LD Lines ceasing Dover to Boulogne route

jcorbygas

Just announced today on their website which I am very disappointed to see - the passenger route finishes 5th September.

PolishBigSpender

It's not a surprise - LD Lines are notorious for chopping and changing things quite rapidly - and given that they don't have a suitable craft for the route, it's no surprise to see it end.

ferryenthusiast

Sadly that is the case, LD Lines have certainly not done themselves any favors with all the swapping of ships, however the end is down to the fact that there is massive over capacity on the short sea routes out of Dover and prices are artificially too low.

This is just the beginning of changes at Dover however as P&O are looking at removing more than just two old ships when they are replaced by new built ships and Seafrance are hanging by a thread and could enter administration at any point.

I think within a year we are going to see less ships, less departures and higher prices.

Takecareofthepennies

ferryenthusiast wrote: »

I think within a year we are going to see less ships, less departures and higher prices.

Hopefully that would encourage another SpeedFerries to enter the scene.

While they were not the most reliable, they sure helped to bring prices down to more realistic levels. Personally, I think that £20 - 25 per one-way crossing with a car is a fair amount.

mikey72

Takecareofthepennies wrote: »

Hopefully that would encourage another SpeedFerries to enter the scene.

While they were not the most reliable, they sure helped to bring prices down to more realistic levels. Personally, I think that £20 - 25 per one-way crossing with a car is a fair amount.

If they could run them full maybe, but that would mean running about half the ferries that run now.

jamsandwiches

We are on holiday in Spain and just had a phone call from UK to tell us our ferry on the 6th is cancelled - now trying to sort it out - what a pain in the bum. :mad:

ferryenthusiast

Takecareofthepennies wrote: »

Hopefully that would encourage another SpeedFerries to enter the scene.

While they were not the most reliable, they sure helped to bring prices down to more realistic levels. Personally, I think that £20 - 25 per one-way crossing with a car is a fair amount.

Those prices were what caused Speedferries to go bankrupt, they were not realistic.

To use your fair amount on a quick calculation:

P&O's new ships at £180million have a rough working life of 30 years, so assuming that they operate 5 return trips each and every day of their life P&O would need nearly £1700 per trip just from Car revenue to cover that cost and that is just to payback the investment in that one ship, not build up the funds for a replacement.

Assuming the ship was full then they would take £3900 in fares at £20 and then loose roughly half of that in Port Taxes. So all in all I think a more realistic fare would be £50-£75 each way, given all the extra costs (fuel, refit costs, crew, insurances etc etc). The last time I spoke to one of the Captains an annual refit was costed in at roughly £800,000 to £1million each year.

Yes admittedly freight is what pays the way, but that is being squeezed due to the economy etc.

withabix

jamsandwiches wrote: »

We are on holiday in Spain and just had a phone call from UK to tell us our ferry on the 6th is cancelled - now trying to sort it out - what a pain in the bum. :mad:

So they've absolved themselves of any responsibility ro re-book you onto another service then??

tenuissent

"The ferries Norman Bridge and Norman Trader will remain operating a combined passenger and freight Dover to Boulogne service until 5 September.
Passengers booked to travel after then will be provided with alternatives, including the company's other routes, and compensated with discounts for future Channel crossings."


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-11056442


Is this not true?