Messages

EXPRESS is currently being towed from Gran Canaria to Greece

Has it sunk yet , usually what happens when something is being towed to Greece .

Starboard side was touched up prior to the sea trials .

It could have been towing a barge , they bring smaller pre fabricated sections from Gdnask on barges and unload them trough the building hall with the gantry cranes . The doors were open earlier today with the caisson removed to allow water in , the gantry cranes can extend a few metres out of the hall to lift off the sections . They are most likely sections for the ship that will be built next in the hall .They are not the superstructure sections for the Brittany Ferries new ship , they will be delivered after the hull is launched .

I will be there for the protest and hopefully alot more

Well you should be easy to spot , you'll probably be the sole protester . By the way what will you be protesting about ?

Well looks like the paint brushes are out in force today on the port side .

I find it hard to believe that the scrubbers have not yet been installed , if not, were are they to be installed ? , around the funnel like on the Pont Aven . I dought it .

When she does arrive a planned protest will take place ...British and Irish unions will be present...Irish Ferries still pay terrible wages to mostly eastern european crews ...and the prospect of employing local crews is a million miles away..shame on them.....lets hope there is a big turn out

Why would the Irish and British trade Unions not "organise" the present crews and encourage them to joint a Trade Union for better conditions / pay? Surely this would be better than expecting to replace the current crews (regardless of where they are from) with people who may not want to work anyway.

Ther's a reason the ships are registered in Cyprus .

Not too sure what to make of this, reports of an investigation by the federal prosecutor in Flensburg into a complaint of sabotage in relation to the WB. Apparently the shipyard have filed the complaint

"The prosecutor Flensburg confirmed on Thursday the receipt of a criminal complaint. It is about the suspicion of property damage, said the Chief Prosecutor in Flensburg, Ulrike Stahlmann-Liebelt. According to our editorial staff, an outlet valve on the cooling water circuit was closed, causing one of the ferry's four main engines to overheat. According to people who are familiar with the construction of the ferry, this must have been done intentionally. Corresponding information and assessments have been communicated to the staff of the shipyard management, which has now turned on the authorities. The incident is said to have happened on Wednesday last week."

full article
https://www.shz.de/lokales/flensburger-tageblatt/fsg-stellt-strafantrag-wegen-verdachts-der-manipulation-id21438947.html

and here
https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/schleswig-holstein/Schaden-an-neuer-Faehre-FSG-erstattet-Anzeige,fsg242.html

The shipyard will be glad to see the back of the W.B when it leaves, the level of shenanigans now reaches parts we never thought possible.

Would imagine that once sea trials start she will not return to shipyard and would still assume it will need a drydock and hull clean before handover.

If it's just hull cleaning that's required that can be done with the ship in the water  There's a system to do that which clings to the hull below the waterline and scrubs and blasts it .

Lot's of hull painting taking place at the moment , bunch of cherry pickers  along the starboard side  working away painting the hull .

The Big U is cancelled owing to Storm Callum for 24 hours from 20:55 sailing this evening.

It seems like a complete overreaction to cancel for so long when the Orange warning is over in Dublin at 9am tomorrow.

Or maybe because the ship is getting  on in  it's age  and not worth risking it .

Brest just has a link span and a berth with a chain link fence around it , no terminal or proper check in facilities customs etc . I got to use it some years ago on a return to Cork with  Brittany Ferries Pont Aven due to a picket at Roscoff.

Call me old fashioned , but using a name for a ship which is already in use was a bad idea .

Access is now by way of pay per view to earn some lost revenue .

We now have a bow on view from the camera .

She looks very smart. The livery is a big improvement - the LD Lines derived colours on Etretat and Baie de Seine certainly were a departure from the traditional BF standard.

I think the pricing is fairly appalling, especially considering this is a very basic freighter. Connemara is certainly not up to the standard of Stena Mersey / Lagan, yet the pricing is far greater. Likewise BF are charging vastly more than Irish Ferries (Dublin to Cherbourg) on Epsilon or W.B. Yeats (A brand new, state of the art cruise ferry!).

€169 for an inside basic 2 berth economy cabin is more than twice the price of P&O / Irish Ferries.
(€194 + €194 + €169 + €155 = €712 - Without meals, drinks etc....)

That works out at 1.31 Euro per Nautical mile to Santander . Dublin to Cherbourg with Epsilon would work out at 1.53 Euro plus you would also have to pay for fuel and tolls from Cherbourg  to Santander , now factor that in and it looks a lot better .