Recent posts
#1
Discussion Board / Re: Why are ferries to / from ...
Last post by jpwoodh - Today at 07:43:09 PMYou are comparing apples to cement mixers, and you've been on about this since 2022 on another forum you can no longer post on.
Molslinjen is a state funded operator, operating on licenced routes. On many of their routes the subsidy is the same as revenue generated and with no competition. 30% + of their income is from the state by way of subsidy. Neither Stena nor P&O nor Irish ferries receives a state subsidy. They operate more like Cal Mac and not Stena.
In your thesis about Derry to Scotland you forgot:
To include the 50 minute direct flights from Derry Airport. The airport is right next to the city.
To include the direct, non-stop coaches from Derry to Belfast Intl airport.
You also forgot the through bus connections between Northern Ireland and Scotland. *8 daily from Belfast.
Reality undermines your position.
And seriously, we really don't want or need 5,000 word reviews of coffee shop strategies.
Your discussion on European train and bus competition is a total reposting of an earlier thread.
Molslinjen is a state funded operator, operating on licenced routes. On many of their routes the subsidy is the same as revenue generated and with no competition. 30% + of their income is from the state by way of subsidy. Neither Stena nor P&O nor Irish ferries receives a state subsidy. They operate more like Cal Mac and not Stena.
In your thesis about Derry to Scotland you forgot:
To include the 50 minute direct flights from Derry Airport. The airport is right next to the city.
To include the direct, non-stop coaches from Derry to Belfast Intl airport.
You also forgot the through bus connections between Northern Ireland and Scotland. *8 daily from Belfast.
Reality undermines your position.
And seriously, we really don't want or need 5,000 word reviews of coffee shop strategies.
Your discussion on European train and bus competition is a total reposting of an earlier thread.
#2
The News Board / Re: Stena Line fleet movements
Last post by boathansm - Today at 04:01:29 PMQuote from: giftgrub on Today at 03:38:14 PMStena Europe has had a big splodge of blue paint applied to the hull where the "Connecting.." strapline was, looks like Africa Morocco Line blue (they use Blue on the hull and possibly will also keep Stena Line branding as that has not been painted over) could be the destination for it.
There is an image on Facebook, Stena Europe page, image credits on image - Tony Furlong
In the same thread as the picture of her. There was a rumor that she was going to the Baltics and taking a route there.
#3
The News Board / Re: Stena Line fleet movements
Last post by giftgrub - Today at 03:38:14 PMStena Europe has had a big splodge of blue paint applied to the hull where the "Connecting.." strapline was, looks like Africa Morocco Line blue (they use Blue on the hull and possibly will also keep Stena Line branding as that has not been painted over) could be the destination for it.
There is an image on Facebook, Stena Europe page, image credits on image - Tony Furlong
There is an image on Facebook, Stena Europe page, image credits on image - Tony Furlong
#4
Discussion Board / Re: Why are ferries to / from ...
Last post by Ferriesbetterfastercheape - Today at 03:09:01 PMAnswer to KIERAN, part 2:
Some more other bonus-points too:
1) All around baggage - the ferry-bus takes bicycles with a back-pack-construction and unlimited baggage also. Would costs really a lot of money (or is not possible) with the other travel-combinations with any flight. Just give everything to the bus-driver in city A - and get it back in city B.
Also if it is needed to change the bus-route onboard of the ferry - the bus-drivers are moving your baggage from one bus into the other bus. Much more comfortable than to change a train.
Same with free WIFI, if the complete trip is done by only 1 operator = you need only 1-time login.
Same with the work and time needed for to book the complete trip - with ferry-bus it is only 1 booking from door to door - but with flight you must book the flight and then book a train or a bus and maybe another bus also.
So only with ferry-buses it is COMFORTABLE AND CHEAP CONTEMPORARY DOOR-TO-DOOR TRAVELLING.
2) But also at Molslinjen something could be even more better:
They use often buses from local coach-companies, f.ex. Herning-tourist. But it would be much more cheaper to operate with own buses - because then no profit and risk (f.ex. a sick driver) from any other bus-company must be calculated in the ticket-prices = so the prices could be even more a little big cheaper. And a number of crew-members could be easy paid to get the bus-driver-license, then - in case of sickness etc. or also generally especially shorter routes also a crew-member could overtake a bus very easy. So i would buy a number of own ferry-buses for 365-days-use - and then on special strongest days as f.ex. Christmas additional buses from other bus-companies could be chartered additionally. Flixbus has this system f.ex. - 365 days is coming f.ex. 1 green bus on 1 route - but 1 day before Christmas this bus is operating together with 1 or 2 chartered extra-buses in a Konvoi - so they sell 3-times so much tickets.
3) The first 100% electric long-distance-coaches are already on the roads. So with much lower fuel-costs using in future 100% electric coaches - and easy to recharge onboard of the ferry also - the ticket-prices can go down further more - each Euro more cheaper means even a few people more will change from flights (or in Denmark from the competing intercity-trains) to the ferry-buses - or decide 3-times a month instead of 2-times a month only.
4) The advertising-point - sadly complete forgotten from Molslinjen. Ferry-buses must be seen as biggest rolling XXXL ads-posters for the ferry-company also. Think a 100% full advertised 15m x 4m double-deck-coach (up to 100 seats possible) + 3m baggage-trailer - such a bus is everywhere the biggest eye-catcher. So also ferry-bus-routes to smaller cities with only a few people onboard and maybe operating around 0 profit can make a lot of sense just only because of the big ads-bonus.
And also ads-spaces inside the buses can be rented to hotels, destinations, attractions etc. - remember airlines with ads on each seat and on screens.
These double-deck coaches is everybody looking behind:
https://live.staticflickr.com/2856/9987128314_63eac46aff_b.jpg
https://thumbs.web.sapo.io/?W=1771&H=0&crop=center&delay_optim=1&epic=N2Y0j4WPgHxiGr/hNktFUzSPiyJU/J0FpZ4HD7SASxsK9GQGajpKAaLhp+HKNAani8LRdW1Ls6Sjqq5hQE12yuBDHw+z9IxNVIb7V6Cv14Jyef4=
Special-foil on the windows - from inside the passengers can watch out nearly as normal - but opposite from outside to look inside is not possible.
And much more better it would be also with the ferry XXXL "painted" on the bus:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DSw8_UTWsAEoUni.jpg
https://www.fredolsen.es/archivos/images/descubre-foe/Ferry-bus.jpg
https://www.matkapojat.fi//images/imagemanager/thumbnails/takuubussi_xprs-1-2.a6138e5558feb480aa9ebecbf5f5300255ab6ddf.jpg
https://primaschiffe.de/wp-content/gallery/costa-pacifica-rund-um-westeuropa-vom-08-05-11-18-05-11-frankreich-spanien-portugal-und-grossbritanien/Hinfahrt-durch-die-Schweizer-Alpen.jpg
https://www.kreuzfahrtprofi.at/fileadmin/user_upload/_processed_/d/1/csm_IMG_8357a_e3fe6cb3b5.jpg
https://www.bus-bild.de/bilder/ein-neoplan-eev-cityliner-mit-72311.jpg
https://busse-welt.startbilder.de/bilder/setra-515-hd-viking-cruiseszwoelfer-510674.jpg
So just put from the marketing-budget a little bit less money in other advertisings - and invest a little bit more money in these kind of really biggest rolling eye-catchers. Think also how many people would take a picture of such an XXXL bus (+ bicycle-back-pack) + baggage-trailer (is allowed 100 km/h) and would post it everywhere = much much more free ads for ferry-company and ferry-bus.
So it would be very easy to operate CHEAP faster ferries with biggest Pax-capacity year-around - in a similar way also travelling from the big Midlands-cities (Manchester, Sheffield etc.) via Holyhead to the cities in Ireland and also from direction London-Bristol via Newport, Cardiff, Swansea and ferry to Rosslare and then further to Cork, Limerick, Galway and Dublin - with own ferry-buses and cheapest ticket-prices - and on top here also with a lot of Duty-Free extra-profits.
But the main-problem is in Ireland and UK:
The ferry-companies there do not want this. They make biggest profits with freight and a few "must travel by ferry what ever it costs" people with highest freight-rates and ticket-prices - and much less work than to organize ferry-buses and more staff and service onboard.
Compare with the biggest Cafe-chains is a good example:
(A) STARBUCKS is selling coffee for galactic super-expensive prices, maybe 4, 6 or 8 Euro are to pay for a penny-worth-product.
(B) BILTEMA-CAFE in Scandinavia and (C) 100 MONTADITOS in Spain/Portugal are selling coffee for 45 cent (incl. 1 small cake) or 1,- only.
And all 3 companies are making a lot of profit.
https://img.restaurantguru.com/rf58-Biltema-Karlstad-interior-2022-12-1.jpg
https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/cbre.compraactiva.me/5726cc50ccab7db998fff86fa5ab1380c17e7c64.jpg
But the difference is - that the extremly expensive prices in (A) can only be paid by a few "rich" tourists, business-traveler or "new-rich" young people "Influencer with Tablet/Laptop" thinking that it is "trendy" and "cool" there to drink a coffee with a transparent plastic-cup and pay 40 cent extra on top because it is so bad for the environment.
And (B) and (C) are full of people with longest waiting-rows often and there are all the "normal" people drinking their coffee (hot chocolate, tea, milk etc.). All kind of Workers, Teens, Twens, families with a lot of kids, pensioners, office-people at lunch, normal (camping) tourists etc. . To use for everybody - for the complete population.
But with Cafe-chains all this is no problem - because the people can free choose between EXPENSIVE and CHEAP coffee - from the same Italian coffee-machine and with the same cheapest minimum-paid teenage-staff. And fortunately in smaller cities or shopping-center the super-expensive Starbucks has closed again. Their business concept is working only in bigger cities with enough "rich upper-class" people.
And with the ferries around Ireland and UK - there has ALL 5 companies sadly only the Starbucks-concept - wanting a few "rich" customers only who are paying super-extrem highest ticket- and onboard-prices - f.ex. 8-times so expensive as a similar route in Denmark.
THIS IS THE MAIN-PROBLEM - with the result that all "normal" people can only travel with flights.
And there is no reason for the ferry-companies to change their strategy - they make a lot of profit with (partly) poorest smallest slowly limited ferry-service and relative less work.
And furthermore travelling on land and sea in the other parts of Europe becomes cheaper and cheaper - so the price-scissors between Ireland/UK and Europe will be bigger and bigger every year. If the people pay this year 260,- for a short ferry one-way then it will be 280,- next year and 300,- in 2026 and so on. It´s an upward spiral without end.
The salaries of crew and staff goes up every year - but why do anything for to get more customers onboard ? This could help, 100 cars pays 26,- = 10 cars pays 260,-. But it is much easier just to take every year even more higher ticket-prices and freight-rates - then all works very well for the ferry-managers, they get their bonus, shareholders their profit - but even less normal people can think about only maybe eventually to book any ferry because it becomes even more expensive.
Some more other bonus-points too:
1) All around baggage - the ferry-bus takes bicycles with a back-pack-construction and unlimited baggage also. Would costs really a lot of money (or is not possible) with the other travel-combinations with any flight. Just give everything to the bus-driver in city A - and get it back in city B.
Also if it is needed to change the bus-route onboard of the ferry - the bus-drivers are moving your baggage from one bus into the other bus. Much more comfortable than to change a train.
Same with free WIFI, if the complete trip is done by only 1 operator = you need only 1-time login.
Same with the work and time needed for to book the complete trip - with ferry-bus it is only 1 booking from door to door - but with flight you must book the flight and then book a train or a bus and maybe another bus also.
So only with ferry-buses it is COMFORTABLE AND CHEAP CONTEMPORARY DOOR-TO-DOOR TRAVELLING.
2) But also at Molslinjen something could be even more better:
They use often buses from local coach-companies, f.ex. Herning-tourist. But it would be much more cheaper to operate with own buses - because then no profit and risk (f.ex. a sick driver) from any other bus-company must be calculated in the ticket-prices = so the prices could be even more a little big cheaper. And a number of crew-members could be easy paid to get the bus-driver-license, then - in case of sickness etc. or also generally especially shorter routes also a crew-member could overtake a bus very easy. So i would buy a number of own ferry-buses for 365-days-use - and then on special strongest days as f.ex. Christmas additional buses from other bus-companies could be chartered additionally. Flixbus has this system f.ex. - 365 days is coming f.ex. 1 green bus on 1 route - but 1 day before Christmas this bus is operating together with 1 or 2 chartered extra-buses in a Konvoi - so they sell 3-times so much tickets.
3) The first 100% electric long-distance-coaches are already on the roads. So with much lower fuel-costs using in future 100% electric coaches - and easy to recharge onboard of the ferry also - the ticket-prices can go down further more - each Euro more cheaper means even a few people more will change from flights (or in Denmark from the competing intercity-trains) to the ferry-buses - or decide 3-times a month instead of 2-times a month only.
4) The advertising-point - sadly complete forgotten from Molslinjen. Ferry-buses must be seen as biggest rolling XXXL ads-posters for the ferry-company also. Think a 100% full advertised 15m x 4m double-deck-coach (up to 100 seats possible) + 3m baggage-trailer - such a bus is everywhere the biggest eye-catcher. So also ferry-bus-routes to smaller cities with only a few people onboard and maybe operating around 0 profit can make a lot of sense just only because of the big ads-bonus.
And also ads-spaces inside the buses can be rented to hotels, destinations, attractions etc. - remember airlines with ads on each seat and on screens.
These double-deck coaches is everybody looking behind:
https://live.staticflickr.com/2856/9987128314_63eac46aff_b.jpg
https://thumbs.web.sapo.io/?W=1771&H=0&crop=center&delay_optim=1&epic=N2Y0j4WPgHxiGr/hNktFUzSPiyJU/J0FpZ4HD7SASxsK9GQGajpKAaLhp+HKNAani8LRdW1Ls6Sjqq5hQE12yuBDHw+z9IxNVIb7V6Cv14Jyef4=
Special-foil on the windows - from inside the passengers can watch out nearly as normal - but opposite from outside to look inside is not possible.
And much more better it would be also with the ferry XXXL "painted" on the bus:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DSw8_UTWsAEoUni.jpg
https://www.fredolsen.es/archivos/images/descubre-foe/Ferry-bus.jpg
https://www.matkapojat.fi//images/imagemanager/thumbnails/takuubussi_xprs-1-2.a6138e5558feb480aa9ebecbf5f5300255ab6ddf.jpg
https://primaschiffe.de/wp-content/gallery/costa-pacifica-rund-um-westeuropa-vom-08-05-11-18-05-11-frankreich-spanien-portugal-und-grossbritanien/Hinfahrt-durch-die-Schweizer-Alpen.jpg
https://www.kreuzfahrtprofi.at/fileadmin/user_upload/_processed_/d/1/csm_IMG_8357a_e3fe6cb3b5.jpg
https://www.bus-bild.de/bilder/ein-neoplan-eev-cityliner-mit-72311.jpg
https://busse-welt.startbilder.de/bilder/setra-515-hd-viking-cruiseszwoelfer-510674.jpg
So just put from the marketing-budget a little bit less money in other advertisings - and invest a little bit more money in these kind of really biggest rolling eye-catchers. Think also how many people would take a picture of such an XXXL bus (+ bicycle-back-pack) + baggage-trailer (is allowed 100 km/h) and would post it everywhere = much much more free ads for ferry-company and ferry-bus.
So it would be very easy to operate CHEAP faster ferries with biggest Pax-capacity year-around - in a similar way also travelling from the big Midlands-cities (Manchester, Sheffield etc.) via Holyhead to the cities in Ireland and also from direction London-Bristol via Newport, Cardiff, Swansea and ferry to Rosslare and then further to Cork, Limerick, Galway and Dublin - with own ferry-buses and cheapest ticket-prices - and on top here also with a lot of Duty-Free extra-profits.
But the main-problem is in Ireland and UK:
The ferry-companies there do not want this. They make biggest profits with freight and a few "must travel by ferry what ever it costs" people with highest freight-rates and ticket-prices - and much less work than to organize ferry-buses and more staff and service onboard.
Compare with the biggest Cafe-chains is a good example:
(A) STARBUCKS is selling coffee for galactic super-expensive prices, maybe 4, 6 or 8 Euro are to pay for a penny-worth-product.
(B) BILTEMA-CAFE in Scandinavia and (C) 100 MONTADITOS in Spain/Portugal are selling coffee for 45 cent (incl. 1 small cake) or 1,- only.
And all 3 companies are making a lot of profit.
https://img.restaurantguru.com/rf58-Biltema-Karlstad-interior-2022-12-1.jpg
https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/cbre.compraactiva.me/5726cc50ccab7db998fff86fa5ab1380c17e7c64.jpg
But the difference is - that the extremly expensive prices in (A) can only be paid by a few "rich" tourists, business-traveler or "new-rich" young people "Influencer with Tablet/Laptop" thinking that it is "trendy" and "cool" there to drink a coffee with a transparent plastic-cup and pay 40 cent extra on top because it is so bad for the environment.
And (B) and (C) are full of people with longest waiting-rows often and there are all the "normal" people drinking their coffee (hot chocolate, tea, milk etc.). All kind of Workers, Teens, Twens, families with a lot of kids, pensioners, office-people at lunch, normal (camping) tourists etc. . To use for everybody - for the complete population.
But with Cafe-chains all this is no problem - because the people can free choose between EXPENSIVE and CHEAP coffee - from the same Italian coffee-machine and with the same cheapest minimum-paid teenage-staff. And fortunately in smaller cities or shopping-center the super-expensive Starbucks has closed again. Their business concept is working only in bigger cities with enough "rich upper-class" people.
And with the ferries around Ireland and UK - there has ALL 5 companies sadly only the Starbucks-concept - wanting a few "rich" customers only who are paying super-extrem highest ticket- and onboard-prices - f.ex. 8-times so expensive as a similar route in Denmark.
THIS IS THE MAIN-PROBLEM - with the result that all "normal" people can only travel with flights.
And there is no reason for the ferry-companies to change their strategy - they make a lot of profit with (partly) poorest smallest slowly limited ferry-service and relative less work.
And furthermore travelling on land and sea in the other parts of Europe becomes cheaper and cheaper - so the price-scissors between Ireland/UK and Europe will be bigger and bigger every year. If the people pay this year 260,- for a short ferry one-way then it will be 280,- next year and 300,- in 2026 and so on. It´s an upward spiral without end.
The salaries of crew and staff goes up every year - but why do anything for to get more customers onboard ? This could help, 100 cars pays 26,- = 10 cars pays 260,-. But it is much easier just to take every year even more higher ticket-prices and freight-rates - then all works very well for the ferry-managers, they get their bonus, shareholders their profit - but even less normal people can think about only maybe eventually to book any ferry because it becomes even more expensive.
#5
Discussion Board / Re: Why are ferries to / from ...
Last post by Ferriesbetterfastercheape - Today at 01:06:48 PMYes, sorry - i mean Derry - a city with circa 85.000 people - a little bigger in size of population as Herning & Skive (in Denmark) together.
Ferries has - in opposite to all flights - the really super-big advantage that it is super-easy possible to INTEGRATE the both traffic-systems bus & ferry into 1 system together.
What means only 1-time boarding at the start and 1-time hop off at the end of travelling.
So all the people without cars can travel DIRECTLY WITHOUT ANY CHANGE FROM City-Center A over land and sea to City-Center B.
So therefore - if we talk about leading attractive passenger-ferries - buses are super-important for them, also if maybe here someone is not so much interested in buses... .
And Molslinjen is using exactly this system only - which is in many cases NOT TO BEAT by any trains or flights - because these traffic-systems are usually BROKEN.
So you need there usually minimum 1 system (f.ex. an airport-bus) for to come from city-center A to the airport - the flight self is then the 2nd system - and the 3rd system is again an airport-bus (or - as in Edinburgh the lucky special-case of a modern cheap tram) to city-center B.
So in fact flight-tickets can be eventually super-cheap - but in combination with minimum 2-times airport-buses the totally travel-costs will be not anymore cheap. And it is really uncomfortable also - it means in fact minimum 2-times more waiting, 1 x security-control (most people do not like it to put all clothes, stuff and things on a belt...and travel without drink-bottles etc.) and maybe walking long ways also inside airports (many people are older also - then walking is not easy and not fast possible !) - and it works only without bigger baggage (otherwise it will be really very expensive).
So for the example from Derry to Glasgow or Edinburgh i get these options:
1) From Derry train to Antrim 2) There Bus 109a to Belfast-International-Airport 3) is the flight 4) is the Airport-Bus to Glasgow-City or the new tram in Edinburgh.
So there are 4 traffic-systems needed, the Derry train+bus together costs cheapest 29,-€ (up to 41,-), flight to Glasgow cheapest is 26,-€ or to Edinburgh cheapest is 15,-€ and then minimum circa 5,- € for the bus 500 or tram into city-center in Glasgow or Edinburgh.
So CHEAPEST totally travel-costs from Derry are 49,-€ to Edinburgh or 58,-€ to Glasgow.
As alternative from Derry to Belfast-International i get a bus-bus combination also with change in Belfast Europa buscenter, but cheapest price is 5 € more than with the train-bus-solution, 34,-€.
And to/from Belfast City Airport makes not really a big difference also - cheapest solution here is a bus-bus-combination from cheapest possible 23,-€ - so in best case 6,- cheaper only. And it takes also 2:15 hours to/from Derry. But here the most flights costs a few Euro more - so there is in fact no advantage also.
So to travel from airport-gate to airport-gate only would be cheap - but in fact the complete trip is relative expensive - because mostly often the airport-buses are really expensive also.
And the travel-times are really long - alone for example this bus-bus-combination in Northern Ireland takes 3 hours ! The train-bus combination is faster, with luck at the change and fast running it is possible in 2 hours. So the complete trip with flight from Derry-city-center to Glasgow- or Edinburgh city-center takes including waiting-, security-check- and connection- times MINIMUM ca. 4:30 hours but in most cases it takes more nearby 5 hours.
Now we compare it with a theoretic UK "Kombardoexpressen" ferry-bus & Mols-Catamaran Would start in Derry and then nonstop going to the ferry in Larne or Belfast (the people from Belfast-city would use another shorter ferry-bus-route f.ex. starting in Bangor or alone full only with people from Belfast - similar as it works from Aarhus-city) so short timetable-calculated that the bus is arriving only a few minutes before departure of the fast Catamaran. This is the big extra-advantage if the bus and ferry are from the same company - so also with delays on the road the ferry can wait a few minutes f.ex. .
And on the Scottish side then one bus goes directly to Glasgow-city (+continue via Sterling to Perth maybe also up to Aberdeen 1 x daily) and another to Edingburgh-city (+continue via Glenrothes to Dundee) and the 3rd route would go a south-east-turn via Carlisle, Newcastle, Sunderland and Middlesbrough to Darlington and more routes are thinkable via Preston, Blackburn, Bolton to Manchester or to Bradford, Leeds, Huddersfield etc. .
So if we calculate now here the travel-times:
- 90 min from Derry up to ferry-dep. (to Stena-Line Belfast is 72 min only, to Larne 77 min)
- 80 min ferry-travel-time
- 95 min from arrival in Cairnryan to Glasgow-city
OR
- 2:20 hours for the Expressbus (non stop) to Edinburgh
Then we get from City-center Derry to City-Center Glasgow = 4:25 hours
and from City-center Derry to City-Center Edinburgh = 5:10 hours
So if we remember the totally flight-combination-travel-times - it was nearly the same - circa 4:30 - 5 hours.
If in long-term the roads in Scotland would become more better and faster the time-advantage would go even a little bit more in direction to the ferry-buses.
Only for business-traveler - using Taxi or Uber to/from the airports and travelling directly from Belfast to Glasgow or Edinburgh city-center it would be really faster with a flight - but much more expensive.
And also if we compare the totally travel-times in Denmark - they are the same - or even more longer, f.ex. the Kombardoexpressen from Skive (only 21.000 people) to Copenhagen needs inclusive the Mols-Catamaran 5:50 hours !
So who would then still pay € 50,- or € 60,- in UK for the cheapest flight-combination - if there would be a ferry-bus for 13,-€ only ? And if all max. 9 Pax incl. a car would costs only 33,-€ ?
This is my main-critic-point to all ferry-companies around UK and Ireland - they have given up mass-passenger-transport with their ferries more than 20 years ago - instead of to operate much better, much more comfortable and much cheaper than the flights.
With 3 double-deck-coaches much more foot-passenger onboard of the ferry than in 1 plane... -
they have CIRCA 2000 people in their buses onboard of the Catamarans DAILY - means also a lot more sales in bar, cafe, restaurant and shop onboard:
https://www.herning-turist.dk/CustomerData/Files/Images/Gallery/2022-kombardo-galleri_74190/img_0903_4756.jpg
PART 2 is following - sorry for to write so long - but operation-concepts are not possible in a few words... .
Ferries has - in opposite to all flights - the really super-big advantage that it is super-easy possible to INTEGRATE the both traffic-systems bus & ferry into 1 system together.
What means only 1-time boarding at the start and 1-time hop off at the end of travelling.
So all the people without cars can travel DIRECTLY WITHOUT ANY CHANGE FROM City-Center A over land and sea to City-Center B.
So therefore - if we talk about leading attractive passenger-ferries - buses are super-important for them, also if maybe here someone is not so much interested in buses... .
And Molslinjen is using exactly this system only - which is in many cases NOT TO BEAT by any trains or flights - because these traffic-systems are usually BROKEN.
So you need there usually minimum 1 system (f.ex. an airport-bus) for to come from city-center A to the airport - the flight self is then the 2nd system - and the 3rd system is again an airport-bus (or - as in Edinburgh the lucky special-case of a modern cheap tram) to city-center B.
So in fact flight-tickets can be eventually super-cheap - but in combination with minimum 2-times airport-buses the totally travel-costs will be not anymore cheap. And it is really uncomfortable also - it means in fact minimum 2-times more waiting, 1 x security-control (most people do not like it to put all clothes, stuff and things on a belt...and travel without drink-bottles etc.) and maybe walking long ways also inside airports (many people are older also - then walking is not easy and not fast possible !) - and it works only without bigger baggage (otherwise it will be really very expensive).
So for the example from Derry to Glasgow or Edinburgh i get these options:
1) From Derry train to Antrim 2) There Bus 109a to Belfast-International-Airport 3) is the flight 4) is the Airport-Bus to Glasgow-City or the new tram in Edinburgh.
So there are 4 traffic-systems needed, the Derry train+bus together costs cheapest 29,-€ (up to 41,-), flight to Glasgow cheapest is 26,-€ or to Edinburgh cheapest is 15,-€ and then minimum circa 5,- € for the bus 500 or tram into city-center in Glasgow or Edinburgh.
So CHEAPEST totally travel-costs from Derry are 49,-€ to Edinburgh or 58,-€ to Glasgow.
As alternative from Derry to Belfast-International i get a bus-bus combination also with change in Belfast Europa buscenter, but cheapest price is 5 € more than with the train-bus-solution, 34,-€.
And to/from Belfast City Airport makes not really a big difference also - cheapest solution here is a bus-bus-combination from cheapest possible 23,-€ - so in best case 6,- cheaper only. And it takes also 2:15 hours to/from Derry. But here the most flights costs a few Euro more - so there is in fact no advantage also.
So to travel from airport-gate to airport-gate only would be cheap - but in fact the complete trip is relative expensive - because mostly often the airport-buses are really expensive also.
And the travel-times are really long - alone for example this bus-bus-combination in Northern Ireland takes 3 hours ! The train-bus combination is faster, with luck at the change and fast running it is possible in 2 hours. So the complete trip with flight from Derry-city-center to Glasgow- or Edinburgh city-center takes including waiting-, security-check- and connection- times MINIMUM ca. 4:30 hours but in most cases it takes more nearby 5 hours.
Now we compare it with a theoretic UK "Kombardoexpressen" ferry-bus & Mols-Catamaran Would start in Derry and then nonstop going to the ferry in Larne or Belfast (the people from Belfast-city would use another shorter ferry-bus-route f.ex. starting in Bangor or alone full only with people from Belfast - similar as it works from Aarhus-city) so short timetable-calculated that the bus is arriving only a few minutes before departure of the fast Catamaran. This is the big extra-advantage if the bus and ferry are from the same company - so also with delays on the road the ferry can wait a few minutes f.ex. .
And on the Scottish side then one bus goes directly to Glasgow-city (+continue via Sterling to Perth maybe also up to Aberdeen 1 x daily) and another to Edingburgh-city (+continue via Glenrothes to Dundee) and the 3rd route would go a south-east-turn via Carlisle, Newcastle, Sunderland and Middlesbrough to Darlington and more routes are thinkable via Preston, Blackburn, Bolton to Manchester or to Bradford, Leeds, Huddersfield etc. .
So if we calculate now here the travel-times:
- 90 min from Derry up to ferry-dep. (to Stena-Line Belfast is 72 min only, to Larne 77 min)
- 80 min ferry-travel-time
- 95 min from arrival in Cairnryan to Glasgow-city
OR
- 2:20 hours for the Expressbus (non stop) to Edinburgh
Then we get from City-center Derry to City-Center Glasgow = 4:25 hours
and from City-center Derry to City-Center Edinburgh = 5:10 hours
So if we remember the totally flight-combination-travel-times - it was nearly the same - circa 4:30 - 5 hours.
If in long-term the roads in Scotland would become more better and faster the time-advantage would go even a little bit more in direction to the ferry-buses.
Only for business-traveler - using Taxi or Uber to/from the airports and travelling directly from Belfast to Glasgow or Edinburgh city-center it would be really faster with a flight - but much more expensive.
And also if we compare the totally travel-times in Denmark - they are the same - or even more longer, f.ex. the Kombardoexpressen from Skive (only 21.000 people) to Copenhagen needs inclusive the Mols-Catamaran 5:50 hours !
So who would then still pay € 50,- or € 60,- in UK for the cheapest flight-combination - if there would be a ferry-bus for 13,-€ only ? And if all max. 9 Pax incl. a car would costs only 33,-€ ?
This is my main-critic-point to all ferry-companies around UK and Ireland - they have given up mass-passenger-transport with their ferries more than 20 years ago - instead of to operate much better, much more comfortable and much cheaper than the flights.
With 3 double-deck-coaches much more foot-passenger onboard of the ferry than in 1 plane... -
they have CIRCA 2000 people in their buses onboard of the Catamarans DAILY - means also a lot more sales in bar, cafe, restaurant and shop onboard:
https://www.herning-turist.dk/CustomerData/Files/Images/Gallery/2022-kombardo-galleri_74190/img_0903_4756.jpg
PART 2 is following - sorry for to write so long - but operation-concepts are not possible in a few words... .
#6
The News Board / Re: Brittany Ferries fleet mov...
Last post by giftgrub - April 24, 2024, 07:42:38 PMApparently BF are to introduce another crossing from Rosslare to Cherbourg using the Commodore Clipper, a ferry closely related to Stena Vinga (but without additional deck) which did not have great success with the sea conditions (but added deck does change the ship's handling).
https://theferryforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=2823&start=25
https://theferryforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=2823&start=25
#7
The Merrion Lounge / Re: Mercy Ships to order a new...
Last post by giftgrub - April 24, 2024, 02:00:00 PMLooks like the Mercy Ships vessel will be an MSC/GNV influenced / based design this time around, though images in the articles look very much like the Global Mercy.
https://www.seatrade-maritime.com/middle-east-africa/msc-supports-new-purpose-built-mercy-ships-hospital-ship
https://www.mscfoundation.org/programmes/mercy-ships
https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/the-msc-foundation-the-msc-group-and-mercy-ships-international-join-forces-to-build-a-new-hospital-ship/
https://maritime-executive.com/article/mercy-ships-plans-to-build-hospital-ship-with-kickstart-donation-from-msc
https://www.seatrade-maritime.com/middle-east-africa/msc-supports-new-purpose-built-mercy-ships-hospital-ship
https://www.mscfoundation.org/programmes/mercy-ships
https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/the-msc-foundation-the-msc-group-and-mercy-ships-international-join-forces-to-build-a-new-hospital-ship/
https://maritime-executive.com/article/mercy-ships-plans-to-build-hospital-ship-with-kickstart-donation-from-msc
#8
The Merrion Lounge / Rosslare Port Operatives
Last post by Kieran - April 23, 2024, 11:24:27 PMRosslare Europort are looking for operatives, very broad job description from customer service work, mooring vessels, marshalling, loading/loading and maintenance.
More details here.
More details here.
#9
The News Board / Re: Stena Line fleet movements
Last post by scomac - April 23, 2024, 10:21:16 PMQuote from: giftgrub on April 23, 2024, 08:59:15 PMQuote from: scomac on April 18, 2024, 01:39:17 PMStena Vision is due to be off service on the Rosslare-Cherbourg route with her last sailing scheduled for Monday 22nd April from Rosslare. According to Stena's live freight timetable, she is expected to resume on Tuesday 7th May from Cherbourg.
It is believed she is expected to go for dry docking to resolve a technical problem with one of her rudders. Stena Horizon will maintain the French route alone during her absence.
Stena Vision heading to Rotterdam for drydock and repairs.
She will go to the Damen Shipyard at Schiedam.
#10
The News Board / Re: Stena Line fleet movements
Last post by giftgrub - April 23, 2024, 08:59:15 PMQuote from: scomac on April 18, 2024, 01:39:17 PMStena Vision is due to be off service on the Rosslare-Cherbourg route with her last sailing scheduled for Monday 22nd April from Rosslare. According to Stena's live freight timetable, she is expected to resume on Tuesday 7th May from Cherbourg.
It is believed she is expected to go for dry docking to resolve a technical problem with one of her rudders. Stena Horizon will maintain the French route alone during her absence.
Stena Vision heading to Rotterdam for drydock and repairs.