations said it was full. I then booked Stena for the same trip, but looking at IF site today it now has availability for the same date.
Status Update for Rosslare / Pembroke route
17th November at 21.50 hours.
Due to current adverse weather conditions at sea, sailings on this route have been disrupted.
The MV isle of Inishmore arrived in Rosslare this evening at 21.45 hours.
The 20.45 hours sailing from Rosslare is currently expected to sail at approximately 01.00 hours.
Latest check-in time is 22.30 hours.
The following sailings have been cancelled:-
Rosslare/Pembroke Wednesday 18th November at 08.45 hours &
Pembroke/Rosslare Wednesday 18th November at 14.45 hours.
Irish Ferries apologise for any inconvenience caused by these delays due to circumstances beyond our control.
For further information please contact Irish Ferries as follows:-
Pembroke Port Office 08717 300 500
Calls cost 13p per minute plus network extras
UK Central Reservations Office 08717 300 400
Calls cost 13p per minute plus network extras
Irish Central Reservations Office 0818 300 400
Rosslare Port Office 053 9133158
Unfortunately Irish Ferries new site is fraudulently claiming Jonathan Swift is the only Fast Craft on the Irish Sea.They've been peddling that line for a while. The ICG website still reckons Ulysses is the worlds largest car ferry as well funnily enough, because we all know passengers care about the size of vehicle decks more than anything else ::) ;). However, the current wording I see is:
Maybe at the moment, but from March 2016 Manannan will be back in service.
"Jonathan Swift" is the only Fast Ferry on the Irish Sea route taking you across in just 1 hour 49 mins!which isn't quite the same. However, I did see adverts online before without the word route in them.
Unfortunately Irish Ferries new site is fraudulently claiming Jonathan Swift is the only Fast Craft on the Irish Sea.
Maybe at the moment, but from March 2016 Manannan will be back in service.
“Due to adverse weather conditions at sea, sailings on this route have been disrupted.Tomorrow’s (Saturday) 08:45 and 14:45 Rosslare to Pembroke sailings have been cancelled.
The MV Isle of Inishmore is expected to arrive in Rosslare tonight at 22.00 hours.
Tonight’s 20.45 hours sailing from Rosslare is expected to sail at approximately 23.45 hours.”
Status Update for Rosslare / Pembroke route
4th December at 22.30 hours.
Due to adverse weather conditions at sea, sailings on this route have been disrupted.
The MV Isle of Inishmore arrived in Rosslare tonight at 22.30 hours.
Tonight's 20.45 hours sailing from Rosslare is expected to sail at approximately 00.30 hours.
Check-in time is 22.45 hours.
Due to adverse weather, the following sailings have been cancelled:-
Rosslare to Pembroke Saturday December 5th at 08.45 hours
Pembroke to Rosslare Saturday December 6th at 14.45 hours.
5th December at 16.15 hours.
Due to adverse weather conditions at sea, sailings on this route have been disrupted.
The MV Isle of Inishmore sailed from Pembroke at 09.20hrs and is expected to arrive in Rosslare at 17.15 hours approx.
Due to adverse weather, the following sailings have been cancelled:-
Rosslare to Pembroke Saturday December 5th at 08.45 hours
Pembroke to Rosslare Saturday December 5th at 14.45 hours.
Rosslare to Pembroke Saturday December 5th at 20.45 hours
Pembroke to Rosslare Sunday December 6th at 02.45 hours.
Irish Ferries regret any inconvenience caused.
From as close to the horses mouth as it gets it looks like Epsilon is to be returned when it's charter ends later this year. She may be replaced by another charter ship in the relatively short term while a more permanent Ro/Pax solution is found.
There are no plans to stop Fast Ferry operations by IF - Swift (even with its cancellations in Winter!) is a profitable product for IF which they have no intention of sacrificing. There has been ongoing talk of getting a younger, larger fastcraft but from the engineering side at least, there is no appetite for this given how mechanically reliable she is.
Both operators on the corridor are concerned about the impact that a potential 3rd operator might have so are very anxious to have/hold for now.
Isle of Inishmore taking up Ulysses rota from the 02.40 tomorrow morning with OW going back south and Ulysses off for a bit of TLC.
I really do not believe that there is any need for a ship the size Inishmore to partner Ulysses on the Dublin route at present. The Swift will be around for some time to come, numbers are always good on her and I don't think she is as thirsty as some seem to think.
Epsilon is due to be returned to her owners, Cartour, in October, Cartour and TTT Lines have joined forces to form New TTT Lines, two of their ships MV Partenope (Napoles) and the MV Trinacria (Sicilia) are due to be returned to Sten Ro Ro so it would make sense for them to get their own ship back rather than charter another.
From as close to the horses mouth as it gets it looks like Epsilon is to be returned when it's charter ends later this year. She may be replaced by another charter ship in the relatively short term while a more permanent Ro/Pax solution is found.
There are no plans to stop Fast Ferry operations by IF - Swift (even with its cancellations in Winter!) is a profitable product for IF which they have no intention of sacrificing. There has been ongoing talk of getting a younger, larger fastcraft but from the engineering side at least, there is no appetite for this given how mechanically reliable she is.
Both operators on the corridor are concerned about the impact that a potential 3rd operator might have so are very anxious to have/hold for now.
We already have a third operator - P&O Ferries, who have beefed up the Liverpool to Dublin service with the deployment of European Endeavour, as the third ship. P&O have three vessels which total 6200 lane metres per day from each port. All three vessels are operating to capacity, so I wouldn't be surprised if P&O doesn't turn out to be the next operator to deploy another vessel. It would be an ideal opportunity for them to make up lot ground, considering the situation at Larne.
If numbers kept falling at Larne, they could always move European Highlander / European Causeway to Dublin. Install a few extra cabins, possibly through lengthening the vessel using the additional space on the car-deck for more trailers, and on the additional space on the passenger decks for cabins.
Irish Ferries have options as-well. They could swing a deal with a Greek / Mediterranean operator and get something a bit more passenger friendly for the Dublin to Holyhead run in lieu of Epsilon.
Its interesting alright. I would never rule out a P&O Ferries - Irish Ferries merger. I don't know what the competition authorities would do, probably block it. However it would give both operators access to routes in both in the North and South, and through 'landbridge' Irish Ferries would have access to P&O North Sea, and P&O Short Sea. Additionally P&O would have access to Irish Ferries Ireland to France operations. - It would be an interesting alliance, certainly strengthen both companies. As in the airline industry you have Skyteam, and Oneworld. Could this model be employed in the ferry sector?
I understand Swift and IOI are going to Birkenhead for their Dry Docking this year.
There appears to be little going on in terms of future fleet movement due to Christmas and New Year, however dont be surprised if another ferry with plenty of cabin accomodation and freight capacity shows up before the summer. Remember France hosts the European Championships and there are two irish teams playing in them for the first time and a lot of people wanting to bring there cars and minivans to France.
The time table shows Epsilon going back to its owners in Mid November 2016.
The time table shows Epsilon going back to its owners in Mid November 2016.
Mmm, Wonder what Nordica would look like in IF Colours?
(Not that I'm really being serious, but could it be a possibility)?
Mmm, Wonder what Nordica would look like in IF Colours?Anything is possible with photoshop ;D
(Not that I'm really being serious, but could it be a possibility)?
the amount of unaccompagnied freight seems to be growing significantly at HolyheadI'd say definitely.
is there now a market for ro/ro ship that can take 12 driver accopagnied
is that the next step for somebody
I cant see Superfast X staying forever on the route. Another Stena Adventurer would be a better option. I wonder how realistically Stena or Irish Ferries add a third ro-pax. Berthing and turnarounds may cause issues.Stena Scandinavica?
the amount of unaccompagnied freight seems to be growing significantly at HolyheadMaybe Stena Nordica....
is there now a market for ro/ro ship that can take 12 driver accopagnied
is that the next step for somebody
Possibly, but i'd suggest a more efficient 12 driver freighter such as those operated by Seatruck is more likely. If nothing else, it would clear space on the decks for accompanied traffic on the main ships which leave when drivers/hauliers need.the amount of unaccompagnied freight seems to be growing significantly at HolyheadMaybe Stena Nordica....
is there now a market for ro/ro ship that can take 12 driver accopagnied
is that the next step for somebody
If they hadn't ripped Terminal 4 apart at Holyhead a Ro-Ro could have slotted in brilliantly. Having said that, Dublin could be a problem.But explorer's crossing time in her heyday was half that of he current ships. Who wants to spend 7-8 hours of a daytrip to Dublin on a ferry when they can get on a plane for an hour or just take the swift?
To berth a third ship otherwise, they would have to adjust SFX's sailing times a little.
I would have thought a Ro-Pax would have been more useful. Having the extra run could bring back the day-trippers in the summer months. Don't forget that Stena Explorer shifted a lot of people in her hay-day.
Which brings us back to Stena Nordica, and this is the wrong thread anyway.
Not me!If they hadn't ripped Terminal 4 apart at Holyhead a Ro-Ro could have slotted in brilliantly. Having said that, Dublin could be a problem.But explorer's crossing time in her heyday was half that of he current ships. Who wants to spend 7-8 hours of a daytrip to Dublin on a ferry when they can get on a plane for an hour or just take the swift?
To berth a third ship otherwise, they would have to adjust SFX's sailing times a little.
I would have thought a Ro-Pax would have been more useful. Having the extra run could bring back the day-trippers in the summer months. Don't forget that Stena Explorer shifted a lot of people in her hay-day.
Which brings us back to Stena Nordica, and this is the wrong thread anyway.
Not sure of the reason but it was a planned stopover, meanwhile weather havoc again Horizon stuck in Holyhead, Adventurer still in Dublin, Stena Lagan and Mersey still at their berths, OW going nowhere and the Swift is still at Camell Laird. A day for dry land for sure.
Oscar Wilde's dry docking has been rescheduled. Due to all the delays with Ulysses and Inishmore she has missed her slot in Falmouth. She is now going to go to H&W in Belfast where she is due to arrive tomorrow morning at 0800.Just seen this on the harbour booking site. Pleasant surprise!
Any ideas if and when the epsilon will be in dry dock and where.
Epsilon makes the news...Surely the 1000's of other people affected by the weather is more headline worthy than 100 people who are pretty safe (but probably uncomfortable). I guess those 100 people also have access to heating, electricity, food, etc as well.
http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/passengers-stranded-as-dublin-bound-ferry-forced-to-take-shelter-off-british-coast-719611.html
I cannot understand what made the masters of either Epsilon or Stena Flavia take their vessels out in such bad weather, the forecasts were accurate and warnings were in place well in advance. Maybe pressure from management was an issue? I'd say there are several very disgruntled passengers disembarking this morning along with passengers and freight drivers who were left stranded in Dublin and Holyhead because of her (Epsilon) missed crossings.As I've said elsewhere, staying at Cherbourg probably wasn't an option. Given Bretagne couldn't get in to Cherbourg either, I'd imagine conditions at Cherbourg were not safe for a large ship to be tied up in the harbour. Tying a large ship to a huge slab of concrete really isn't a good idea in those types of conditions. Getting out of the harbour and to shelter was probably the best option at the time. Whether the correct judgements were made or not none of us can really answer, as we don't know what data was available or what advice was given. It also wouldn't be the first time a weather report proved to be inaccurate.
I cannot understand what made the masters of either Epsilon or Stena Flavia take their vessels out in such bad weather, the forecasts were accurate and warnings were in place well in advance. Maybe pressure from management was an issue? I'd say there are several very disgruntled passengers disembarking this morning along with passengers and freight drivers who were left stranded in Dublin and Holyhead because of her (Epsilon) missed crossings.As I've said elsewhere, staying at Cherbourg probably wasn't an option. Given Bretagne couldn't get in to Cherbourg either, I'd imagine conditions at Cherbourg were not safe for a large ship to be tied up in the harbour. Tying a large ship to a huge slab of concrete really isn't a good idea in those types of conditions. Getting out of the harbour and to shelter was probably the best option at the time. Whether the correct judgements were made or not none of us can really answer, as we don't know what data was available or what advice was given. It also wouldn't be the first time a weather report proved to be inaccurate.
I cannot understand what made the masters of either Epsilon or Stena Flavia take their vessels out in such bad weather, the forecasts were accurate and warnings were in place well in advance. Maybe pressure from management was an issue? I'd say there are several very disgruntled passengers disembarking this morning along with passengers and freight drivers who were left stranded in Dublin and Holyhead because of her (Epsilon) missed crossings.As I've said elsewhere, staying at Cherbourg probably wasn't an option. Given Bretagne couldn't get in to Cherbourg either, I'd imagine conditions at Cherbourg were not safe for a large ship to be tied up in the harbour. Tying a large ship to a huge slab of concrete really isn't a good idea in those types of conditions. Getting out of the harbour and to shelter was probably the best option at the time. Whether the correct judgements were made or not none of us can really answer, as we don't know what data was available or what advice was given. It also wouldn't be the first time a weather report proved to be inaccurate.
The weather reports were not consistent and I think it is rather disingenuous for some armchair enthusiasts to cast aspersions on the judgement of the Masters of these two vessels. No Master would put his vessel in danger...comfort may be compromised if the customers require, as they would on the Sunday France - Ireland sailing but to suggest unprofessionalism is easy for keyboard warriors.
I asked the question which is just a question and in case there is any confusion read this BBC article mentioning the cancellations of channel services due to the storm
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-35516407
I ain't no warrior!
Exactly.I asked the question which is just a question and in case there is any confusion read this BBC article mentioning the cancellations of channel services due to the storm
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-35516407
I ain't no warrior!
Let's be clear.
Basically there was an accusation made that two Masters (specific real people) were unprofessional.
I don't know if you guys are Doctors, Lawyers, call centre workers, plumbers, salesmen, teachers, whatever - but how would you like your professional judgement to be questioned in public by people who aren't in your profession.
These guys are all professionals who make judgement calls based on the information they had, they would never deliberately put their ship in danger.
PaddyL you obviously have a difficulty understanding the difference between a question and an accusation, look them up free dictionary online
I asked the question which is just a question and in case there is any confusion read this BBC article mentioning the cancellations of channel services due to the storm
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-35516407
I ain't no warrior!
Here's some pics from the vehicle deck.
http://afloat.ie/port-news/port-and-shipping-news/item/31326-storm-damage-revealed-as-irish-ferries-ship-epsilon-docks-in-dublin-port
I asked the question which is just a question and in case there is any confusion read this BBC article mentioning the cancellations of channel services due to the storm
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-35516407
I ain't no warrior!
Let's be clear.
Basically there was an accusation made that two Masters (specific real people) were unprofessional.
I don't know if you guys are Doctors, Lawyers, call centre workers, plumbers, salesmen, teachers, whatever - but how would you like your professional judgement to be questioned in public by people who aren't in your profession.
These guys are all professionals who make judgement calls based on the information they had, they would never deliberately put their ship in danger.
I asked the question which is just a question and in case there is any confusion read this BBC article mentioning the cancellations of channel services due to the storm
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-35516407
I ain't no warrior!
Let's be clear.
Basically there was an accusation made that two Masters (specific real people) were unprofessional.
I don't know if you guys are Doctors, Lawyers, call centre workers, plumbers, salesmen, teachers, whatever - but how would you like your professional judgement to be questioned in public by people who aren't in your profession.
These guys are all professionals who make judgement calls based on the information they had, they would never deliberately put their ship in danger.
Having been the total mess on board the ships car deck how can you call the 2 masters of the ship professionals
They should at the very least be sacked immediately as put the ship in very great danger anyone with half a brain can see that
Totally disgraceful actions
Having been the total mess on board the ships car deck how can you call the 2 masters of the ship professionals
They should at the very least be sacked immediately as put the ship in very great danger anyone with half a brain can see that
Totally disgraceful actions
I don't want to speculate, but I am wondering how well secured the cargo was?
Having been the total mess on board the ships car deck how can you call the 2 masters of the ship professionals
They should at the very least be sacked immediately as put the ship in very great danger anyone with half a brain can see that
Totally disgraceful actions
MOD Warning: That's for ICG and the MCIB to decide after a full investigation, not anonymous forum members. Some of this is verging close to defamatory comments, if the thread continues to on that path, I will suspend users accounts. The forums have always been somewhere people have been able to discuss issues, but within reason. Keep in mind Irish Ferries staff and crews read the boards also.
I too have noted the Oscar Wilde in the huge building dock at Harland and Wolff, Belfast. Isn't it great to see the yard getting plenty of work? Does anyone know when she is leaving?
Oscar Wilde was originally due to dry dock Falmouth but had to provide Rosslare Pembroke route cover for longer than expected so lost her slot at Falmouth due to Ulysses tragic lift incident in Falmouth which saw Ulysses remain in dry dock for a substantial longer period meaning the Inishmore had to remain on Holyhead service longer which in turn saw Oscar Wilde remain on Rosslare Pembroke until Isle of Inshmore arrived back from its own Holyhead cover duties and its dry docking later than planned. Inishmore is the vessel that had the shortest dry dock.
Ulysses Falmouth
Inishmore & Swift Birkenhead
Oscar Wilde H&W Belfast.
Epsilon think goes for a refit two weeks in spring at some point.
All of Oscar Wilde's sailings up until February 28th are cancelled - presumably she will sail direct to Cherbourg from Belfast to pick up the schedule from Cherbourg on March 1st.Don't see why. Sure she has to pass both Dublin and Rosslare on the way!
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All of Oscar Wilde's sailings up until February 28th are cancelled - presumably she will sail direct to Cherbourg from Belfast to pick up the schedule from Cherbourg on March 1st.Don't see why. Sure she has to pass both Dublin and Rosslare on the way!
I heard from a friend in Belfast harbour that Oscar Wilde is leaving today.
Someone has posted on the 'Ferries and Ships of the Irish Sea & Beyond' Facebook group, that the Jonathan Swift will be leaving Irish Ferries in September. She will apparently be going to Balleria in Ibiza on a full time charter.
Does anybody know if this is true?
Someone has posted on the 'Ferries and Ships of the Irish Sea & Beyond' Facebook group, that the Jonathan Swift will be leaving Irish Ferries in September. She will apparently be going to Balleria in Ibiza on a full time charter.
Does anybody know if this is true?
Sounds like a load of b***ocks to me. One of the reasons I don't much bother with that group is the amount of absolute c**p that gets posted on it!Someone has posted on the 'Ferries and Ships of the Irish Sea & Beyond' Facebook group, that the Jonathan Swift will be leaving Irish Ferries in September. She will apparently be going to Balleria in Ibiza on a full time charter.
Does anybody know if this is true?
Apparently Swift and Epsilon to be replaced by former Superfast VI the Bimini Superfast in Sept according to that Facebook thread, as a PLC would be amazed at IF letting this info sneak out ahead of any announcement, while it us possible would have thought unlikely As Superfast VI is a long distance ferry with way too many Berths and huge passenger capacity for the central corridor. Also would be replacing a fuel miser in the Epsilon with a fuel hungry Superfast.
Ulysses still stuck in Dublin 11.52 am tech problems shore side I heard
Ulysses still stuck in Dublin 11.52 am tech problems shore side I heard
Someone has posted on the 'Ferries and Ships of the Irish Sea & Beyond' Facebook group, that the Jonathan Swift will be leaving Irish Ferries in September. She will apparently be going to Balleria in Ibiza on a full time charter.
Does anybody know if this is true?
Apparently Swift and Epsilon to be replaced by former Superfast VI the Bimini Superfast in Sept according to that Facebook thread, as a PLC would be amazed at IF letting this info sneak out ahead of any announcement, while it us possible would have thought unlikely As Superfast VI is a long distance ferry with way too many Berths and huge passenger capacity for the central corridor. Also would be replacing a fuel miser in the Epsilon with a fuel hungry Superfast.
Wow , dont think I can recall Ulysses ever missing a sailing for any reason.
Wow , dont think I can recall Ulysses ever missing a sailing for any reason.
My recollection is that even IF will only claim it has never missed a sailing due to weather.
And even then, it's not to say it hasn't been very behind schedule.
Someone has posted on the 'Ferries and Ships of the Irish Sea & Beyond' Facebook group, that the Jonathan Swift will be leaving Irish Ferries in September. She will apparently be going to Balleria in Ibiza on a full time charter.
Does anybody know if this is true?
Apparently Swift and Epsilon to be replaced by former Superfast VI the Bimini Superfast in Sept according to that Facebook thread, as a PLC would be amazed at IF letting this info sneak out ahead of any announcement, while it us possible would have thought unlikely As Superfast VI is a long distance ferry with way too many Berths and huge passenger capacity for the central corridor. Also would be replacing a fuel miser in the Epsilon with a fuel hungry Superfast.
My understanding was that Gotland might replace epsilon year round and Swift in Winter on Dublin Holyhead. She has the capacity and the speed to perform the service well when she is displaced by a new build at destination Gotland.What, the whole island??? Bit extreme don't you think!!!!
irish ferries really not having much luck. I see Tuesdays sailing Ex cherbourg also cancelled. Seems time for better more reliable tonnage particular on continental routes.I imagine ICG have some sort of replacement strategy already. To be fair, Oscar isn't all that unreliable. Epsilon has been very unlucky to say the least!
Any idea what the problem is with Oscar?
irish ferries really not having much luck. I see Tuesdays sailing Ex cherbourg also cancelled. Seems time for better more reliable tonnage particular on continental routes.I imagine ICG have some sort of replacement strategy already. To be fair, Oscar isn't all that unreliable. Epsilon has been very unlucky to say the least!
Any idea what the problem is with Oscar?
I thought Bimini SUperfast was heading off to Grimaldi, according to ship2shore.
It appears (on FB) that some passengers who were due to travel on OW from Cherbourg on Sunday were given no notification of the cancellation andwere left to fend for themselves.
I thought Bimini SUperfast was heading off to Grimaldi, according to ship2shore.You'd think after de Epsilon disaster they'd be trying extra hard not to piss off people. How hard is it to tell people that de boat is broken? Beginning to think ferry companies don't care about passengers any more. I bet they told the trucks!
It appears (on FB) that some passengers who were due to travel on OW from Cherbourg on Sunday were given no notification of the cancellation andwere left to fend for themselves.
Hi Guys,
I've just joined to you here, because I am wondering what happened with Oscar Wilde, because she has been cancelled again.
Any news? I've booked a ticked and a premium cabin for my family on OW by 18th March, so I'd really like to know should I start to find another possibility to get France....or?
Thanks,
Tom
Hi Guys,
I've just joined to you here, because I am wondering what happened with Oscar Wilde, because she has been cancelled again.
Any news? I've booked a ticked and a premium cabin for my family on OW by 18th March, so I'd really like to know should I start to find another possibility to get France....or?
Thanks,
Tom
Would advise you to contact Irish Ferries in relation to this, would be unlikely for the Oscar to still be off service by the 18th but you never know.
Drive shaft problems from what I hear.She seemed to make her way to Falmouth at good speed, surely driveshaft problems would mean she'd be taking it easy? There was talk on Facebook a driveshaft issue is what detained her in Belfast. Someone also said the latest problem was related to steering - but I guess that could be them getting confused with Epsilon's recent trouble as well.
I would have thought so also , not confirmed about the drive shaft , clearly it had not failed but was serious enough to head for the nearest drydock.Drive shaft problems from what I hear.She seemed to make her way to Falmouth at good speed, surely driveshaft problems would mean she'd be taking it easy?
Quite possibly very busy with Passenger and freight as she has had the Southern corridor to herself for the last month Stena are renting space currently on the route as Fishguard is closed with the Europe's dry docking which had been further delayed. Stena unlike Irish Ferries dont cover the route very often during dry docking with their own vessel so the traffic on the route moves to the Inishmore.To be fair, I find this doubtful. Stena don't block book that much space to be honest, and its not THAT busy a route (particularly at this time of year) in any case.
Has anyone got any real information as to exactly what caused OW to dry dock?
Epsilon off service for a couple of weeks from 11th April, but not covered according to the IF web booking engine.Thats odd , I wonder what prompted that.
If they bedded the Swift at Holyhead for the duration, they could run an extra trip morning (HLY>DUB) and evening (DUB>HLY) which would be broadly on Epsilons sailing times and should shift a few passengers and cars. Have to pay Stena more port costs though.Epsilon' passenger capacity is tiny anyway. If dey needed that much capacity den Swift would already be on that timetable?
Alternatively, 4 full round trips for her. I think its been done before, Just hope the weather is good.
If I recall correctly, Epsilon was brought in to provide an alternative to (at the time) Stena Nordica's schedule, which by all accounts was very popular and frequently full. However, if Superfast X capacity is only similar to the Nordica, then would she have capacity to charter space out? Even if she had, Stena could refuse an arrangement knowing that the clients wishing to travel around those sailing times could book directly onto the Superfast anyway. Why share the profits?Presumably IF are paying Stena a rate which makes it worth their while.
Irish Ferries Lease on Epsilon finishes in November in its present form, Maybe Irish Ferries have decided to purchase her and the drydocking is pre purchase requirement.A look on the RINA website indicates Epsilon is due a lot of survey/certification work next month. No idea what most of it means though. I also wonder could a more permanent fix to her recent troubles be getting applied? Word is that if ICG do want to take her on either an extended charter or purchase that it is not a decision that is in their hands.
Otherwise she would be drydocked in November prior to return to Cartour.
The Stena Superfast X sailings attract good loads.Aye, even better loads in them two weeks!
A few days ago, did not know position so fleet that has Baleària, with ferries moored as the "Poet" and waiting for the incorporation of the Ship "Dénia Ciutat Creative" we are now seeing, with the latest opening of new routes Baleària, of the need to incorporate new units.
On May 31, is scheduled the first test of the new route between Valencia and Mostaganem in Algeria and everything looks to be the "Bahama Mama" in charge of covering the new service, the "Poet" is a daytime ferry and uncomfortable when journeys exceed four hours, perhaps another possibility for this line could be the "Nissos Chios"
To all this we must add the intention by Baleària, settling in Almeria, where so far, Trasmediterránea, has operated very quietly, which has the hours counted if Baleària finally comes to compete on the route Nador, which for the moment, there is no confirmation by the Dianense shipping company, like the Naviera Armas Canaria, which itself has already build in the Almeria port and also the possibility of the Italian Grandi Navi Veloci (GNV).
The Almeria-Nador route is one that has greater acceptance and movement of passenger and cargo lines from the mainland north of South Africa and the cake will have many more servings.
Baleària boat intended that this new option Almeria to Nador ?, if you skip the "Bahama" Strait for the Valencia-Mostaganem, the "Poet" It sure is relieved, but which reinforces the "Passio" during the OPE.
The "Creative Dénia Ciutat" "ex-Scandola" Ports IB is requested to perform primarily the direct route Barcelona-Ciutadella, with a stopover in Alcudia, for the summer, then in theory Barcelona Ibiza.
Besides all this, I am clear that the "Avemar Dos" will leave the Caribbean, probably once the OPE and where I think Baleària you may already have the substitute searched for September, which is none other than the well Austal "Jonathan Swift "but I have not confirmed it.
Interesting, very interesting the summer season is presented with new openings of several routes by Baleària, Weapons and to the Italian (CNG) can be encouraged to undertake new projects, the strange remains that in Baleares not between a third operator, this if it is rare, with the brutal provisions that exist for this year.
http://ferrybalear.blogspot.co.uk
One rumour before Christmas was that swift had been sold and IF had sourced a large ferry capable of travelling to Holyhead in 2 hours 30 minutes.That ship is widely believed to be the MV Gotland , they supposedly have first refusal on MV Visby also , none of this is confirmed but seems to be turning up a lot on several channels now.
After that there was no further mention of it.
Rederi AB Gotland's new builds won't be completed until 2017/8 though which would leave them with a bit of a problem surely. 1600lm also seems a bit small, especially by modern standards and compared to Epsilon. Never mind when you add on Swifts vehicle capacity. Regarding the operating speed of the Gotland vessel, Stena could easily counter that move by running Stena Superfast X at 27/28kts meaning neither operator is going to gain any advantage (but both will have their costs increase greatly). NWe'll see.One rumour before Christmas was that swift had been sold and IF had sourced a large ferry capable of travelling to Holyhead in 2 hours 30 minutes.That ship is widely believed to be the MV Gotland , they supposedly have first refusal on MV Visby also , none of this is confirmed but seems to be turning up a lot on several channels now.
After that there was no further mention of it.
I could see one of the Gotland pair being used on Rosslare - Pembroke with Isle of Innishmore moving north to DublinThat would make more sense to me as well - could her length pose a problem at Pembroke though?
I hope this link works:Thanks and well spotted the only thing I had come across was a report from Goodbody stockbrokers which had suggesssted that the cost of a new build could be recovered (at current trading volumes) in 2-3 years so that would of seemed to be the obvious choice.
https://gallery.mailchimp.com/5da582e7a43569a70ffcb0663/files/fixrep1604.pdf
Epsilon has been out of action for days now and this afternoon she moved off berth and has been at anchor just off Dun Laoghaire (quadrant 1) all day. Has any member got any idea whats up with her?
Epsilon must of being running empty she left Holyhead around 7.00 am and has not yet berthed in Dublin she is circling the bay,Dublin to Cherbourg cancelled, Epsilon becoming a bit of a nightmare.She is now being towed into the harbour by port tugboat Beaufort. Brings back memories of the B+I.
I hope this link works:Thanks and well spotted the only thing I had come across was a report from Goodbody stockbrokers which had suggesssted that the cost of a new build could be recovered (at current trading volumes) in 2-3 years so that would of seemed to be the obvious choice.
https://gallery.mailchimp.com/5da582e7a43569a70ffcb0663/files/fixrep1604.pdf
In any case they seem to be keeping the charter extension fairly quiet with no announcement to the press or travel trade.
https://www.goodbody.ie/pdf/Morning_Wrap_29_Apr_2016.pdf
Makes total sense to me. Such a move might also prolong the lifespan of Swift on the Irish Sea.I hope this link works:Thanks and well spotted the only thing I had come across was a report from Goodbody stockbrokers which had suggesssted that the cost of a new build could be recovered (at current trading volumes) in 2-3 years so that would of seemed to be the obvious choice.
https://gallery.mailchimp.com/5da582e7a43569a70ffcb0663/files/fixrep1604.pdf
In any case they seem to be keeping the charter extension fairly quiet with no announcement to the press or travel trade.
https://www.goodbody.ie/pdf/Morning_Wrap_29_Apr_2016.pdf
In a briefing note this morning, Goodbody analyst Jack Diskin said the new ferry would give the company scope to park its HSC Jonathan Swift fast ferry during the slow season and to replace the chartered MV Epsilon.
He said it would also give the company the ability to expand its shipping volumes beyond 2020, when it was expected current capacity would be tested.
rish Continental Group PLC takes delivery "Westpac Express".http://www.maatsuyker.com/#!Irish-Continental-Group-PLC-takes-delivery-Westpac-Express/c1wkp/5768baa70cf240932ed181d9
June 21, 2016
|
Irish Continental Group
Irish Continental Group PLC ("ICG") is pleased to announce that, further to the announcement issued on 15 April 2016, it took delivery of the High Speed Craft "Westpac Express" from BALI Westpac 2006, LLC on 1 June 2016.
The Vessel has been onward delivered by ICG to Sealift LLC who has in turn chartered the Vessel to Military Sealift Command, a U.S government organisation. The charter is subject to usual US government procurement regulations and is fixed for a firm 4 month period to 30 September, with charterer's options to extend the charter period to a maximum of 59 months in total.
The vessel was built in 2001 by Austal Ships, Australia. It has a gross tonnage of 8,403 tonne, passenger capacity of 900 and a car carrying capacity of 182 units.
Conor, I doubt Westpac Express will ever see service for Irish Ferries. For one thing she is 15 years old and would only have to be replaced after a short time. Jonathan Swift is on borrowed time and will become seasonal from September. However I expect Swift to be chartered out to the med later this year.The experts at Goodbodystockbrokers think she may well be used in Dublin at some stage for the following reaon,
I'd hardly call Goodbodystockbrokers experts in the ferry industry. The clue is in their name - they are stock brokers!Conor, I doubt Westpac Express will ever see service for Irish Ferries. For one thing she is 15 years old and would only have to be replaced after a short time. Jonathan Swift is on borrowed time and will become seasonal from September. However I expect Swift to be chartered out to the med later this year.The experts at Goodbodystockbrokers think she may well be used in Dublin at some stage for the following reaon,
......."This makes the vessel larger and younger than the Jonathan Swift, the high speed craft
which ICG currently operates on its own network. Furthermore, the Westpac Express has
approximately two thirds of the machine running hours of the Jonathan Swift, which is the
key factor when determining the remaining useful life of fastcraft vessels."#
There has been no talk of Swift going anywhere at the moment as she is still attracting good loads.
I used the Swift last Sunday as a foot passenger on the 5.15pm sailing from Holyhead and counted around 200 foot passengers getting off the 2.30pm from Dublin and about 100 boarding the 5.15pm. The ferry didn't leave Holyhead until around 5.50pm and the captain put this down to good loads during the day.
The HSS could start loading up new cars whilst the departing vehicles were still leaving, and turnaround in about 35 mins. Even with its smaller loads, I don't think the Swift shares that luxury.
I'll be surprised if the Swift is going seasonal, as has been suggested above, from that anecdotal evidence.
Leonora Christina will be available in September 2018 when the franchise it operates under expires. she would be more ideal replacement for Swift being bigger and more able to handle irish sea at higher wave heights.There have been suggestions that Mols may take Leonora Christina on when they take over the tender due to an issue with foot passenger space on their new buildings. Time will tell, but Leonora Christina may not be as available as was thought. Of course, the price she is available for and operating costs will play a big factor, but with Mols promising to reduce ticket prices they may well need the extra space.
I would expect Westpack Express to go into service with irish Navy as a utility vessel when she finishes her charter to the US goverment.
Steven regarding Goodbody's they were engaged by ICG to advise on the purchase of Westpac Express ( and the container vessels) so I would be sure that they have the necessary expertise available to them.
Steven regarding Goodbody's they were engaged by ICG to advise on the purchase of Westpac Express ( and the container vessels) so I would be sure that they have the necessary expertise available to them.
Not so much that they themselves have the expertise but they most certainly engage the services of those who do. I know of a guy who regularly acts on behalf of institutional investors.
According to Irish Ferries Press Release yesterday, Epsilon has had her lease extended for 24 months to Nov 2018.We've known for a while that Epsilon was now with IF until Nov 2018 tbh. Theres every possibility (especially given the short build time) that the new vessel will arrive late, though FSG are pretty prompt usually. In any case it, is prudent to have backup to cover for any technical issues on introduction. There may well be scope to terminate the agreement for Epsilon early for all any of us know.
With the new ferry due to arrive in May 2018 this raises the question of further route or frequency expansion within the Irish Ferries Network,
I suspect Epsilon will operate an expanded Dublin / Rosslare - Cherbourg Frequency with the occasional visit to Holyhead between Dublin - Cherbourg sailings.
I am looking forward to seeing the interior spec , keep in mind this is the first time ICG have built a cruise ferry , their ropax designs set standards when introduced so I am very curious to see what their concept for a cruise ferry is.
I doubt Epsilon will go back early. Oscar Wilde struggles to take freight during the summer due to high passenger and car numbers on Cherbourg and Rosscoff Routes. I would see Epsilon running freight into cherbourg and allowing Oscar Wilde to spend more time running to Rosscoff. The New Ferry could be very successful on France route at weekends and may end up being permanently on continental routes when the second new build comes on line.Personally I think the option will be Oscar's long term replacement. The experience of operating the new build on the weekly France rotation could be very useful in tweaking the design for the longer route. I wonder how quickly FSG could crank out a repeat given the quick build time of the initial vessel from scratch!
Hi Guys,
Just wondering if anybody knows whether or not Isle Of Inishmore is having technical difficulties at the moment? Has been running around 30 - 40 minutes late per sailing over the last couple of days and the delay has reached about an hour today...weather seems to be ok?
thanks,
Andy
Wednesday 28th sept at 6.17
Ulysses badly delayed still in Holyhead believe upper ramp collapsed
Wednesday 28th sept at 6.17
Ulysses badly delayed still in Holyhead believe upper ramp collapsed
Ulysses only left HH at about 0930 Epsilon is currently at Stena berth
Any idea why Swift hasn't sailed the weather isn't that poor?
Epsilon has been taken out of service on the Holyhead - Dublin route since her arrival over the Christmas / New year once one of the other vessels in the fleet Oscar this year arrives onto the route. She normally comes back onto the route during dry docking of Ulysses.
Epsilon has been taken out of service on the Holyhead - Dublin route since her arrival over the Christmas / New year once one of the other vessels in the fleet Oscar this year arrives onto the route. She normally comes back onto the route during dry docking of Ulysses.
No she is not down to return to the route at all next year.
Yes, lets see what October brings. It wouldn't be the first time the vessel which turns up to operate a service wasn't the one on the booking engine after all!!!Epsilon has been taken out of service on the Holyhead - Dublin route since her arrival over the Christmas / New year once one of the other vessels in the fleet Oscar this year arrives onto the route. She normally comes back onto the route during dry docking of Ulysses.
No she is not down to return to the route at all next year.
Let's see what October brings. They are not going to keep a ship & crew for one round trip to France a week.
Maybe dey will put her to France all weekEpsilon has been taken out of service on the Holyhead - Dublin route since her arrival over the Christmas / New year once one of the other vessels in the fleet Oscar this year arrives onto the route. She normally comes back onto the route during dry docking of Ulysses.
No she is not down to return to the route at all next year.
Let's see what October brings. They are not going to keep a ship & crew for one round trip to France a week.
?Maybe dey will put her to France all weekEpsilon has been taken out of service on the Holyhead - Dublin route since her arrival over the Christmas / New year once one of the other vessels in the fleet Oscar this year arrives onto the route. She normally comes back onto the route during dry docking of Ulysses.
No she is not down to return to the route at all next year.
Let's see what October brings. They are not going to keep a ship & crew for one round trip to France a week.
Epsilon heading for the shelter of Torbay this evening. That makes sense when a northwesterly is blowing hard. However both Stena Horizon [heading west towards Lands End] and Oscar Wilde [heading south about an hour and a half off the turn] are both braving the first storm of the autumn. Oscar is registering 33 knot winds and Windfinder is forecasting 4.2 metre waves for 10pm and 5.9 for 7am tomorrow morning. A good night to be on land.
Epsilon heading for the shelter of Torbay this evening. That makes sense when a northwesterly is blowing hard. However both Stena Horizon [heading west towards Lands End] and Oscar Wilde [heading south about an hour and a half off the turn] are both braving the first storm of the autumn. Oscar is registering 33 knot winds and Windfinder is forecasting 4.2 metre waves for 10pm and 5.9 for 7am tomorrow morning. A good night to be on land.
Anchored off Exmouth better to wait it out than get the bad press from the last storm she was caught out in.
You proceed through security and see a sign saying foot passengers and Annwyl arrow leading to stairs to what was the HSS terminal - so onviously I follow the sign to be shouted at "that's not the way".
Well why not take down the sign then??!!!!!
Then lead to a cold shed with white walls and dirty chairs. Prison waiting rooms are nicer. Quite simply not good enough.
You proceed through security and see a sign saying foot passengers and Annwyl arrow leading to stairs to what was the HSS terminal - so onviously I follow the sign to be shouted at "that's not the way".
Well why not take down the sign then??!!!!!
Then lead to a cold shed with white walls and dirty chairs. Prison waiting rooms are nicer. Quite simply not good enough.
Unless something has changed since I last passed through Holyhead in the Summer the HSS lounge upstairs is still in use.
Irish Ferries passengers always use the white room downstairs whereas the norm for Stena Line passengers is to head upstairs to wait and to be called to return downstairs (far side of lounge) when the shuttle bus is ready for boarding.
Sometimes (e.g. early hours when both companies are sailing close together) I've been asked after passing security whether I'm for Irish Ferries or Stena Line and directed accordingly.
Irish Ferries do have a building close to the berth which has a comfortable lounge and which I remember using a few years ago as a foot passenger but it seems it is rarely used these days for foot passengers anyway.
Can anyone explain why epsilon is not sailing at the moment? Thanks
Can anyone explain why epsilon is not sailing at the moment? Thanks
I don't the exact reason but the last couple of years it has been parked up most of the time over Christmas/New Year. it did 1 or 2 freight clearing sailings 1 year I remember. She returns to schedule on Tuesday 01.55 ex Dublin.
Inishmore returns from Birkenhead dry dock on 18/01/18 with 20.45 ex Rosslare.
Irish Ferries regrets to advise that due to adverse weather conditions on the Irish Sea, the 20:55hrs Ulysses sailing is cancelled.
https://www.irishferries.com/ie-en/sailing-updates/dublin-holyhead/
Don't see that very often
The withdrawal of the swift service is likely to lead to negative customer reaction. A lot of people use the service
as it is only two hours compared to 3.5 hour cruise ferry service.
Aer Lingus suffered the same reaction over taking out Shannon London Heathrouw operation to free up slots for Belfast in the past and had to reverse the decision.
I note Oscar Wilde will be kept in warm lay-up during the winter months unless a winter leasse is secured for her in Florida or Mediteranian.
The withdrawal of the swift service is likely to lead to negative customer reaction. A lot of people use the serviceIt’s not like der is a competing ferry for them to go on though. Like when Stena took off the HSS a lot of people will moan a bit then get on the normal ferry anyway
as it is only two hours compared to 3.5 hour cruise ferry service.
Aer Lingus suffered the same reaction over taking out Shannon London Heathrouw operation to free up slots for Belfast in the past and had to reverse the decision.
I note Oscar Wilde will be kept in warm lay-up during the winter months unless a winter leasse is secured for her in Florida or Mediteranian.
All,
Nothing official yet I Heard today from a reliable source the Jonathan Swift is Sold
IOI left Birkenhead at lunch time and has being doing some fancy circles in the mouth of the river mersey since then. Take a look at her AIS
Oscar heading North, just passed Curracloe, ais destination is Milford Haven, probably on way to Liverpool.
When the ships come out of liverpool drydock they have to wait a while while the bunders heat up before they can proceed on full power. IOI was in Dublin for Stocking prior to traveling to Rosslare overnight.
I’ve written a blog about the sale of Jonathan Swift. Please read it and tell me your thoughts? Thanks! https://liamfjournalist.wordpress.com/2018/01/30/a-swift-exit/
Now didn't they do well, they actually replaced the Swift with Westpac Express and it cost them nothing, in fact they have made money on the transaction, fair play Irish Ferries /ICG.
Looks Like Irish Ferries schedule on Dublin - Holyhead has colapsed with Ulysses out of action now three days.I'd have thought it unlikely that Inishmore would go North considering that Stena Europe goes to dry dock tomorrow night. If anything I'd have thought Ulysses would be sent to dry dock to sort the issue as its obviously not getting fixed very well by divers.
Epsilon appears to be operating Ulysses roster effectively handling freight before being drydocked next week. Her sailing to Cherbourg tomorrow is cancelled
Cars and passengers are being booked on stena
Swift is due back on Monday weather permitting and Oscar wild is due out of dry dock on Tuesday
No sign of Isle of Inishmore coming to the Dublin yet, but i would not be surprised if she heads to Holyhead tomorrow
if Ulysses is not repaired succesfully by tomorrow evening.
I forgot about stena EuropeOn that note, how long is Oscar in for? She's not on the schedule until Saturday.
It's an interesting challenge
Images of the Oscar Wilde leaving drydock on the link below. Click right for more great images.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/das_boot_160/39222053215/in/dateposted/
Ulysses still 2 hours, Inishmore Cancelled this morning, and Oscar Wilde doing a cruise of the Irish Sea. Epsilon is sailing even though Stena have cancelled.Ulysses seems to be having an issue with bow loading as shes been operating as a stern loader
The Ireland France schedule shows Epsilon as the sole ship for IF operating Dublin to Cherbourg from October- December.The option is for 1 year + 1 year rather than 2 years according to ICG themselves
Irish Ferries original charter of Epsilon ends in November 2018 but they do have an option to extend the charter for 2 years so if they are running Epsilon after that date you would have to assume that they intend to exercise the option to extend the charter.
Epsilons Charter will be extended until July 2020 when the 2nd new build arrives and possibly November 2020
Its possible Epsilon will be too small for Holyhead route in Summer 2019 if WB Yeats grows the business successfully.
The Ireland France schedule shows Epsilon as the sole ship for IF operating Dublin to Cherbourg from October- December.The option is for 1 year + 1 year rather than 2 years according to ICG themselves
Irish Ferries original charter of Epsilon ends in November 2018 but they do have an option to extend the charter for 2 years so if they are running Epsilon after that date you would have to assume that they intend to exercise the option to extend the charter.Epsilons Charter will be extended until July 2020 when the 2nd new build arrives and possibly November 2020
Its possible Epsilon will be too small for Holyhead route in Summer 2019 if WB Yeats grows the business successfully.
Where did you see this? Surely if the charter was extended they would have announced it in the results presentation. I would have thought given its a 1yr +1yr option they would of had to keep her until November rather than July anyway (perhaps not a bad idea anyway incase there is a technical issue). As for Epsilon being too small, what are they going to do when DUBLIN SWIFT moves on then with newbuild 2 effectively replacing her capacity as well as that of EPSILON?
The Ireland France schedule shows Epsilon as the sole ship for IF operating Dublin to Cherbourg from October- December.The option is for 1 year + 1 year rather than 2 years according to ICG themselves
Irish Ferries original charter of Epsilon ends in November 2018 but they do have an option to extend the charter for 2 years so if they are running Epsilon after that date you would have to assume that they intend to exercise the option to extend the charter.Epsilons Charter will be extended until July 2020 when the 2nd new build arrives and possibly November 2020
Its possible Epsilon will be too small for Holyhead route in Summer 2019 if WB Yeats grows the business successfully.
Where did you see this? Surely if the charter was extended they would have announced it in the results presentation. I would have thought given its a 1yr +1yr option they would of had to keep her until November rather than July anyway (perhaps not a bad idea anyway incase there is a technical issue). As for Epsilon being too small, what are they going to do when DUBLIN SWIFT moves on then with newbuild 2 effectively replacing her capacity as well as that of EPSILON?
This was stated on announcement of the order for the 2nd build on 2nd Jan 2018.
Shameless plug! W.B. YEATS is the second of the new-builds currently under construction (the first was the E-Flexer class) featured ion NI Ferry Site's New-build feature. New-build is basically a compilation of what is known so far about current new buildings for European ferry operators. If anyone is interested you can view the page here: https://www.niferry.co.uk/nb-wb-yeats/ (https://www.niferry.co.uk/nb-wb-yeats/)
"The cruise ferry is being built specifically for Irish Ferries Dublin - Holyhead services. It is expected to replace the schedule of the MV Ulysses, which in turn will replace the currently chartered vessel MV Epsilon in the fleet".Doesn’t say anything about a charter being extended until July 2020. It’s implied it will happen, but that’s not the same as confirming it has. There’s also the assumption that W.B. YEATS will be in service without any issues in July - the delivery date has been pushed back already a few times and she’s a first for the yard as well. For all we know there could be a plan to retain Epsilon and use her elsewhere or sub-charter her out
Thanks, it should have been published similar but I was to busy with the site rebuild to check it all before going live with it. I plan to do similar with the other new build. Strange there hasn’t been any engine supplier announcement yet!Shameless plug! W.B. YEATS is the second of the new-builds currently under construction (the first was the E-Flexer class) featured ion NI Ferry Site's New-build feature. New-build is basically a compilation of what is known so far about current new buildings for European ferry operators. If anyone is interested you can view the page here: https://www.niferry.co.uk/nb-wb-yeats/ (https://www.niferry.co.uk/nb-wb-yeats/)
Nice Summary.
Nice one, thanks for gathering all the info and images on one easy to access page.
I am amazed at how quickly this build has come together, only a few months to go until the new ferry begins service.
At the height of popularity of the fast craft, Explorer used to do 4 round trips a day and I'm sure the Swift used to do at least 3.
At the height of popularity of the fast craft, Explorer used to do 4 round trips a day and I'm sure the Swift used to do at least 3.
Stena Explorer actually did five round trips a day for the first few years.
At the height of popularity of the fast craft, Explorer used to do 4 round trips a day and I'm sure the Swift used to do at least 3.Swift did 4 at weekends in summer, for the first year
The Holyhead time table has not yet been updated.
Epsilon is not showing after 18th September and Swift is not showing after 8th October.
I would say the shipyard is paying out big time.Depends on what was negotiated in the contract. Could even be a case of arbitration.
The delays now are not excusable. Hopefully the missing parts particularly for the electrical system will arrive before the end of june.That depends on the cause of the delay. Has the specification changed mid-build for example (not saying it has, but it wouldn’t be the first time)? 3 months isn’t really all that long to be honest in the grand scheme of things (heck, pride of Kent was out for about 6 months for repairs!). It’s seems longer because the build time was so short in the first place, something that was no doubt dictated by commercial pressure from the purchaser (who for all we know were warned at the time things might slip due to the rather optimistic schedule - a schedule that experienced builders of large RoPax ferries would struggle with. That FSG say they are paying suppliers directly indicates a third party or middle man is at fault. It could happen to any yard in the world.
For bespoke interior parts this is a risk, however the electrical system is hardly bespoke.Any ship is effectively a mobile power plant, and needs to be able to provide a stable voltage in both AC and DC. For example the Superfast VII class output around 5,400kW from their diesel generators alone. Providing 1000kW + for each transverse thruster on-demand puts a huge strain on the electrical system of a ship for example. Add the demands of all the other essential onboard systems plus those from lighting, heating, onboard entertainment, and supplying power to refrigerated vehicles and you have a huge electrical demand. To put that into perspective, the average UK household draws a max of around 700w at peak (thats watts, not kilowatts). You cant just go down to your local hardware store or electrical wholesaler and by the electrical components and cabling for a 54,000 ton ferry. If you could I'm sure FSG would have done so!
I agree the build time was ambitious, however FSG did a very good job building and launching in four month,
I am just wondering if they would have been better to contract a cruise ship interiors specialist for the fittout.
According to Irish ferries freight website all Ulysses sailings are cancelled until further notice, and epsilon will move schedules to cover Ulysses from Saturday until the Ulysses returns from dry dock. Yet passenger website still shows as on Time?
Not been a great year publicly for Irish Ferries, with hindsight they should have done this earlier in the year when the Stena Carrier was sitting idle in DL, they could have covered unaccompanied freight and used Epsilon, or brought Inishmore up and used Carrier for excess freight.
Stena RoRo were only a phone call way !
Would not be surprised to see Inishmore and Epsilon swap if this goes on longer than expected, with excess pax transfer to Stena.
Have we heard what is actually wrong with Ulysses? I'm sure this must be more than rudder problems again - especially given her recent lack of speed.One of her propeller shafts needs replaced. Not a quick job I’m afraid, so much so I personally wouldn’t be surprised to see her back even later than currently expected.
Any update on the progress? dry dock been drained or any work started?Dry dock definitely drained. No point bringing her in unless they are starting work - dry docking costs money.
I too questioned IOI not coming to the rescue, however at this time of year passenger , coach and car loads are at Premium and the Swift is well suited to this especially with the weather break we are having. If this happened in spring or winter i believe a different decision would have been made.I wouldn't be surprised if she did should Ulysses be away longer than expected. What that would mean for Rosslare is anyones guess. They could certainly do with retaining Epsilons freight capacity at Dublin, but they are down 4000lm - thats two Inishmore's! Those important (year-round) freight customers will only tolerate so much. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out which is the more important route - Holyhead has 3 vessels (carrying the best part of 7000lm of freight per trip) versus Pembroke's one! Its a horrible situation for them, but it could be worse - it could have been mid-July or August. Of course it doesn't help that they are already a ship down from what they envisioned.
Irish Ferries Freight is acutely aware and sincerely apologetic for the disruption that we know our service failure is going to cause to your business and to that of your customers over the next number of days in the absence of Ulysses from the Irish Sea. The vessel has to go to into dry dock immediately. At this point our best estimate for a full return to service is next Wednesday, 4th July. All Ulysses sailings are cancelled until further notice.
I am sure some hotels in the IFSC got a block booking from Irish Ferries for the period,
This is a high season in Dublin so i would say it was not cheap,
Praying all goes well and Ulysses is back in service as planned. Booked to travel Friday as foot passenger on her and cannot stand Epsilon so they only other alternative would be ask for a transfer to Adventurer. Suppose we’ll have to wait till Mon/Tues and see if there’s any update.
Tbh don’t think they’ll even risk the delay and start fixing other minor issues/painting. The hassle Ulysses being out of service has caused them and the delays to other services because of the increased loads has been huge. Heard some stories of passengers booked on orginal Epsilon schedule sailings even being transferred to P&O on the Liverpool-Dublin. It’s just costing them too much and creating so much bad press, alongside the already delayed Yeats which was bad enough
I am sure some hotels in the IFSC got a block booking from Irish Ferries for the period,No chance of Irish Ferries paying for hotels, for one the staff are not Irish Ferries employees, they are agency staff, secondly some of them will have been deployed to operate the extra Swift sailing and some may have remained on-board Ulysses.
This is a high season in Dublin so i would say it was not cheap,
Praying all goes well and Ulysses is back in service as planned. Booked to travel Friday as foot passenger on her and cannot stand Epsilon so they only other alternative would be ask for a transfer to Adventurer. Suppose we’ll have to wait till Mon/Tues and see if there’s any update.
Tbh don’t think they’ll even risk the delay and start fixing other minor issues/painting. The hassle Ulysses being out of service has caused them and the delays to other services because of the increased loads has been huge. Heard some stories of passengers booked on orginal Epsilon schedule sailings even being transferred to P&O on the Liverpool-Dublin. It’s just costing them too much and creating so much bad press, alongside the already delayed Yeats which was bad enough
Ulysses is due back on the 4th if it is delayed you will be contacted and transferred onto the Swift Epsilond oes not and has never taken foot pax.
I am sure some hotels in the IFSC got a block booking from Irish Ferries for the period,No chance of Irish Ferries paying for hotels, for one the staff are not Irish Ferries employees, they are agency staff, secondly some of them will have been deployed to operate the extra Swift sailing and some may have remained on-board Ulysses.
This is a high season in Dublin so i would say it was not cheap,
I am sure some hotels in the IFSC got a block booking from Irish Ferries for the period,No chance of Irish Ferries paying for hotels, for one the staff are not Irish Ferries employees, they are agency staff, secondly some of them will have been deployed to operate the extra Swift sailing and some may have remained on-board Ulysses.
This is a high season in Dublin so i would say it was not cheap,
Where are the Swift crew staying while Ulysses is in belfast then?
Just read an update on fb that IF have advised freight companies return is now Friday. Ulysses also taken off booking engine till fridayAccording to the freight timetable she’s back with the 08:05 ex Dub. However she’s not currently expected to leave Belfast until Thursday night. Even then that’s unconfirmed, so it’s a case of wait and see I suppose. It’s not a job that can be rushed.
Just read an update on fb that IF have advised freight companies return is now Friday. Ulysses also taken off booking engine till fridayAccording to the freight timetable she’s back with the 08:05 ex Dub. However she’s not currently expected to leave Belfast until Thursday night. Even then that’s unconfirmed, so it’s a case of wait and see I suppose. It’s not a job that can be rushed.
As I've detailed on NI Ferry Site, W.B. YEATS is now off the booking engine. Totally. Oscar is doing some Dublin to France sailings at the start of October by the looks of things with Swift still coming off the schedule on October 8th. Strangely just Ulysses on the Dublin - Holyhead route from then forward at the moment!
https://www.niferry.co.uk/irish-ferries-cancels-all-sailings-of-wb-yeats/ (https://www.niferry.co.uk/irish-ferries-cancels-all-sailings-of-wb-yeats/)
Does anybody know what is wrong with Isle of Inishmore. My parents currently travelling on it today from Pembroke to Rosslare. They were told when they checked in at Pembroke that the ship would dock in Rosslare at least 45 mins late due to engine troublesShe’s emotional over Ulysses ha ha. You said it was engine so why ask
Anyone got anymore info on ulysses?
Ulysses due to take the 0240 ex Holyhead on the 6th July.Not any more. Now lot leaving Belfast Dry Dock until this Saturday 7th
Ulysses due to take the 0240 ex Holyhead on the 6th July.Not any more. Now lot leaving Belfast Dry Dock until this Saturday 7th
How’d you know
Ulysses put back until Saturday 8.05
Just been confirmed been moved from ulysses to adventurer tomorrow on the 2pm ex holyhead. how does it compare with regards to space and seating? Are foot passengers bussed at both ends? any tips appreciatedFoot passangers are bussed at both ends. There is plenty of space and seating. Try get a seat in the living room lounge beside the Bar :)
Just been confirmed been moved from ulysses to adventurer tomorrow on the 2pm ex holyhead. how does it compare with regards to space and seating? Are foot passengers bussed at both ends? any tips appreciatedFoot passangers are bussed at both ends. There is plenty of space and seating. Try get a seat in the living room lounge beside the Bar :)
Just been confirmed been moved from ulysses to adventurer tomorrow on the 2pm ex holyhead. how does it compare with regards to space and seating? Are foot passengers bussed at both ends? any tips appreciatedFoot passangers are bussed at both ends. There is plenty of space and seating. Try get a seat in the living room lounge beside the Bar :)
thanks! reckon we'd be ok drinking own alcohol? is security more tight on the stena side than IF?
you will be fine no security at Dublin port and the staff are relaxed on the boat you will be fine. enjoy :)Just been confirmed been moved from ulysses to adventurer tomorrow on the 2pm ex holyhead. how does it compare with regards to space and seating? Are foot passengers bussed at both ends? any tips appreciatedFoot passangers are bussed at both ends. There is plenty of space and seating. Try get a seat in the living room lounge beside the Bar :)
thanks! reckon we'd be ok drinking own alcohol? is security more tight on the stena side than IF?
you will be fine . :)you will be fine no security at Dublin port and the staff are relaxed on the boat you will be fine. enjoy :)Just been confirmed been moved from ulysses to adventurer tomorrow on the 2pm ex holyhead. how does it compare with regards to space and seating? Are foot passengers bussed at both ends? any tips appreciatedFoot passangers are bussed at both ends. There is plenty of space and seating. Try get a seat in the living room lounge beside the Bar :)
thanks! reckon we'd be ok drinking own alcohol? is security more tight on the stena side than IF?
cheers, is security at holyhead though isn't there?
As I said earlier, subject to change, Ulysses is back to the 0805 ex Dub on Saturday. Meanwhile Swift has made an extra unscheduled crossing tonight.
At this stage I wouldn't rely on any information on their website, it is not being updated in real time. No Dublin to Cherbourg again this weekend putting even more pressure on Rosslare services. No Dublin-Holyhead bookings being taken for Monday and Ulysses atm only reappearing on Tuesday for the evening crossing.
I hear Ulysses is definitely off the run until at least Monday or Tuesday, as Stephen said its getting serious .;She’s already off the timetable until Tuesday, though as ferryfan says you can’t really trust she’ll be back then either
If Ulysses is delayed to 17th July IOI will have to come north, Irish Ferries and Stena cannot cope for that length of time with Ulysses out of action.It’s still a no win situation though - Europe on her own in mid-July? Maybe Inishmore could manage without Europe but not the other way round. Can’t think of anything that might be available on the charter market either - for freight OR passengers. They could really be doing with WB YEATS right now, that’s for sure!
The real unknown factor is how close WB Yeats is to serviceablity. It was originally due to enter service next Friday.Given they’ve cleared her off the timetable totally now I’m minded to say pretty far off! Certainly not close enough to cover Ulysses next week anyway ;).
According to IF website the 0200 sailing of Epsilon tomorrow is cancelled due to technical reasons
Epsilon is covering Ulysses Schedule.Freight loads are low over the weekend so they can clear any backlog (and the IS a backlog I hear at Holyhead). By they I mean both operators. Freight will always find a way. Problem for IF is when it comes to renewal time, how long are their memories!? They’ve built their reputation on having the “most reliable ferry in the world” but this year that’s been far from the truth.
Swift did not travel to Holyhead tonight so Epsilons load must be manageable.
I wonder if there is any spare freight tonnage in North sea or Baltic due to summer industry closures.
Deploying Swift frees up freight space for Epsilon and takes pressure off Stena. I wonder if the pressure really came on would Seatruck be leased to take unaccompanied freight to and from Holyhead.Epsilon is covering Ulysses Schedule.Freight loads are low over the weekend so they can clear any backlog (and the IS a backlog I hear at Holyhead). By they I mean both operators. Freight will always find a way. Problem for IF is when it comes to renewal time, how long are their memories!? They’ve built their reputation on having the “most reliable ferry in the world” but this year that’s been far from the truth.
Swift did not travel to Holyhead tonight so Epsilons load must be manageable.
I wonder if there is any spare freight tonnage in North sea or Baltic due to summer industry closures.
Only reason to deploy swift realistically is pax. Her freight capacity isn’t zero, but it isn’t significant either in the grand scheme of things. Of course the further in to summer we get the more pax demand there will be.
Anyone know is the 17th July now the earliest possible completion date for Ulysses or is this just a rumour?To be blunt they need more than 16 trucks per sailing, and running her wouldn't pay. If Irish Ferries are that quiet that a 16 unit fast craft can substitute for Ulysses I would be very concerned if I was a shareholder given what they have on order!
I wonder if they have balance problems with new propeller shaft requiring it to be re-balanced in the machine workshop or did the problem with the Rudder re-materialise.
The booking engine is now taking bookings for Ulysses at 0240 AM Tuesday morning with no bookings being taken for 0805 or 1410 sailings Tuesday to and from Holyhead presumably cancelled to get her shipshape again.
WB Yeats is looking pretty in Flemsberg with little or know activity on her with plastic sheeting blowing in the breeze below her bridge deck, the next launch looks about two weeks away so i guess WB Yeats will be moved to the Quayside in Flemsburg town until her missing parts arrive.
Then the situation is very serious and IOI will have to move north early next weekProblem is, what do you do with IOI's pax? Especially with Irish Ferries already getting it in the press with regard to Yeats and this latest technical problem with Ulysses. People have also realised now Rosslare to France is going seasonal (they took their time), so would IF be prepared to piss off another group of people? Its hardly going to do their reputation any good is it? Inishmore is not taking huge amounts of freight (certainly not what she would if she moved to Dublin - remember she's only half the freight capacity of Ulysses and a good bit less than Epsilon), but can Europe hold the central corridor on her own at this time of year? If so then thats very concerning for Rosslare I'd say. If it was winter then it would not be such an issue given the differences in seasonal demand, and they could juggle Oscar about a bit perhaps to release Inishmore (or use her as a super sub if it had been when she's gone seasonal), but its summer holiday time.
My point about the use of the swift was it was freeing up freight space on espsilon by taking the eurolines coaches, vans cars and passengers. I agree they are down 1300 lane meters on the ulysses sailings alone plus what ever epsilon was carrying on her own roster. As you say there are not many passenger ferries out there available that can carry in excess of 2800 lane metres.Again, passenger demand is low at night. If it wasn’t then there would always be a swift sailing then. Dublin Swift is an expensive craft to operate, even more so if there isn’t much in the way of passengers. Does Epsilon not have a lower hold for cars? The Visentini series generally do for around 70 cars up to around 1.8m high but I’m not too familiar with Epsilon’s unique layout if I’m honest (Stena superfast X also has a car hold of course). There’s also the crew and other operational considerations to think about as well - if they aren’t getting in to Dublin until almost 2am can they be expected to sail out again at 8:30 for another full days schedule? Operating the odd extra sailing isn’t the same as doing it for a few weeks.
My point about the use of the swift was it was freeing up freight space on espsilon by taking the eurolines coaches, vans cars and passengers. I agree they are down 1300 lane meters on the ulysses sailings alone plus what ever epsilon was carrying on her own roster. As you say there are not many passenger ferries out there available that can carry in excess of 2800 lane metres.Again, passenger demand is low at night. If it wasn’t then there would always be a swift sailing then. Dublin Swift is an expensive craft to operate, even more so if there isn’t much in the way of passengers. Does Epsilon not have a lower hold for cars? The Visentini series generally do for around 70 cars up to around 1.8m high but I’m not too familiar with Epsilon’s unique layout if I’m honest (Stena superfast X also has a car hold of course). There’s also the crew and other operational considerations to think about as well - if they aren’t getting in to Dublin until almost 2am can they be expected to sail out again at 8:30 for another full days schedule? Operating the odd extra sailing isn’t the same as doing it for a few weeks.
In any case there is a backlog of freight so obviously they are not coping! Swift and the two Stena ships will be taking the bulk of the passenger traffic of course. At the end of the day freight carriers using Irish Ferries have their arrangement with Irish Ferries, so who could blame Stena for prioritising their own customers? If Irish Ferries want to shift more freight then they need another ship, not just a few transfers to an extra (expensive to operate) Dublin Swift sailing. Of course it won’t just be Stena taking more traffic either, P&O and Seatruck should be busier than usual as well.
I bet the top brass in IF are praying to the weather gods to keep the winds slack. Swapping IOI with Epsilon would be pointless as Epsilon has about 260 more lane metres. Car and foot pax will be easier to deal with the extra Swift sailing can cater for over 800 passengers and 250 cars which is probably more than the Ulysses would of carried on the night time return crossing.
A lot people seem to be of the opinion that Irish Ferries deserve all the bad luck they get and I agree
A lot people seem to be of the opinion that Irish Ferries deserve all the bad luck they get and I agree
The construction of WB Yeats was to fill the gap where by hauliers had to use the landbridge to go to europe.I’m sure I’ve covered this before, but many hauliers PREFER to use the land bridge rather than direct for the simple reason it means they have the opportunity to pick up and drop off additional goods enroute. Direct isn’t always best. Demand can’t be that high if Irish Ferries are totally pulling their Rosslare to France winter sailings - do remember Brittany Ferries have added more capacity at Cork, something that doesn’t appear to be going particularly well at present given the figures I’ve been hearing! As for drops switching to Belgian routes, if they were going there in the first place in all likeliehood they would have taken that route anyway - why pay someone to drive a trailer from the wrong side of France to Belgium? Accompanied may well do but if it’s accompanied it was probably for a reason, for instance dropping part of the load in the U.K. or France.
The traffic on the cancelled Epsilon sailings would have gone landbridge or possibly the trailers went to Antwerp or Rotterdam on Dephine and Celine. Given the choice the freight comminity will go direct to France if they get the opportunity especially if the freight is destined for France, Switzerland, Spain or Italy. The hauliers in the south east
have been putting pressure on irish ferries for years to keep the service to france open in the winter months and were looking forward to the additional freight capacity Epsilon and WB Yeats provided during the summer months that was not available when Oscar Wilde was traveling full of passengers and cars. Not everything is lost.
When WB Yeats is finally delivered i could see her running weekend visits to France with Epsilon running to Holyhead as and when required.
Stephen,Take a look at this. Might be worth a try
You are right to focus on that - We are one of the people who have been rescheduled twice now as a result of all this
1) Outbound Dublin -> Cherbourg changed to Rosslare
2) Entire trip swapped to Land bridge
Not looking forward to any further changes!
S
I might regret this but here are my thoughts on the Ulysses issues, firstly I have never seen a ship in the last 30 years having such a catastrophic Failure as Ulysses has had. For example P&O Norbay and Norbank are on more or less the same Irish sea route a lot longer and to the best of my knowledge never missed a sailing through Mechanical issues or indeed the Stena Adventurer (I must admit had some issues in her first or second year and missed a week) has being faultless ever since. Inishmore much the same story, many other ships can be mentioned on Northern and southern crossings but there are too to many to mention. . for certain Ulysses has had a great reputation up until last year, SO WHATS GONE WRONG ?. Can it be irish ferries have compromised on spending on her Maintenance and her upkeep ? can it be some failures on board on her Maintanaince ? . can it be the Quality of her build (very Unlikely) . There is something not right and I can only speculate .
Sea .
Hi Steven. Have you heard any update on the Ulysses. Are they waiting delivery of parts now.Provisionally leaving DD on the 17th as earlier advised (told you the info was good 😉 ), but that is subject to change and she’ll most likely need trials before heading south (not to mention any corrective action). I posted a bit of an update here but nothing really that hasn’t already been posted on here
Enjoy your time off tomorrow.
The problem with BALTIC PRINCESS was related to the fact that her gearboxes were something of a prototype and not really supposed to be matched to her engines I believe. That’s what was specified though.I might regret this but here are my thoughts on the Ulysses issues, firstly I have never seen a ship in the last 30 years having such a catastrophic Failure as Ulysses has had. For example P&O Norbay and Norbank are on more or less the same Irish sea route a lot longer and to the best of my knowledge never missed a sailing through Mechanical issues or indeed the Stena Adventurer (I must admit had some issues in her first or second year and missed a week) has being faultless ever since. Inishmore much the same story, many other ships can be mentioned on Northern and southern crossings but there are too to many to mention. . for certain Ulysses has had a great reputation up until last year, SO WHATS GONE WRONG ?. Can it be irish ferries have compromised on spending on her Maintenance and her upkeep ? can it be some failures on board on her Maintanaince ? . can it be the Quality of her build (very Unlikely) . There is something not right and I can only speculate .
Sea .
Unfortunately any major mechanical items can break down, with the knowledge that IF have now, the U Might have been left in service at half speed and operated a different timetable while waiting for the required parts.
The timing could not have been worse and had this happened out of season, it would not have been as noticeable, other vessels could have been moved/chartered in.
this has been a horrible year for Irish Ferries after many good years of great results and reliable operations.
They are not the only ferry to be out of service with issues for a few weeks.
Tallinks Baltic Princess was out of service for several weeks this year with gearbox issues, also built in Finland.
Well colour me surprised!To be fair to them, and I try to make the point in the article (thanks for the share btw), she could still make it within the up to 2 weeks they said in their statement. However at the moment it looks as though it will be the 24th (as already posted on FB by the same person who posted the 17th which turned out to be true) or even later. I imagine some sort of sea trials will need to take place, then there’s the trip back to Dublin. We are probably looking at the 25th or 26th for back in service I would have thought.
https://www.niferry.co.uk/irish-ferries-ulysses-further-delayed/
"Work continues on Ulysses in dry-dock and it is expected that the repairs are going to take the full two week period as advised. This being the case the Dublin/Cherbourg/Dublin service will likely be cancelled on Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd July.
Without question I understand that the absence of Ulysses from the Dublin/Holyhead/Dublin route is causing huge frustration and pressure on your business, your customers business, your teams in offices and professional drivers on the road. Be assured that Ulysses return to service is a top priority for Irish Ferries and my commercial team is heavily focused on trying to assist with your daily requirements although I know we are not giving you the service you either require or deserve. For that I apologise unreservedly and I thank you for your genuine tolerance of us at this time. Ulysses has been a champion in our industry for going on two decades and I am confident that her dependable service and relentless reliability will be proven again before long."
Irish Ferries Freight Manager
Well colour me surprised!To be fair to them, and I try to make the point in the article (thanks for the share btw), she could still make it within the up to 2 weeks they said in their statement. However at the moment it looks as though it will be the 24th (as already posted on FB by the same person who posted the 17th which turned out to be true) or even later. I imagine some sort of sea trials will need to take place, then there’s the trip back to Dublin. We are probably looking at the 25th or 26th for back in service I would have thought.
https://www.niferry.co.uk/irish-ferries-ulysses-further-delayed/
I genuinely feel for the Irish Ferries staff who are having to take the brunt of people’s frustration and anger. It can’t be easy given they are really down by two vessels for much of July!