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End of the Portsmouth-Bilbao??? (1 Viewer)

Stephen Dunstan

Stephen Dunstan

Registered User
I have just heard from another source that P&O are to end the Portsmouth-Bilbao service in September.

Does anybody know anything more about this?

Regards,

Stephen.
 
I went on this ferry last August and it was great fun with good views of sea birds and Cetacea. I will hopefully do this trip again, but I guess it will be the last. So many opportunities to record sea birds and Cetacea will now be lost.
 
It was on the news tonight..........apparently the route makes a loss.

I've never travelled this route either and wanted to. Apparently it's ending sometime later in the year so not a lot of time.
 
I was going to post this at lunchtime today however as it hasnt got a full crew yet i refrained as i'm not sure they have all been notified.

The vessel is currently under re-fit at Falmouth Docks and will be until the end of the month.

I work there as a Health and Safety Officer and after speaking to the vessels Master this morning here's the official news.

Capt Hill called a meeting of all his crew at 9am this morning to inform them the vessel is coming off charter, the run coming to an end and the vessel is being returned to it's owners Irish Ferries.

The last run leaves Bilbao on 27th Sept arr Pompey on the 28th. The vessel is then decommissioned for 6 weeks before having another dry dock re-fit to return the ferry back to it's owners.

The location of this re-fit is not yet known.

Whilst Falmouth Docks have possibly lost a vessel that they have re-fitted nearly every year for the last 15 years, whilst we have lost pelagic opportunties we must spare a thought for most of the crew who will lose their jobs. with a crew of around 200-250 some will be lucky enough to get transfers, most will not.

Moral on the vessel this morning was understanderbly low

Hope this helps....
 
Shame. Never been, but would've been my preferred option for getting to Spain if I were to go again. What's the betting this ends up being there best season?

And if they're making a loss - why don't they up their prices a bit (or is that counter-productive), or (sorry Falmouth, traitor that I am, eek), forego the annual refit effort??



(And there's even a highly relevant advert at the bottom of this page, for a change!!)
 
dantheman said:
Shame. Never been, but would've been my preferred option for getting to Spain if I were to go again. What's the betting this ends up being there best season?

And if they're making a loss - why don't they up their prices a bit (or is that counter-productive), or (sorry Falmouth, traitor that I am, eek), forego the annual refit effort??



(And there's even a highly relevant advert at the bottom of this page, for a change!!)
Click to expand...

They have to have an annual re-fit being a passenger carrying ferry. MCA rules. It only has to dry dock every other year but for what they spend these days on re-fit it wont make any difference.

Two years ago the re-fit was worth £1.6m, last year it was worth £0.6m or in other words - £600,000

I thought about suggesting a BF bash on its last run departing Pompey on Sat 25th Sept however at £350 for myself and the wife as foot passengers i'll leave it alone.
 
wow....this was one of the best trips for whales in Europe, maybe the only half reliable trip for bottlenose whales and striped dolphins. What's going to fill that void now?
 
Jos Stratford said:
I know nothing of ferry economics, but £1.6 m is a lot of passengers - seems hardly surprising they aren't making a profit.
Click to expand...

The ferry is 25 years old and carries passengers.

Imagine the cost of an MOT for a 25 year old car. At some point it going to cost to keep it going.

Dont forget that Company Image is also a priority on a passenger carrier ie - It's a large vessel to paint.

In the grande scheme of re-fits £1.6 is peanuts. We recently completed a re-fit for the Mod on the RFA Argus to the tune of £37m

P&O are owned by a Dubai based company so it may not have been P&O's decision to shelve the run
 
I did read that P&O couldn't find a suitable replacement vessel for the Pride of Bilbao, hence the decision to scrap the route, but that strikes me as odd that they would look for a replacement ship for a loss-making route unless the current ship herself is one of the reasons for the route losing money (older ship, more costly to maintain, etc?).
Brittany Ferries do a Spanish route, but that is Plymouth-Santander so I wonder if they would fill the gap left by P&O at Portsmouth?

I went on the PoB in 2005, so I am definitely going to have to do a trip before the ship leaves service in September.
 
Vectis Birder said:
I did read that P&O couldn't find a suitable replacement vessel for the Pride of Bilbao, hence the decision to scrap the route, but that strikes me as odd that they would look for a replacement ship for a loss-making route unless the current ship herself is one of the reasons for the route losing money (older ship, more costly to maintain, etc?).
Brittany Ferries do a Spanish route, but that is Plymouth-Santander so I wonder if they would fill the gap left by P&O at Portsmouth?

I went on the PoB in 2005, so I am definitely going to have to do a trip before the ship leaves service in September.
Click to expand...

Cant see Brittany getting involved. They had two runs out of plymouth which has now been cut down to one. Their vessels are 5 years old therefore running costs should be cheaper.

There was going to be one of two outcomes to this - shelving in Sept or a 3 year extension.
 
thenorthernmonkey said:
Cant see Brittany getting involved. They had two runs out of plymouth which has now been cut down to one. Their vessels are 5 years old therefore running costs should be cheaper.

There was going to be one of two outcomes to this - shelving in Sept or a 3 year extension.
Click to expand...

I didn't realise that Brittany had cut their Plymouth routes.

Edit: here's something I have just found - while looking for something else entirely! - Brittany Ferries doubles service from Portsmouth-Santander. This was dated last month. I didn't actually know that BF went from Portsmouth to Santander, shows how much attention I was paying. Maybe all is not lost for those pelagics.
 
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Correct me if I am wrong but I believe that Brittany Ferries ran Plymouth to Santander, returning to Portsmouth and then going back to Santander before ending up back at Plymouth during 2009. This was a bit of nuisance for people doing a return trip as you ended up at the other port and if you parked your car at one port, it was a bit of a journey to pick it up. I wonder if they will do the same in 2010?

Edit - just checked the Brittany Ferries website and they will be doing Plymouth/Portsmouth to Santander and return from Santander to Portsmouth/Plymouth according to the options to select routes.

So all is not lost as far as cetaceans go.
 
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