Irish Ferries Fleet movements

Started by Collision-course, January 05, 2010, 02:52:47 PM

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IFPete

#1275
The construction of WB Yeats was to fill the gap where by hauliers had to use the landbridge to go to europe.

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.

sgraIRL

Stephen,

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

The insider

A lot people  seem to be of the opinion  that Irish Ferries  deserve  all the bad luck they get and I agree

IFPete

#1278
They have to a certain extent created their own bad luck.

Lets see what happens in the coming weeks.

ferryfan

Quote from: The insider on July 10, 2018, 01:30:10 PM
A lot people  seem to be of the opinion  that Irish Ferries  deserve  all the bad luck they get and I agree

It certainly is my opinion, I think they are an arrogant, greedy, mean spirited company with very little regard to staff or customers. It's all about making the rich shareholders much richer.
I wonder how much effort they put into seeking "alternative tonnage" when the WB Yeats went tits up? Not a lot I'd guess.

sgraIRL

As a company director (albeit of a LTD, not a traded PLC) I understand that company law is important and to be adhered to.  But the fact I am finding out information about my families holiday and my custom with Irish Ferries via a stock market submission is crazy.

I booked with IF because its part of a package with our campsite in France.  I am actually very happy with this as it provides protection for 3.5k campsite price as well as the 1k ferry payment if things all go pear shaped.

But over the last 18 years my preference has always been for Stena - they just out shine IF in everyway.  As an example, the derisory €150 voucher for 2019 that IF offered its customers...  Stena have me one of those a few years ago, for a 1 hour delay (along with €25 on-board spend vouchers).  And I didn't have to wait a year for the €150 voucher to be used!

I am not a huge fan of the Stena Super Fasts..  I was a fan of the HSS vessels and on evening sailings I think the Stena Adventurer is a perfect ship.  The Europe is a bit old but still better than the IF alternative. 

Anyway, appreciate all the updates I am getting and I will keep people updated.  I will happily do a Trip Report if people are interested.

Simon

Dart

Quote from: The insider on July 10, 2018, 01:30:10 PM
A lot people  seem to be of the opinion  that Irish Ferries  deserve  all the bad luck they get and I agree

Couldn't have happened to a nicer bunch.


giftgrub


Steven

Quote from: IFPete on July 10, 2018, 10:58:33 AM
The construction of WB Yeats was to fill the gap where by hauliers had to use the landbridge to go to europe.

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.
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.

Meanwhile Irish Continental Group is worth €160m less than it was last October according to the Irish times.

Things like this aren't helping the reputation either!  From their Facebook page
"So today, ironically while shopping for a family holiday to France I get this rather curt text. I was so sure it was a spam or prank I actually googled the number before ringing it, just in case. I get through (after long hold times and being disconnected) and your "customer care" rep had anything but customer care on her mind. She was borderline rude. No apology for the inconvenience, no even attempt to be sympathetic or halfway pleasant. We have been offered a sailing from rosslare (Not dublin) either the day before or day after. No provision or offer of compensation for either the nonrefundable day's accommodation we will now miss at our destination, or for the extra day we would have to incur to arrive on our planned day. I was told because it's a CANCELLATION and not a delay there is no provision of compensation. I am completely incensed by your company's lack of care. This is the second time our sailing has been disrupted. The main reason we booked with irish ferries was because you had a sailing from Dublin on a nice new ship. That ship wasn't available so we were moved to a much lesser vessel, but at least also from Dublin and at least on the same day. No compensation was offered there either, apart from a token amount off next years sailings which I assure you we won't be using after our treatment this year.
NOW we are told that the second ship isn't available either and neither are sailings on our planned day of departure!

So to sum up. We now have to travel several hours further in the car to rosslare. We will be travelling a full day later and missing therefore a full day of our holiday plus accommodation we have paid for for that day / night. And your customer care team informed me that because it's not a delay we get offered NOTHING to compensate us for this fairly major inconvenience?! This is extremely poor form Irish Ferries."

The text message says "Your sailing to France has been cancelled (technical).  Call us" (lists phone numbers). Not even a we are sorry or similar!

Steve in Belfast (suburbia)

Flickr: www.flickr.com/tarbyonline

Steven

Quote from: sgraIRL on July 10, 2018, 12:30:45 PM
Stephen,

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
Take a look at this.  Might be worth a try

https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/travel/passenger-rights/ship/index_en.htm
Steve in Belfast (suburbia)

Flickr: www.flickr.com/tarbyonline

IFPete

Hi Steven. Have you heard any update on the Ulysses. Are they waiting delivery of parts now.

Enjoy your time off tomorrow.

ferryfan

The Oscar Wilde is scheduled to take over from Epsilon on the 9th October on the central corridor, she is on the search engine right up to the 18th December, after which the schedule is blank. I wonder if she has been just penciled in as the exact arrival of the WB is still not finalised or will they be using the OW on the route?

SEA

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 .

ferryman972411

Anyone know whats happenings to the officers and crew during dry dock? they been left on ship paid/unpaid or flown back home for a while?