David Williams

The funding referred to is the state guarantees for the loans needed to build the ships. Without it they can’t finance them. Earlier articles in the German papers said that they would only get the guarantees if they could show that future work is profitable.

Well I am glad that you didn't go downhill and move this thread into Dolphin and Whale puns (like some)

Honfleur should be delivered by early 2020 & the second Irish Ferries ship has not got finance yet ! The 2018 report from Siem (https://www.siemindustries.com/?mdocs-file=4275) includes the following:- Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft mbH & Co KG had revenues of €213 million, an EBITDA of €(102) million, and a net loss of €(111) million. The shipyard experienced substantial challenges on the financial and operational front in 2018. The roll-on/passenger (“RoPax”) vessel W.B Yeats for Irish Ferries was delivered substantially late at the end of 2018 at a material loss caused mainly by the lack of performance by subcontractors. FSG contracted for four additional vessels during 2018 including two passenger ferries and two ro-ro carriers. The current backlog is approximately €860 million consisting of four RoPax vessels and two Ro-Ro vessels. One RoRo vessel was delivered in March 2019 and a second is expected to be delivered in the 3rd quarter 2019. One RoPax vessel is in the advanced construction stage and should be delivered by early 2020. The remaining three RoPax vessels are delayed and awaiting construction finance. FSG employs approximately 700 people. Shipyards in general are normally financed by lenders in the country of operation, often supported by the State. Our agreement to assist FSG and avoid its bankruptcy in 2014 assumed that such financing would be available for FSG as it had been in the past. The lenders’ requirements for drawdowns of construction financing were rigid and made such financing impossible. The Company has therefore provided substantial financial assistance to the yard. The intent has always been for the shipyard to function as a standalone operation based on backlog, shipyard financing and profitability in the future. The fierce competition within the world shipbuilding industry requires FSG to deliver exceptional efficiency and quality to survive. The Company’s ownership of FSG is considered as non-core and new equity in FSG was raised in the 1st quarter of this year by a private placement which diluted the Company’s holding in FSG to 24%. Changes in the yard’s management were implemented in early 2019.

I managed the last couple of bookings ok with the new site, however when I modified an existing booking by adding 2 more passengers to a car crossing, the fare was recalculated to show the car at the current higher price. When I queried this as a DM it was immediately corrected and I was told that when a change is made via the call centre they would adjust that automatically - however that just highlights the clunky booking system that the new web system sits on top of. I use the freight site to look at timetables - it is simpler to navigate.

I think that it is easy for the site to get confused with previous entries. It may be worth trying it using the private / incognito option on the browser which doesn't suffer from this.

I did mean that, however I will stand corrected, the ship has to go (without passengers) from Brest to Roscoff and they could find a quiet bit of sea on the way to go round in a few tight circles. The hotel crew could join in Roscoff as normal anyway. However hopefully they will be testing today. I note that the sea trials of the newbuilds from FSG did not appear to have any sea rescue cover.

Can't they just test it out on the way to Roscoff ?

And some complain of the Brirttany Ferries new logo and font !

However the schedules will only go to mid April so will not start the annual doggy race for cabins.

BF are starting to communicate in advance, let's hope it continues 6 June 2019 We are looking forward to welcoming Pont-Aven back to service on 14 June. Ahead of her return, we have published a revised timetable for sailings operating between Plymouth and Santander and Plymouth and Roscoff. These changes to departure and arrival times have been made to compensate for reduced Pont-Aven operating speed this summer. Most involve revised departure/arrival times of up to two hours. However please note, for certain sailings leaving Santander, Pont-Aven’s departure has been delayed by four hours, leaving at 19:15 instead of 15:15. All customers affected by changes will be notified in advance of their sailing. For revised timings please visit our ferry timetables. https://www.brittany-ferries.co.uk/pont-aven-latest-news

Interesting answer on tripadvisor Alice O ferries for April 2020 timetable released in the Autumn? Which month will that be? 30 May 2019| Answer Response from BF-CustomerServices | Property representative | Hello, At the moment we are expecting the timetable for April 2020 to be released in two parts, the first half in July and the second half of the month in October. Kind regards Jane

And presumably they are meant to be eaten in the same way that the Allies advanced in Normandy

PORTSMOUTH TO LE HAVRE / LE HAVRE TO PORTSMOUTH We are sorry to advise that due to a strike in the port of Le Havre, the following sailings have been CANCELLED: 02/06/19 Portsmouth to Le Havre 23:00 03/06/19 Le Havre to Portsmouth 09:15 03/06/19 Portsmouth to Le Havre 15:30 03/06/19 Le Havre to Portsmouth 23:45 That leaves a ship looking for some work !

A bit more difficult to take dogs, kitchen sink etc along for the ride and definitely more difficult to come back with 15 boxes of wine ! However, perfectly workable for a normal touring holiday.

I imagine that the the compensation for cancellations can be covered by the get out clause of:-  extraordinary circumstances which could not have been reasonably avoided for example natural disasters or industrial action However BF must learn from this and put in place better processes for managing large numbers of cancellations and changes, their current processes and teams cannot cope. Looking at the Twitter comments, the Irish team have huge problems managing the calls, the UK team can be ok sometimes and the Roscoff and Social Media Team cope well - the best method for a UK booking is definitely a DM to the Social Media Team. PS - those that booked a package with BF get all of their extra hotel costs paid for - that is the advantage of buying a package as opposed to separate bits. David