SAILING UPDATES: 2019 Latest News

[Andy]

Looks like Connemara is feeling under the weather:

Quote

CORK TO SANTANDER / SANTANDER TO CORK

Due to a technical problem, sailings between Cork and Santander between 13/09 and 16/09are CANCELLED. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

 

[Paully]

3 minutes ago, Andy said:

Looks like Connemara is feeling under the weather:

CORK TO SANTANDER / SANTANDER TO CORK

Due to a technical problem, sailings between Cork and Santander between 13/09 and 16/09are CANCELLED. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. 

escalator broken down??

[BigDW1946]

10 hours ago, Geezer said:

This is very true, and it will save roughly 2 hours sailing time also, brings back memories of the Oscar Wilde out of Rosslare .... not a bad ship at all.

It's more than 2 hours. We've timed it aboard the WBY and Dublin to come level with Rosslare is nearer 4 hours 

[Andy]

8 hours ago, Andy said:

Looks like Connemara is feeling under the weather:

Connemara’s cancellation has made the Irish press: https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/brittany-ferries-sailing-for-300-passengers-cancelled-hours-before-crossing-950697.html

[tarbyonline]

On 12/09/2019 at 14:23, kgst said:

You might be comparing WBY Rosslare to Cherbourg as there is a strong rumour that it will revert to Rosslare next year  because of the congestion in Dublin Port. There is adverse customer comments on the traffic congestion getting into  Dublin Port & the difficulties if you are towing a caravan or have a Camper. WBY has been regularily  late this year because of it having to wait in Dublin Bay for the Epsilon to clear the Berth and depending on Brexit they may want to give preference in Dublin to commercial traffic next year 

an interesting year ahead certainly...

It’s been particularly bad over the past few weeks after a fatal accident led to new health and safety procedures meaning traffic was backed up into the tunnel.

 

with regard to Rosslare it would be a big U-turn but the rumour is strong.  Though as always we need to account for some wishful thinking too

[Chef]

4 hours ago, BigDW1946 said:

It's more than 2 hours. We've timed it aboard the WBY and Dublin to come level with Rosslare is nearer 4 hours 

Level with Rosslare maybe , but on the Eastern side of St Georges Channel.

Edited September 13, 2019 by Chef

[tarbyonline]

12 minutes ago, Chef said:

Level with Rosslare maybe , but on the Eastern side of St Georges Channel.

I think from the top of my head it’s around the 3hr mark from Dub to Rosslare though Yeats can put the foot down a bit if they want.

Of course Dublin Port is on the doorstep of a huge market as well (not to mention being a lot handier for the 1.6m+ of us north of the border) and gives Irish Ferries a unique selling point.  There are improvements on the way with regard to getting to Rosslare too, but surely ICG will have factored that in when they decided to switch to Dublin.  Irish Ferries are the guys with the figures in any case so will be in a good position to make a call of whether to move back to Rosslare.

Cork to Spain seems to disappear after Nov 4th now.  Can’t see any mention of Kerry on the timetable, nor are any bookings being taken from Cork after that date with less than 2 months to go.

[tarbyonline]

12 minutes ago, tarbyonline said:

I think from the top of my head it’s around the 3hr mark from Dub to Rosslare though Yeats can put the foot down a bit if they want.

Of course Dublin Port is on the doorstep of a huge market as well (not to mention being a lot handier for the 1.6m+ of us north of the border) and gives Irish Ferries a unique selling point.  There are improvements on the way with regard to getting to Rosslare too, but surely ICG will have factored that in when they decided to switch to Dublin.  Irish Ferries are the guys with the figures in any case so will be in a good position to make a call of whether to move back to Rosslare.

Cork to Spain seems to disappear after Nov 4th now.  Can’t see any mention of Kerry on the timetable, nor are any bookings being taken from Cork after that date with less than 2 months to go.

However, as chef says by the time Yeats is level with Rosslare she’s already well out into St George’s channel.  

[des]

What's the problem with the Connemara ? Marinetraffic is showing it en-route to Cork.

The Examiner article was a bit hyperbolic. The person saying €205 wouldn't cover tolls was incorrect - we drove "The length of France" from Roscoff to the Pyrenees and then a bit East before dropping to Pamplona and the tolls were €40 (and that may include a bit from another journey). 

Our total tolls for Roscoff - Bordeaux - Bayonne (ish) - Spain -Bayonne (ish) - Toulouse - Carcassonne - Lyon - Tours - Cap Coz came to circa €180. 

[neilcvx]

She might be towing a caravan which would increase the toll costs considerably.

[Andy]

7 hours ago, des said:

What's the problem with the Connemara ? Marinetraffic is showing it en-route to Cork. 

The news article quoted problem with her ‘motor’, though she made good speed on passage. 

Unusually, she has now sailed up the River Lee and is alongside the berth at Marino Point, whilst Pont-Aven is on the Ringaskiddy berth. First time I recall seeing a BF ship up there. 

[shar^k]

Heading out to France today on the Pont,and due to return on the Connemara Tuesday. What are the chances my second trip to France this year has another cancelled crossing!

[shar^k]

Also why cancel Spanish crossings but not the two French midweek?

[des]

Some pics of the Connemara in Marino Point (mods feel free to move).

[des]

Some pics of the Connemara in Marino Point (mods feel free to move).

[ccs147]

Few pics from earlier this evening of Connemara alongside at Marino Point

[Gareth]

 Think I might have missed a step here - what's the reason Connemara has gone up there?  Lay-by to allow Pont Aven or use the Ringaskiddy terminal seems far-fetched as (a) would be easier to just put to sea for a few hours and (b) there's the other berth on the south side of the terminal that she could have shifted to.  Out of service for a few days for technical attention seems like Santander (where there is a yard) would have fitted the bill better.  Which only leaves medium-term layup as the plausible explanation?

[BigDW1946]

Hope it's not a medium term layup as we're due aboard on 1 October from Roscoff to Cork

[ferrymancork]

She is scheduled to move back to the RoRo terminal this morning at 10AM

[shar^k]

We were talking to passengers on the Pont on Saturday who had been “accommodated” (and compensated for the drive down through France) due to Friday’s canceled crossing to Santander, the common assumption was that there was no technical issue just not enough passengers to make the trip worthwhile. 

I’ve heard of Ryanair canceling flights for this reason, would a ferry company do this??

[neilcvx]

1 minute ago, shar^k said:

We were talking to passengers on the Pont on Saturday who had been “accommodated” (and compensated for the drive down through France) due to Friday’s canceled crossing to Santander, the common assumption was that there was no technical issue just not enough passengers to make the trip worthwhile. 

I’ve heard of Ryanair canceling flights for this reason, would a ferry company do this??

They could and easily put it down to a “technical issue “ and you would never know , not for a minute am I suggesting BF have done this.

[Paully]

Probably no freight booked on..that would be the game changer.

[Gareth]

2 minutes ago, shar^k said:

I’ve heard of Ryanair canceling flights for this reason, would a ferry company do this??

It’s an interesting question.  There have been suspicions in the past that some of BF’s sailings cancelled for “weather” reasons may have had an element of that.  But “weather” is always plausible when there is bad weather around, and the truth there is that it is probably not a black-and-white issue (in that there may be a sliding scale of how bad the weather needs to be to trigger cancellation, that interplays with how well loaded the ship is.

I’ve never come across “technical” issues as a cover for cancellation for lightly loaded sailings though.  This one is not a sliding scale, the ship either does or does not have a technical problem, and it would be difficult to get away with just making that up.

Cancelling any sailing under a cover story when the real reason is light loading is a very risky thing for a ferry company to do. Once the reputation for reliability has been compromised they’d get into a downward spiral that can only have one outcome.  

But, in a way, once that becomes the “talk”, the damage is already half done.  So even if the cancellation (as is likely) bona fide, the challenge BF has is to manage the messages that are getting out.  If the consensus is already that the sailing was cancelled due to light loading, then the task facing BF is how to correct this understanding.  They cannot afford for it to become accepted perception in the minds of the customer base, irrespective of whether or not it has a base in fact.

[shar^k]

1 hour ago, Gareth said:

It’s an interesting question.  There have been suspicions in the past that some of BF’s sailings cancelled for “weather” reasons may have had an element of that.  But “weather” is always plausible when there is bad weather around, and the truth there is that it is probably not a black-and-white issue (in that there may be a sliding scale of how bad the weather needs to be to trigger cancellation, that interplays with how well loaded the ship is.

I’ve never come across “technical” issues as a cover for cancellation for lightly loaded sailings though.  This one is not a sliding scale, the ship either does or does not have a technical problem, and it would be difficult to get away with just making that up.

Cancelling any sailing under a cover story when the real reason is light loading is a very risky thing for a ferry company to do. Once the reputation for reliability has been compromised they’d get into a downward spiral that can only have one outcome.  

But, in a way, once that becomes the “talk”, the damage is already half done.  So even if the cancellation (as is likely) bona fide, the challenge BF has is to manage the messages that are getting out.  If the consensus is already that the sailing was cancelled due to light loading, then the task facing BF is how to correct this understanding.  They cannot afford for it to become accepted perception in the minds of the customer base, irrespective of whether or not it has a base in fact.

This impression is not helped by customers heading into the Brittany Ferries office in cork on Friday morning to query what they could do about their canceled crossing only to find the office closed for “staff training”. 

It should be noted they did the same during the Pont Avens problems. 

[ferrymancork]

Connemara currently shifting from Marino Point back to Ro Ro terminal