Ferry Time blog

A Thames ferry service between Canary Wharf and London Bridge is being introduced for the summer 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympics period.

London Docklands and Canary Wharf planners are hiring a 170-seater catamaran to ferry people between the financial district and London Bridge during the Olympics.

Catamaran Ferry on the Thames

The Canary Wharf Group, which owns and manages the estate, announced that a ferry service, hired from Thames Clipper, will run during peak morning and evening rush-hour periods to ease pressure on other transport links.

The only times a catamaran has been hired before have been during Tube strikes and the charges will be same as usual.

Brittany Ferries is a leading ferry company operating on the western and central English Channel with a modern fleet of cross channel ferries.

Brittany ferries sail from Portsmouth, Poole and Plymouth in England, to Cherbourg, Caen, Roskoff and St Malo in Brittany and France, Cork in Ireland, Santander and Bilbao in Spain.

Brittany Ferries Channel crossings from Spain

Bilbao – Portsmouth
up to 2 crossings per week
from 23hrs 45mins

Santander – Plymouth
Infrequent crossings
20hrs

Santander – Portsmouth
up to 3 crossings per week
1 day

Brittany Ferries Channel crossings from France

Caen – Portsmouth
up to 4 crossings per day
from 3hrs 30mins

Cherbourg – Poole
up to 3 crossings per day
from 2hrs 30mins

Cherbourg – Portsmouth
up to 2 crossings per day
3hrs

Roscoff – Cork
Infrequent crossings
13hrs 45mins

Roscoff – Plymouth
up to 2 crossings per day
from 6hrs

St Malo – Plymouth
up to 2 crossings per week
8hrs

St Malo – Portsmouth
up to 2 crossings per day

Brittany Ferries Channel crossings from Ireland

Cork – Roscoff
Infrequent crossings
14hrs

Brittany Ferries Channel crossings from England

Plymouth – Roscoff
up to 2 crossings per day
from 6hrs

Plymouth – Santander
Infrequent crossings
19hrs 30mins

Plymouth – St Malo
Infrequent crossings
9hrs 15mins

Poole – Cherbourg
up to 3 crossings per day
from 2hrs 30mins

Portsmouth – Bilbao
up to 2 crossings per week
from 1 day

Portsmouth – Caen
up to 4 crossings per day
from 3hrs 30mins

Portsmouth – Santander
up to 3 crossings per week
from 1 day

Portsmouth – St Malo
up to 2 crossings per day
from 9hrs

Portsmouth – Cherbourg
up to 2 crossings per day
3hrs

Fastnet Line have announced that popular Short Breaks and Mini Cruise trips to Swansea and Cork are back!

Mini Cruise; Leave the car behind and spend the day in Cork or Swansea, starting from only €49/£42 per person sharing with two nights cabin accommodation. Explore the city or do some shopping and then relax on the MV Julia that same evening.

Short Breaks; Need a few days away? Then a Fastnet Line short break is for you. Spend between three and four days in Ireland or the UK starting from €95/£82 per person sharing with a car, including two nights cabin accommodation.

These special offers are available on selected dates throughout the year. With limited availability on some dates we advise that you book now to ensure you get the very best value on the Irish Sea. Fares are based on two people travelling per booking, and include a two berth inside cabin with ensuite facilities.

Fastnet Line look forward to welcoming you on board to enjoy the bars, restaurants, shopping, casino and cinema.

Is there any news about the Dover Harbour Board proposal to privatise the Port of Dover ?

The last I heard, the scheme was under consideration by Her Majesty’s government with a view to agreeing to the sell off. The problem is that the three Dover Calais Ferry operators, P&O Ferries, SeaFrance and NorfolkLine seem to be in dispute with the Harbour board  over the increased harbour fees, and also there is a loose kind of proposal from the Dover and Deal MP Charlie Elphicke which he calls the “People’s Port” and has been criticised by the previous Labour Party MP Gwyn Prosser.

P&O Ferries have written to the UK’s Secretary of State for Transport looking for clarification on the matter.

P&O are not the only shipping line to be concerned by the board’s plans as Norfolkline, SeaFrance and DFDS have also raised the issue on a number of occasions. P&O Ferries CEO Helen Deeble said:

DHB’s proposal is that Opco [the board’s wholly-owned subsidiary as a company limited by shares] should settle a cash sum of £10 million (US$15.7m) on the Port of Dover Community Trust (PDCT), together with a further amount of cash specifically earmarked for (immediate) use to subscribe for securities of Opco having a value of £20 million at the time of sale. The latter element would be cash-neutral to Opco, as the sum contributed for the subscription would return to Opco as paid-up share capital. Opco will also undertake to enter into arrangements to make regular contributions to the PDCT in its early years, so that the PDCT will have an assured income stream during that period.

Does that throw any light on the matter?

Thought not.

P&O Ferries is looking forward to the launch of Spirit of Britain, by far the largest ferry ever designed for the Dover – Calais Ferry route.

The Spirit of Britain ferry is nearing completion prior to starting service in mid January 2011.

The operator P & O Ferries is building a pair of these new ships, the second being Spirit of France which enters service next September.

“This reflects a certain degree of confidence for the long term as the pair of ships are costing the company a cool €360 million,” said a spokesman from P & O.

P&O Ferries New Ships for Dover Calais

Ypres Battlefields
The historic battlefield landmarks of World War I

Enjoy a relaxing and fascinating short break, full of history and culture and get a unique journey at sea too. Sail with DFDS Seaways and we’ll cruise you overnight to your destination and back again, giving you time to relax and enjoy delicious food and drink, an array of entertainment and more.

4 night Cruise & Hotel Break to Ypres Battlefields from Newcastle

Undertake this battlefield tour of Ypres and visit some of most monumental landmarks of the First World War with guided tours throughout your short break

With picturesque tree-lined canals, fantastic restaurants and cafés, stimulating art galleries, fascinating museums, diamond houses and more, a hotel break to Amsterdam is the perfect cultural getaway. Simply sail away and discover the vibrant Dutch capital now!

What’s Included:
• 2 nights onboard ship in en-suite cabin
• Return transfers to and from ship
• Live onboard entertainment
• 2 nights in the Novotel Leper Centre Flanders Fields
• Breakfast at the hotel
• Dinner at the hotel
• Lunch on all three days
• Local guide on tours

Cross channel ferries are coping with extra passenger traffic from people making their way home after bring stranded by flight ban caused by the volcanic ash cloud from Iceland.

The Port of Dover is running as if it were August with extra sailings, and plenty of spare capacity including foot passenger spaces. Normal turn-up-and-go fares apply.

Eurostar has put on at least an extra 28 trains and says it has 30,000 standard class one-way seats available from today at £89

Tour operators and airlines however, said the backlog caused by the erupting volcano Eyjafjalloekull is so great that it will take up to 14 days to clear.

Many britons held up in Spain are making their way to northern Spanish ports such as Santander to wait for the ferry crossing to Plymouth or else the royal navy ships which are being diverted to help out.

????The new Fastnet line ferry service from Cork to Swansea ( and also of course sailing from Swansea to Cork) begins in March and the ferry company website at http://www.fastnetline.com/special_offers.html is currently showing the following two special offers for March 2010 and one that continues through until June and then after the peak season right up until Christmas 2010.

There were plenty of Ferry operators at the France show 2010 at Earls Court last weekend, from 8th – 10th January.

Some great discounts were available, so for next year find out more about the France show and how to get Ferry tickets via www.thefranceshow.com

Source: BBC News

A cross-Channel ferry to France which has been operating from a Dorset town for the past 17 years will be withdrawn due to declining passenger numbers.

Brittany Ferries said the Barfleur ferry between Poole and Cherbourg had been losing money since 2003 and would be taken out of service in the spring.

But the firm revealed it had bought a new £75m ferry to increase sailings from Portsmouth to northern Spain.

Poole councillor Ron Barker said the move was a blow to tourism in Dorset.

‘Totally devastated’

“Poole and Cherbourg have been twin towns for almost 30 years and it will have a cultural impact,” added Mr Parker, vice chairman of the Poole and Cherbourg management committee.

“This is [also] a bitter disappointment for the economy of both towns with a loss of tourism trade.

“We are totally devastated to lose the Barfleur – 80% of the passengers who travelled on it were from the UK.”

Stephen Tuckwell, from Brittany Ferries, said: “The new ship will operate three days a week to Cherbourg.

“We are also beefing up the number of departures from Poole to Cherbourg using the freight ships, so it is not the end of commercial operation to Cherbourg.

“But it does mean a switch from Poole to Portsmouth.”

Mr Tuckwell went on to say that the high-speed Normandie Vitesse ferry to Cherbourg had “done very well” compared to the Barfleur since its launch in 1998.

He added that “every effort” would be made to “limit the number of job losses” which “would be voluntary”.

Mr Tuckwell also indicated some of the staff could be transferred to Portsmouth to work on the additional services.

It was recently announced that the 24-year-old Portsmouth Continental Ferry Port is to be demolished in January to make way for a new £16m passenger terminal.