HONFLEUR - New Build for Ouistreham Route - CANCELLED

[captjack]

3 hours ago, David Williams said:

Most of the demo is driving a lorry onto a ship, the worrying bit is that it seems that the dockers are the only ones allowed to unload it, that will end in tears when they want more money, no more popping to Cherbourg if there is a strike on and they need a refill.

I can’t see that the dockers would be allowed to unload a LNG road tanker, the driver would of have to had taken a few courses to pass his dangerous goods licence.

[jonno]

2 hours ago, captjack said:

I can’t see that the dockers would be allowed to unload a LNG road tanker, the driver would of have to had taken a few courses to pass his dangerous goods licence.

Agreed, I'll also suggest that BF have chosen this fuelling system as it's mobile and can be achieved at any of their French ports an HGV has access to.

[David Williams]

It is quite clear from the article https://www.destinationhonfleur.com/en/news/supply-lng-containers-tested-ouistreham, that once the lorry arrives in the port the trailer is disconnected and moved onto the ship by the dockers using their tugs. I am sure that the unions will claim that is a skilled job and can’t be done by anyone else !

[Andy]

The young lady is now sporting the BF logo (with thanks to BF) 😎

 

More photos over on destinationhonfleur.com

 

[alleeganger10]

43 minutes ago, Andy said:

The young lady is now sporting the BF logo 

 

To stop any arguments I shall call it an It, ships in France are male.

Just like the big Lizzie If it spends anymore time idling in the Flensburg Fiord it will need a dry dock and clean during its first year in service😂. 

[neilcvx]

11 minutes ago, alleeganger10 said:

To stop any arguments I shall call it an It, ships in France are male.

Just like the big Lizzie If it spends anymore time idling in the Flensburg Fiord it will need a dry dock and clean during its first year in service😂. 

I started a discussion about that and not all ships are male in France it depends on size and other variances .

[Chef]

Being German built does that not make her a frauline .

[jonno]

1 hour ago, Andy said:

The young lady is now sporting the BF logo 😎

Andy do know when these were taken as she's currently bow on (painting the port side?) at the yard and the RoRo is back next to her?

[TonyMWeaver]

 'Honfleur' has had the logo for a while, around 3 to 4 weeks but it was covered over for some reason.

This image from August 25th

Edited September 23, 2019 by TonyMWeaver

[colin]

Mer et Marine reports quizzing BF about delivery date, and not being able to get anything more precise than "next year"....

[Cabin-boy]

I guess we'll have a better idea of their expectations when the second batch of timetables is released mid-October. If she's not included at that stage but they say that Normandy may be replaced at some point then the indicated handover date of December may still be correct. If there is no mention of her at all it would suggest they are not optimistic and don't want to give false expectations to their customers. Ed. 

[Gareth]

Given that there is clearly work going on (and so “no work taking place” is not the reason like it was earlier in the year), do we know what the reason is for the continuing delay?  Is there a problem that has been uncovered that is taking time to solve, or is it just a case if the pace of work being so slow?

Sure, the problems they had at the yard may account for 3 or 4 months of the delay, but it sounds like it’s now going to be pushing up towards a year. Starting to feel like there is more going wrong than just the temporary shutdown of the yard?

[Cabin-boy]

Before they turned her around there was a lot of scaffolding around the funnel area and what looked like a large tent (similar to what the Navy use in Portsmouth) on her aft deck where the tank and crane assembly will be. Aside from that there may still be interior work ongoing but the webcam angle doesn't show if the bow door is open or not. Ed. 

[Paully]

If BF are having to hedge their bets, then the pace of construction must be slower than we thought. If so planning a delivery date must be impossible at this time

[alleeganger10]

You have to feel sorry for the BF team in Germany, who believed it was going to be a short assignment!. Hope they get home often.

[Solo]

Surely it's reached the point where BF say give us the ship or forget it.  There's got to be something in it for BF to keep hanging on like this, is someone compensating them somewhere just to keep the yard going, it would be bad if they walked away.

[Paully]

14 minutes ago, Solo said:

Surely it's reached the point where BF say give us the ship or forget it.  There's got to be something in it for BF to keep hanging on like this, is someone compensating them somewhere just to keep the yard going, it would be bad if they walked away.

I don`t think they`ll walk away, although I have little doubt this possibility has been explored. I think they will try to stick with the project, although their patience must be close to exhaustion by now. If I was a betting man I would go for an entry into service of May next year.....for what that`s worth.

[Cabin-boy]

19 minutes ago, Paully said:

If I was a betting man I would go for an entry into service of May next year.

Let me guess, that's when you plan to go on holiday and would like to book a nice, clean, factory-fresh cabin. 😀 Ed. 

[Paully]

28 minutes ago, Cabin-boy said:

Let me guess, that's when you plan to go on holiday and would like to book a nice, clean, factory-fresh cabin. 😀 Ed. 

You know me so well mon amis 😂

[jonno]

Personally I don't know what the issue is, MSM was 9 months late, Armorique was 5 months late, there were no conspiracies or conjecture surrounding them?

She's not exactly needed so why all the impatience? BF have said spring 2020 so until they say any different, spring 2020 it is.

[Paully]

I think the conjecture is due to the yard having and still undergoing serious financial issues. Then BF put back opening the summer bookings. Again the conjecture being they dont know what cards they have in the pack, or when they will get the full deck. When asked recently for an entry into service, they obfuscate to a high degree. 

  Sadly its such events that inevitably drive speculation. Its human nature......as long as it never gets as bad as the recent Thomas Cook on another forum though

[Gareth]

My question was simply what is the reason for the continuing delay?

[Cabin-boy]

12 minutes ago, jonno said:

Personally I don't know what the issue is, MSM was 9 months late, Armorique was 5 months late, there were no conspiracies or conjecture surrounding them?

She's not exactly needed so why all the impatience? BF have said spring 2020 so until they say any different, spring 2020 it is.

But in that case why didn't they say that originally ('...by June 2020') and then get a lot of good publicity by announcing she would actually be in service ahead of schedule? Surely that makes more sense. Ed.

[jonno]

 

9 minutes ago, Cabin-boy said:

But in that case why didn't they say that originally ('...by June 2020') and then get a lot of good publicity by announcing she would actually be in service ahead of schedule? Surely that makes more sense. Ed.

Ed, the BF Honfleur site says the sea trials will commence in November 2019, delivery will be December 2019 and she enters service in March 2020.

[Cabin-boy]

I was referring to the original press announcements which said she'd be in service by June 2019 (I think). My point is that if they know that such complex projects are generally delivered late (be it 2 or 12 months) why not be cautious and give yourself extra leeway to get the vessel up and running and then introduce her early if the circumstances allow rather than have to admit to delays?

I always give myself 8 days for a 5,000 word translation project, for example, and share that deadline with my customer. I generally only need 5 days (assuming there are not hiccups) and therefore normally send them the work ahead of schedule which generates good will and a sense of satisfaction on their behalf, especially as they often submit the original later than promised due to last minute changes. 

Ed.