zuludelta

I am very sceptical of that figure! In Ireland, IF have been advertising their French routes intensively since January across national newspapers, TV and internet. Since this delivery delay story broke, they have amended some of their print adverts to promote their UK routes only! They obviously don't want to provoke the ire of disappointed customers. As for the extra-capacity, I would imagine July and August are an easy sell - it's the rest of the months they have to worry about.

I fully understand where you're coming from. Personally and from a leisure traveler perspective, I feel the ship it too small and lacks facilities for such a long voyage. It would be nice if the Normandie was revamped and put on this route despite her age. But as long as BF's key market for this route is to be freight...we can only dream.

Difficult ask I'm afraid! Task simplicity or convenience is one of the most powerful drivers of human behaviour. So you could tell her the boat will be much easier if she enjoys shopping in France!

It’s only when you use other ferry companies that you realise how good BF actually are! Not only are they operationally efficient but their hotel side of operations is world-class. Not bad for a group of Breton farmers! And yes, one of the nice things about BF is they don’t have this profit-at-all-costs ethos like some other companies. It would indeed be a shame if BF downgraded these qualities.

CB, I don't know enough about them if they are in competition are not. The could be targeting completing different markets. But, they do both sail from Barcelona to Italy so it could be argued that they are indirect competitors!

I was not doing the trip as a substitute for driving! It was only a a crossing from Barcelona to Porto Torres. A couple of days later, I got a GNV ferry the "Toscana" from Porto Torres to Genoa for €68. (2-berth standard outside cabin) The ship, even though built in 1981 was immaculate. The engines purred along. The restaurant was superb. The bar served fresh frothy and cold Herrnbrau beer from the keg. The crew were friendly. Do I think I got value for money? well it was certainly not in the "rip off" category as it did include a nights accommodation. But value for money will always be relative to the competition! And in this case GNV were far superior.

Not that cheap €215 one way for an 2-berth inside standard cabin incl. 1-meal voucher. (mid-June crossing)

For some reason, Grimaldi must be doing real good on these routes. Honesty, these two sisters look great from the exterior. But to travel on them as a tourist, they are possibly the worst quality ferries I've ever sailed on. Cheap interiors, noisy vibration-heavy engines, diabolical food and disorganised service. Actually, they are the exact opposite of BF.

Ed, as per your link, most of those slogans are pretty woeful! For example, "Fight the Pirates" by Speed Ferries does not "click" in your head when you read it first. And "Proud of our Routes" IoM Steam Pack Co. is a fairly weak pun. "Pack your car and go to France" perfectly encapsulates the ease of ferry travel and includes the destination. It just clicks immediately. "Shorter by water" by Gosport ferries is not too bad at least it conveys some sort of an advantage.

The ad is redeemed somewhat by the use of a great tagline "Pack your car and sail to France..". Certainly, one of the best taglines I've seen BF advertising use in quite some time.

Devils on the Deep Blue Sea : The Dreams Schemes and Slowdowns the Built America's Cruise Ship Empire By Kristoffer Garin Fascinating look how the Carnival Corporation became the hegemons of the world's cruise ship industry.

I'm afraid it's unlikely. BF's yield management software has probably crunched the numbers and declared no pax without cars - profit maximisation. After all, they are a business - but of the nice kind!

This rumor is probably just a simple case of a staff member mixing it up with the E-Flexer build. Aside from their full order book, St Nazaire has'nt produced a Ro-Ro build in years?

I don't know! I will see if I can dig up some Ireland / Spain import-export stats. It might reveal something.

I've no idea. Always wanted to find out! And on the subject of fish, here is a very interesting article on the complexities of carrying fish. It also covers how UK border controls could delay Irish hauliers. This gives a lot of context to BF's decision to launch this route. If fish transportation is the main driver of this route, the article interestingly states: "If anything was to go wrong, the [driver] can't access the container for the 17-hour crossing so he has to minimise the time he's away from the container. There's a huge quantity of that leaving Ireland. Probably about 100 loads a week from ports around Ireland." Seemingly trifle details like this can make or break a business strategy. https://www.independent.ie/business/irish/warning-hard-border-could-put-hauliers-out-of-business-35987641.html