SAILING UPDATES: 2020 Latest News

[Khaines]

Good job I didn’t book Barf up then wasn’t it - knew this would happen.  Revert back to original plan and scrap this entire year.

[David Williams]

12 minutes ago, Khaines said:

Good job I didn’t book Barf up then wasn’t it - knew this would happen.  Revert back to original plan and scrap this entire year.

As long as it is just your plans that are being scrapped !

[TonyMWeaver]

49 minutes ago, David Williams said:

However there is a use of different descriptions

Bretagne / St Malo is a temporary closure with a restart date

Connemara / Etretat laid up  until further notice

Barfleur - No resumption of service in 2020

... and notice that Normandie Express is still listed, that tells me she's returning next year on the Portsmouth-Cherbourg route.

[TonyMWeaver]

'Armorique' now en route to Le Havre.

[David Williams]

3 hours ago, TonyMWeaver said:

... and notice that Normandie Express is still listed, that tells me she's returning next year on the Portsmouth-Cherbourg route.

I would have thought that it means that it may return, the only suspended ships that are planned to return are the Bretagne and Amorique, I would guess that they will wait to see what the state of play is in a few months before making any decisions.

[colin]

Closed means not operating. Does not mean route is abandoned. When things improve "most" routes will see a service.

[David Williams]

29 minutes ago, colin said:

Closed means not operating. Does not mean route is abandoned. When things improve "most" routes will see a service.

I am sure that you are right, however there are 2 categories of closed:

1) A known period such as St Malo and Roscoff, in these cases the timetable for next year will be amended and bookings continue to be taken

2) An unknown period such as Portsmouth / Cherbourg , Portsmouth / Le Havre & possibly Poole / Cherbourg where it is suspended until further notice & presumably future timetables will not be published - the future will depend on bookings on the other routes plus less need for distancing  / cabins etc..

Note that Poole / Cherbourg has ambiguous wording - there is a guaranteed part of the closure (up to the end of the year), without any statement as to restart date.

ps - I am not convinced that the PA / Galicia will crew change in Cherbourg given one of the Twitter responses.

Edited September 1, 2020 by David Williams

[Botley Dan]

On 31/08/2020 at 15:19, TonyMWeaver said:

Scaremongering by Paul Clifton! Reporters like him revel in the misfortune and hard time’s of others. 

[jonno]

11 minutes ago, David Williams said:

ps - I am not convinced that the PA / Galicia will crew change in Cherbourg given one of the Twitter responses.

I'd agree in terms of Pont Aven but Galica can only berth in Cherbourg... They can't magically make her fit somewhere else like the Plymouth media seem to think... she's to long for the anti collision area for a start.

The press release also mentions that 2021 bookings are, so far, 100,000 up on the same stage during 2019 so I'm not jumping off the deep end just yet.

 

 

 

[TonyMWeaver]

54 minutes ago, David Williams said:

ps - I am not convinced that the PA / Galicia will crew change in Cherbourg given one of the Twitter responses.

BF did respond in a tweet a while ago saying that Galicia would crew change in Cherbourg. I also had a reply from crew member on my page saying the same thing.

[David Williams]

1 hour ago, jonno said:

I'd agree in terms of Pont Aven but Galica can only berth in Cherbourg... They can't magically make her fit somewhere else like the Plymouth media seem to think... she's to long for the anti collision area for a start.

The press release also mentions that 2021 bookings are, so far, 100,000 up on the same stage during 2019 so I'm not jumping off the deep end just yet.

 

 

 

Does that mean that she doesn't fit Roscoff ?

Re the 100,000 extra bookings - I wonder how many used cash or whether they used vouchers !

[elaine80]

1 hour ago, jonno said:

 

The press release also mentions that 2021 bookings are, so far, 100,000 up on the same stage during 2019 so I'm not jumping off the deep end just yet.

 

 

 

How much of that can be attributed to bookings from 2020 being pushed back though by people who wouldn’t normally have booked this early?

[David Williams]

This is the set of tweets that mentioned Galicia timetable changes linked to Cherbourg

https://twitter.com/BrittanyFerries/status/1299350474257240065?s=20

 

Edited September 1, 2020 by David Williams

[LHCity]

Is there an interest in temporarily closing several lines that cover a large area and concentrating all transport supply in Ouistreham? Is proposing 3 departures/day from Ouistreham really relevant to the current climate? We are in the same situation as during the confinement.

[David Williams]

50 minutes ago, David Williams said:

Does that mean that she doesn't fit Roscoff ?

 

I guess that the other option is for the Galicia to call in to Cherbourg on the 2 nighter to switch crews without running a service there,

[LHCity]

3 minutes ago, David Williams said:

I guess that the other option is for the Galicia to call in to Cherbourg on the 2 nighter to switch crews without running a service there,

https://actu.fr/normandie/cherbourg-en-cotentin_50129/crise-du-coronavirus-brittany-ferries-ferme-ses-liaisons-entre-cherbourg-et-l-angleterre_35847722.html

The article does not mention "temporarily" ???

[jonno]

14 minutes ago, David Williams said:

This is the set of tweets that mentioned Galicia timetable changes linked to Cherbourg

https://twitter.com/BrittanyFerries/status/1299350474257240065?s=20

 

I appreciate that but it doesn't change the physical fact of life that an E-flexer can only berth in Cherbourg. They may not sail there due to a revised timetable but that in no way suggests that Galicia can or will sail to another French port. Crew can simply jump on a sailing from Caen and join the ship at Portsmouth

The length of these ships and where they can berth has been discussed ad nauseam on here for the past two years, it's ancient history, the outcome won't change simply to satisfy a theory.

We now have the idea that BF will, on a whim, pootle Galicia along to Plymouth just to see if she may fit. What a load of journo rubbish...Any cursory investigation to see if it's viable would tell you no, not to mention that the naval architects and BF already know full well where their ship can dock. That was discussed long before BF put pen to the charter contract. Every shipowner and operator does the same.

We a year of  "she's replacing BDS so she'll sail to Le Havre", I had a year of saying she won't fit so she won't, guess what? She's not.

I had nearly the same length of time saying BF will switch their new Irish sailing to Rosslare, no one would have it, the usual suspects with the usual derision and sarcasm, guess what? BF did.

There are loads of members now not really bothering to engage with this forum as it's turning into a political & opinion based platform, when opinions are questioned and when met by fact derision and sarcasm are the response.

No one wants to debate or engage.

We've lost HT, we've lost G4rth and now Gareth isn't bothering, me, I don't really bother much anymore either.

Facts stand for nothing on here anymore, all that matters is now opinion regardless of how ludicrous. 

 

 

[TonyMWeaver]

5 minutes ago, LHCity said:

The article does not mention "temporarily" ???

"The Cherbourg-Poole link also remaining closed for the rest of the year, after ceasing its activities at the end of March, there is therefore no longer any way to cross the Channel in 2020 from Cherbourg"

[David Williams]

5 minutes ago, jonno said:

I appreciate that but it doesn't change the physical fact of life that an E-flexer can only berth in Cherbourg.

If it is not running a service but just doing a crew change would it fit in any other logical port, ie a non roro one ?

[Cabin-boy]

7 minutes ago, David Williams said:

If it is not running a service but just doing a crew change would it fit in any other logical port, ie a non roro one ?

I'm not sure there are any except Brest. I don't know how long that detour would take but not too long I suppose. Ed. 

Edited September 1, 2020 by Cabin-boy

[Khaines]

5 minutes ago, jonno said:

I appreciate that but it doesn't change the physical fact of life that an E-flexer can only berth in Cherbourg. They may not sail there due to a revised timetable but that in no way suggests that Galicia can or will sail to another French port. Crew can simply jump on a sailing from Caen and join the ship at Portsmouth

The length of these ships and where they can berth has been discussed ad nauseam on here for the past two years, it's ancient history, the outcome won't change simply to satisfy a theory.

We now have the idea that BF will, on a whim, pootle Galicia along to Plymouth just to see if she may fit. What a load of journo rubbish...Any cursory investigation to see if it's viable would tell you no, not to mention that the naval architects and BF already know full well where their ship can dock. That was discussed long before BF put pen to the charter contract. Every shipowner and operator does the same.

We a year of  "she's replacing BDS so she'll sail to Le Havre", I had a year of saying she won't fit so she won't, guess what? She's not.

I had nearly the same length of time saying BF will switch their new Irish sailing to Rosslare, no one would have it, the usual suspects with the usual derision and sarcasm, guess what? BF did.

There are loads of members now not really bothering to engage with this forum as it's turning into a political & opinion based platform, when opinions are questioned and when met by fact derision and sarcasm are the response.

No one wants to debate or engage.

We've lost HT, we've lost G4rth and now Gareth isn't bothering, me, I don't really bother much anymore either.

Facts stand for nothing on here anymore, all that matters is now opinion regardless of how ludicrous. 

 

 

I am not sure what happened to HT (Hawser Trunnion).  Not sure if he is just not engaging with the forum or he is no longer with us as in unwell or deceased.  Never knew his age or anything.  He’d be all over any Poole - Cherbourg - Barfleur related speculation, and all this news would have him in raptures of speculation,  Last time I think we heard from him was about when Norman Voyager did berthing trials in Poole before LD put the Asturias in.  

[TonyMWeaver]

'Galicia' wasn't due to start Cherbourg to Portsmouth until March 22nd 2021. 'Galicia' is 45ft longer than 'Cap Finistere' but I can't see no reason why 'Galicia' can't stop in Roscoff for crew change. Either that, or they could crew change in Spain.

Edited September 1, 2020 by TonyMWeaver

[BAI4]

10 minutes ago, TonyMWeaver said:

Either that, or they could crew change in Spain.

I can’t see them footing the bill to bus or fly the crew down to Spain - nor the crew wanting to be bussed, or to fly. Them making their own way is out of the question. Safe to say it’ll be a French port. 

[TonyMWeaver]

4 minutes ago, BAI4 said:

I can’t see them footing the bill to bus or fly the crew down to Spain - nor the crew wanting to be bussed, or to fly. Them making their own way is out of the question. Safe to say it’ll be a French port. 

They have crew changed in Spain before.

[LHCity]

25 minutes ago, TonyMWeaver said:

'Galicia' wasn't due to start Cherbourg to Portsmouth until March 22nd 2021. 'Galicia' is 45ft longer than 'Cap Finistere' but I can't see no reason why 'Galicia' can't stop in Roscoff for crew change. Either that, or they could crew change in Spain.

Le Havre - "TGB3" can accommodate a ship of 215 meters. it was not a problem with Cap Finistère. There is an additional mooring never used until now. All moorings were recently renovated at the same time as the terminal facilities.

You can see BDS on Google Map and compare.

 

Edited September 1, 2020 by LHCity