lg12

The E-Flexers (at least in the Stena configuration) are very nice ships. Having also sailed on the Pont Aven, I would say that the E-Flexer offers a very cruise ship like experience. Pont Aven is a lovely ship with brilliant outdoor space, which I am the first to admit is my favourite part of time spent on cruises/ferries even in Europe during the winter. But Pont Aven is not without its problems. If you are in a normal window cabin, you will most likely end up on Deck 6 (with a view on the promenade deck instead of a proper sea view) or on Deck 5 (with a faint sound of car alarms going

Sadly not.

€1 million a month to cover 26 sailings (some months have more, but there will be cancellations etc.) means almost €40,000 for each sailing. That is the revenue equivalent of almost 40 trucks+drivers (about €900-1050 per way Ireland-France). Not a bad deal at all BF.

That will replace them on services to Spain for sure, but does not say that they will be the first ships to leave the fleet.

6 million for 3 weekly services to Ireland in each direction. The problem is that St Malo and Roscoff are rather unsuitable for the only real market right now (freight), and totally uncompetitive against Cherbourg / Dunkerque / landbridge.

Santona (or any E-Flexer) apparently won't fit in Cork. I would be surprised to see Cap Finistère leaving the BF fleet and probably wouldn't read too much into the latest timetable release.

Gothia Seaways, as mentioned in the thread starter.

It was 2 daily sailings in each direction so a total of 28 sailings.

It looks like Ark Dania will operate as follows: Tuesday & Saturday / Dunkirk 03:30 Rosslare 10:30 (arriving Wednesday & Sunday) - 28 hour crossing Wednesday & Sunday / Rosslare 12:30 Dunkirk 22:30 (arriving Thursday & Saturday) - 29 hour crossing -- If there are no further changes to the schedule, it would give DFDS: From Rosslare, two sailings on Wednesday and Saturday but still none on Thursday. From Dunkirk, two sailings on Tuesday and one every other day.

My guess is that it is a typo or an attempt to make a news story out of nothing.

I still see the two daily sailings in each direction in the booking engine (14 sailings a week/direction, or 28 in total), so I am not quite sure what the 24 sailings is referring to?

Ark Dania was meant to be doing Rosslare sailings from 01/04. Still no sign of it anywhere near there, or in the DFDS timetable/freight booking engine. Either plans have changed or there have been some delays in securing additional useful Rosslare slots?

I think it was expected that they might also end up on some longer Stena crossings, just not so soon (and who knows how long this will continue). Stena could always increase the number of cabins on the last one or two to be delivered.

Not very obvious what ships could carry substantial passenger numbers. Even Estrid seems to be fairly cabin limited unless accompanied freight loadings drop significantly. Quite a few recent Stena sailings from Rosslare have departed with no cabins available for booking. I don’t think most of the Irish families going on their summer holidays would be happy with with a lounge seat. Same issue with DFDS, unless they lease one or more radically different types of ship. That said, a post-COVID world with everyone vaccinated may allow 2+ drivers in each cabin, which might change thi

I think St Malo and Roscoff are already gone? I believe Dunkirk will survive at least until there is new comprehensive UK-EU customs arrangement (which right isn’t likely at all). Stena will probably stick with Fishguard even if it is just not to give away more market share to IF.

Not sure what could be rationalised from Rosslare right now? Perhaps Fishguard, but I certainly see Pembroke, Cherbourg, Spain and probably Dunkirk surviving. I also wouldn’t exclude an operator (obviously not IF) attempting Le Havre - Ireland in the coming years, where Rosslare would be the most logical port to try it from. Le Havre is a better alternative to Dunkirk/landbridge than Cherbourg.

Great photo of WBY. It would be nice to see a dedicated Irish section here. It seems one can no longer register on the IF enthusiasts forum.

The only thing that would have surprised me more (or maybe not even) would have been to see the same announcement from BF.

Irish Ferries still have no April passenger sailings to France open for booking.

Yes it was.

Photos on various FB groups of Blue Star 1 getting painted with the Irish Ferries name. It will be interesting to see how it is used alongside WBY and Epsilon.

She left Marseille today for Dunkerque. I have not yet seen the new DFDS 4 ship timetable. Anyone?

Someone with no known/published links to the maritime industry claims he is setting up a ferry operation based at a letterbox company. Seems fair enough for people to do a bit of digging.

Probably, but the press reports mention the 3 day ferry journey replacing the 6 day landbridge trip. I wonder how much UK-North Africa landbridge traffic there actually is?

A Visentini would be ideal here. I would half believe that an established operator with good marketing, a extensive sales network etc. could make it work. I am far less convinced when I see a letterbox company headed by a individuals with no obvious ferry / maritime experience. It makes no sense. — I wonder what are the longest regular long exposed roro ferry operations? Along with the well known UK-Spain, I can think of Tenerife/Gran Canaria-mainland Spain and Denmark - Iceland.