Support the Ferry to Norway campaign

Any further updates?

I hope they haven't been lead down the garden path on a wave of 'biker mate' goodwill :augie

Genuinely......I stand by what I posted earlier in this thread....if well meaning but ignorant groundswell support has fucked up someone's life.......



Hopefully they will have found an answer to the insurance problem and will make a great little business out of it :beerjug:
 
Ferry entrepreneurs & life savings? Hmmm, more like a wodge of tax money from another business being "re-invested" !
DFDS & Fire ? Hmmm, DFDS is one of the better operators, and P&I club insurance would cover those losses.
The northern EU ferry sector has, over the past few years, been lumbered with increasing fuel costs (admittedly, those costs are now much reduced) and also emissions costs to either install exhaust-scrubbers, or burn low-sulphur fuel on their ships. There was also the loss of duty-free sales which impacted quite markedly on the bottom-line.
Many geo-peripheral ferry routes are overall marginal, financially, and the Newcastle-Norway route fell into that category, hence its demise.

:beerjug:
 
When we first started to do operations at the North Shields Ferry Terminal the Norway route was still running, it went under because it wasn't getting the volume of freight traffic it needed , also the volume of car and passenger carriage was falling.

As the Norwegian economy got better they were less likely to use the ferry for shopping/booze trips (by about 2005 they were carrying about 40% less passengers than they had 10 years previously).

Unfortunately , the promise of maybe half a dozen motorcycles a voyage during the summer season isn't going to go far towards guaranteeing commercial success, if they don't get regular high volume of freight and cars / bulk passengers I can't see it lasting
 
In the late-1990s the route operators were always cap in hand at either the trust port itself, or the local authorities for enterprise grants.

:beerjug:
 
Now all the masses have to do is actually use the service (when and if it it opens) to keep it in business
 
When we first started to do operations at the North Shields Ferry Terminal the Norway route was still running, it went under because it wasn't getting the volume of freight traffic it needed , also the volume of car and passenger carriage was falling.

As the Norwegian economy got better they were less likely to use the ferry for shopping/booze trips (by about 2005 they were carrying about 40% less passengers than they had 10 years previously).

Unfortunately , the promise of maybe half a dozen motorcycles a voyage during the summer season isn't going to go far towards guaranteeing commercial success, if they don't get regular high volume of freight and cars / bulk passengers I can't see it lasting

That's basically it - and any company which bases its business model on tourist motorcyclists - half of which will use the service once in the next three years, the other half not using it at all - - - - - - - - will sink faster than the Titanic. :rob

Al
 
If you have ever been onn the Germany-Norway or Denmark-Norway ferries, you will know that there is a hell of a market for older and middle-aged Norwegians stiil doing shopping and booze cruises.
 
Is there any update on the BRITISH SCANDINAVIAN ferry, I cannot find any more updates on the web. I assume if not much about then it does not look like a 2016 crossing will be on the cards

Cheers

Simon
 
Well, if they can't make a go of it with the price of oil being what it is, then they will never get a better chance.
 
If they don't get organised soon I'll be too late, I'll have booked my trip for next year
 
Any news on this route yet :nenau Its now the sixth month into the year and will be cutting it a bit fine for the few that are hoping it will materialise.
 
Any news on this route yet :nenau Its now the sixth month into the year and will be cutting it a bit fine for the few that are hoping it will materialise.

I think if there was the remotest chance that it was going to happen, it would have happened in plenty of time to secure bookings for the main summer holiday season.

The service ran at a loss for years. A few bikers 'campaigning' and promising to use it occasionally isn't going to persuade an operator to reinstate the route. If there was a real way of making money from it, it would be happening.
 
Well, that went nowhere.
No sign on the horizon either - which is a crying shame.

It is a shame for those who would use it but the reality is that if there was profit to be made in the service, a ferry company would run it.

I suppose one change is that with neither UK or Europe being in the EU, maybe there's potential for some state subsidisation (though that wouldn't be universally popular either).
 


Back
Top Bottom