P&O Fleet Movements

[Steven]

EUROPEAN ENDEAVOUR left lairds yesterday, and looks just like she did when she got there ;)

[TC]

EUROPEAN ENDEAVOUR left lairds yesterday, and looks just like she did when she got there ;)

European Endeavour is in Cammel Laird  wet basin and appears to have been there for a few days. Any info on this?

European Endeavour never got a dry-docking during the spring, so I'm guessing Cammel Laird's are doing an express refit. I think a similar arrangement occurred during previous years.

They never do seem to give her the same love as the Dutch built sisters, do they?

P&O have a bit of a love/hate relationship with European Endeavour. She likely isn't a great fit on the route from an efficiency perspective. Her running costs are far higher than the Dutch twins. However, when she's away at refit, there is an awful lot of headaches. Norbank & Norbay have to soak up the additional passengers and what freight they can.

P&O have owned Norbank and Norbay for much of their 23 years in operation. The latter also had a large stake in North Sea Ferries, so I would imagine they may have had some impact on the design and specs of the twins. Without a doubt they are better built than the racehorse class. Norbank / Norbay tend to take poor weather in their stride.

Would endeavour fit at Larne to Cairnryan ok? Dey should have kept Ambassador instead of giving it to stena.

Theoretically Endeavour might squeeze in to Larne but with less passenger capacity than the existing vessels I'm not really sure why they would want her to? 

I think she could fit, but the chances of her having an incident are much higher than European Seaway. She's more "slab sided" and could catch wind, similar to how Pride of Burgundy ended up clipping Seafrance Rodin a few years ago. I wouldn't rule out European Endeavour covering for refits at Larne sometime in the future.

I'm guessing freight would load through her stern (using internal ramps), once on the upper deck, trucks would be backed up until the stern partial open deck is full, then rather regular drive through conditions would apply. Maindeck would simply be drive through. Once in Cairnryan she could unload 'bow in', using bow door etc.

[TC]

EUROPEAN ENDEAVOUR left lairds yesterday, and looks just like she did when she got there ;)

Ya she'll keep soldiering on. Though P&O have been flashing the cash this year. Bruges and York are looking very tidy. I think Channel House are taking inspiration from Stena's rather successful life-extension work on Stena Europe. Bruges and York are a good few years younger, so I would imagine they are expecting to keep them for another 5 - 7 years.

Isle of Inishmore and Ulysses are showing plenty of rust-streaking. Oscar Wilde looks in much better condition.

[Ambassador73]

Endeavour has been a stern-only loader for some years now, her main deck bow doors are welded up.

[TC]

Endeavour has been a stern-only loader for some years now, her main deck bow doors are welded up.

I would say if she was to operate from Larne, P&O would want her in 'drive through' mode. During her Dover stint the bow doors were in operation. I'm sure they could be brought back into operation if the need arose. European Seaway worked well at Larne, so I imagine she will return.

[Steven]

For those that missed it, Pride of Kent ran aground in Calais a few days ago.  I'm told the damage to her is quite serious and she will be off service for a while.  Currently at Dunkerque.

[Steven]

2017 didn't end well for P&O at Dover unfortunately.  As previously mentioned, Kent sustained significant damage at Calais when blown of course.  No definitive return to service date as of yet but indications at present point to her being out of service for months rather than weeks.  There have been unconfirmed reports that she will have a new gearbox fitted at Rotterdam - she's currently at Dunkerque.

Spirit of Britain has been in and out of service since around Xmas with what have been reported as boiler issues.  Passengers have complained that the vessel hasn't been heated on Twitter apparently.


TC's favourite accountant ;), P&O Ferries CEO Helen Deeble is stepping aside.  Her place is being taken by Managing Director Janette Bell.

[Steven]

European Endeavour is due to be taken out of service for dry docking this weekend. Stena Carrier will provide cover for her on the Dublin - Liverpool route from 01/04/18 to 25/04/18 operating 0300 ex Liverpool and 1500 ex Dublin.

Stena Carrier is currently at anchor off Rosslare since completing service for Stena Line covering the refit of Stena Horizon on the Rosslare - Cherbourg route on a Monday 26/03/18. It is confirmed she will make her first arrival at P&O berth 25 in Dublin Port on 01/04/18 at 0730hrs.

[TC]

Stena Carrier seems a big improvement on Neptune Agile. Good levels of car deck space. About 700 more lane meters than European Endeavour. I would find it interesting to see the efficiency levels - Endeavour vs Carrier.

If the bow doors on European Endeavour were brought back into operation, a refit arrangement with Stena could be an interesting option. Stena provide P&O with a vessel - eg Stena Carrier / Hibernia / Horizon for refits, and Stena use European Endeavour for month to cover Adventurer and Superfast X's dry-dockings.

In theory, following berthing trials, I could envisage some senario like that, as both companies could bring something to the table. Stena Horizon, I don't believe is a good refit option for Stena at Holyhead looking forward. On both occassions, she struggled. I recall in the past, European Endeavour's sister ship (prior to being delivered to LD Lines - I think she was named "T Rex") operated with relative ease from Holyhead. Naturally, her lower capacity than Adventurer was an issue, but from a turnaround perspective she was successful.

Next year, I would imagine European Seaway will be covering at Larne. Could she offer cover for Stena at Holyhead? Or operate in lieu of Superfast VII / VIII, the latter covering at Holyhead? Could Pride of Canterbury / Kent squeeze into Larne, and once duties have been completed, cover for Stena at Belfast, before going to perhaps H&W for a refit?

[RorieLen]

One important thing to remember is that Stena Carrier is owned by Stena RoRo and not Stena Line. When Stena Line used her to cover Rosslare-Cherbourg she was formally chartered from Stena RoRo in the same manner P&O have now chartered her for Dublin-Liverpool.

Stena Line and Stena Roro are, for all intense and purposes, totally separate entities.

I doubt, therefore, that Stena Line would enter such an arrangement with a direct competitor such as P&O.

[TC]

Stena do have a pooling arrangement with Irish Ferries, who are by far a bigger adversary than P&O.

It's just a theory, but if European Seaway can operate Larne - Cairnryan, I would think Belfast to Cairnryan would be straight forward enough.

StenaRoRo is indeed a separate company from Stena Line, but I imagine the latter could offer competitive charter rates, and likewise P&O could offer Stena Line a similar deal with European Seaway.

European Endeavour would be ideal for Holyhead, however her bow-doors would have to be brought back into operation for such an operation.

Brittany Ferries have a cosy arrangement with Stena Line. Stena Baltica is owned by Brittany Ferries, and likewise, Connemara is a Stena RoRo vessel.

[NathanBrady]

Stena do have a pooling arrangement with Irish Ferries, who are by far a bigger adversary than P&O.

It's just a theory, but if European Seaway can operate Larne - Cairnryan, I would think Belfast to Cairnryan would be straight forward enough.

StenaRoRo is indeed a separate company from Stena Line, but I imagine the latter could offer competitive charter rates, and likewise P&O could offer Stena Line a similar deal with European Seaway.

European Endeavour would be ideal for Holyhead, however her bow-doors would have to be brought back into operation for such an operation.

Brittany Ferries have a cosy arrangement with Stena Line. Stena Baltica is owned by Brittany Ferries, and likewise, Connemara is a Stena RoRo vessel.

Is dis an April fools?  Stena pooling with Irish Ferries ha ha

[TC]

During the refits on the southern channel, Stena Line charter space on Isle of Inishmore, while Stena Europe is in dry-dock for a 2 - 3 week period. They have been doing this for several years.

[hhvferry]

Stena Line and Stena RoRo are separate, but they very much operate in concert with one another when required - so I imagine the process of Stena Line chartering the Carrier is altogether different to P&O doing so.

[IFPete]

Stena and Irish Ferries work very closely at Holyhead.

If one ferries passengers are running late they can transfer onto the later vessel,

Stena Adventurer uses Ulysses for shelter during rough crossings.