Dunlaoire Sea cat gone - I heard they were asking for too much fees to dock? - true?

youareyou

Are some boats not docking in Dunlaoire any more?

Cookie_Monster

Still there at the moment.

www.dlharbour.ie has no news on it

www.stenaline.ie has it timetabled up to the 5th January. Doesn't say whats happening after.

Its taken out of service for 2 weeks early every year for maintenance.

youareyou

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

Still there at the moment.

www.dlharbour.ie has no news on it

www.stenaline.ie has it timetabled up to the 5th January. Doesn't say whats happening after.

Its taken out of service for 2 weeks early every year for maintenance.

I remember reading they were charging millions in docking fees in Dunllaoire and had threatened to dock else where if it was want reduced. So that didnt go through with their threat.

Fratton Fred

There is only one crossing a day now, as opposed to three or four a couple of years back.

I'd heard that there was a bit of a ding dong between DL Harbour and Stenaline, which is a bit stupid really. Losing the ferry would be a big blow to the town.

Cookie_Monster

circa €5 million a year it costs stena iirc

Run_to_da_hills

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

circa €5 million a year it costs stena iirc

I couldn't even see the company make that looking at the amount of passengers on the boat the last time I took it.

Tabnabs

Both the Dun Laoghaire and the Belfast HSS boats are actively for sale according to a ship enthusiasts site I read. Trouble is no one is interested in buying them as their fuel consumption is astronomical (as is the cost) when they are running at design capacity. There is talk of the little sister (HSS 900 design) coming to DL instead, but it's all just speculation really.

Cookie_Monster

What a step backward it would be if we were reduced to conventional ferries:(

I wonder if Irish ferries would be interested in running Swiftie out of DL if Stena pull out.

That'd certainly be another nail in DL's coffin anyway

Tabnabs

I think there's an excellent chance of zero ferries out of DL.

Modern ferries are too large and deep to use DL and if Stena can't make a go of it, it's hard to see anyone else doing so (maybe the Isle of Mann summer service is one exception maybe?). Irish Ferries are unlikely to relocate as it would mean having to hire more staff to run the operation in DL when they can use existing staff to run their two ships out of Dublin port.

One thing is sure is that there are uncertain times ahead for DL harbour.

(DL town on the other hand probably wouldn't suffer greatly with the ferry pulling out. It's questionable just how much money it injects into the local community, most of the ferry passengers just pass through instead of staying. DL is not a destination in itself).

Tabnabs

Very strong rumours that this is the last week for the ferry in DL. Take a long last look if you see it in the next few days! It doesn't look like the end of commercial traffic in harbour as they are keen to get a replacement (or two).

Cookie_Monster

stenaline.ie wrote:

**SPECIAL NOTICE**
The HSS Stena Explorer will cease operating from Dun laoghaire with the final deaparture at 13:30 hrs on Tuesday 5th January 2010 to accommodate its annual re-fit. NO SERVICE from Dun Laoghaire until further notice.

Usually they give a date that'll be back on, I think its gone.

Cookie_Monster

From Victor over in Commuting & Transport

Stena to reduce Dún Laoghaire fast ferry service

LORNA SIGGINS Marine Correspondent

STENA LINE has reaffirmed its commitment to Dún Laoghaire after recent speculation that it might quit the harbour.

However, the large fast ferry, HSS Stena Explorer, will run daily only during summer months and a smaller fast ferry service will be used in the winter months.

Stena says all 60 jobs will be retained at Dún Laoghaire and no redundancies are planned.

It introduced the fast ferry service on its Dún Laoghaire-Holyhead route in April 1996 and at peak it was running up to five round trips daily. However, the catamarans can burn almost three times as much fuel, and at a higher grade, than conventional ships and sailing frequency had been reduced to one trip a day.

The withdrawal of the HSS Stena Discovery in January 2007 from the Harwich-Hook of Holland route due to high fuel costs and its subsequent sale to Venezuela had fuelled speculation that the same might happen on its Irish Sea route.

Stena was also finding the higher cost of berthing in Dún Laoghaire prohibitive – €6.7 million annually compared to an estimated €2 million for Dublin Port, where its ferry base is run by a stevedoring company.

Route director Vic Goodwin told a staff meeting the operating costs and port dues in Dún Laoghaire had “placed severe pressure on the financial performance of this route” but he was confident that a new operating agreement from 2011 would cut harbour dues.

No wonder they were thinking of pulling out, thats crazy money

Reesy

...so Stena are engaged in sh1t or bust negotiating to get the fees down? That'd be how I'd read it.

Good luck to 'em, I say. Can't see how Stena (or the travelling public) get value for those harbour fees!

Amalgam

What's annoying is Stena didn't want to have the fees reduced by much, relatively speaking.. I think it was a million euro. Talks just stalled.

Fratton Fred

doesn't sound like DL Harbour company has much choice, what else are they going to do?

Amalgam

A local paper ran a piece on it, it was unflattering for the Harbour company and Rathdown.. Didn't really shed a good light on the nature and practices of local government.

SerialComplaint

Amalgam wrote: »

A local paper ran a piece on it, it was unflattering for the Harbour company and Rathdown.. Didn't really shed a good light on the nature and practices of local government.

Stories about 'local government are doing ok' don't attract many readers.

Cookie_Monster

Fratton Fred wrote: »

doesn't sound like DL Harbour company has much choice, what else are they going to do?

Nothing they can do, I doubt any other company will touch it. Iirish Ferries certainly won't and I doubt the other freight focused operators will either. Maybe the summer Isle of man ferry would consider using it but I doubt it.

The problem is that one ship is paying for everything unlike in Dublin where multiple ships use the port, reducing fees for each as they are shared around. It would almost be in Stenas interest to have another ferry operating out of DL as long as on a different route to split the harbour costs somewhat

Amalgam wrote: »

A local paper ran a piece on it, it was unflattering for the Harbour company and Rathdown.. Didn't really shed a good light on the nature and practices of local government.

Link by any chance?

Tabnabs

This thread is fairly wild with speculation, so I'll add my tuppence

I wouldn't loose any sleep over poor Stena, they used their muscle to keep DL a Stena only harbour. There were active representations from other shipping companies, but Stena always got their way. According to a recent tender, the harbour will be able to accommodate conventional ferries very soon. The IOM company were extremely keen to get in and they are one of the top contenders. But there are many UK ferry companies who would be interested in getting in on the action also and I think that we could see smaller cruise ships coming into DL also. It's a very interesting time for the harbour, as they seem to have to earn their keep now rather than let Stena pay their wages.

Amalgam

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

Link by any chance?

Sorry, it was paper only I think, one of the local rags you get free at the entrance of the local Tesco.

I just remember the piece because it was a bit seedy, went off in all directions..

Cookie_Monster

Dyflin wrote: »

This thread is fairly wild with speculation, so I'll add my tuppence

I wouldn't loose any sleep over poor Stena, they used their muscle to keep DL a Stena only harbour. There were active representations from other shipping companies, but Stena always got their way. According to a recent tender, the harbour will be able to accommodate conventional ferries very soon. The IOM company were extremely keen to get in and they are one of the top contenders. But there are many UK ferry companies who would be interested in getting in on the action also and I think that we could see smaller cruise ships coming into DL also. It's a very interesting time for the harbour, as they seem to have to earn their keep now rather than let Stena pay their wages.

well, i certainly hope we see more ships and more companies in DL. It such an underutilised resource at the moment.

Tragedy

I'd love if more ferries started operating from DL.

Ever gotten off a ferry in Dublin port between 5 and 7pm in the evening and tried get home southside?

Horrific

Fratton Fred

DL is perfect for foot passengers, I don't even know how you get to Dublin port on foot.

IOM ferries would be great, I'd like to see a summer water taxi to Howth as well, I wonder if it could be done?

Tabnabs

Fratton Fred wrote: »

I'd like to see a summer water taxi to Howth as well, I wonder if it could be done?

I think they call it the DART :pac:

xia

Dyflin wrote: »

I think they call it the DART :pac:

...Rapid...Yeah. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I have the DART, but to get to Howth..? Who do I have to contact to vote for a water taxi?

Cookie_Monster

xia wrote: »

...Rapid...Yeah. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I have the DART, but to get to Howth..? Who do I have to contact to vote for a water taxi?

I'd imagine the DART would still be considerably quicker given the general slow nature of boats

xia

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

I'd imagine the DART would still be considerably quicker given the general slow nature of boats

Not sure how fast or slow a boat would be, but thinking of the shortcut I was hoping it would take less time.
My post probably was driven as well by the fact that I find nothing more boring then to sit on a train for an hour. Sometime the 25 minutes to town are too long for me:o Whereas on a boat I don't get that feeling of boredom.

leeroybrown

Stena are pretty much trying to phase out the HSS boats wherever they can. They're designed based on 1970's/1980's fuel economics and drink jet fuel like oil still costs $30/barrel. They've already slowed them down to try and save fuel but their days are numbered.

Fratton Fred

Didn't the EU impose an increase or a change in duty for marine fuel recently? I know a lot of privte boat owners got hit quite hard by it.

Ok xia, let's hire a boat from Bulloch and start our own taxi service. Even if it takesa twice as long it will be more enjoyable than the DART.

leeroybrown

The HSS runs on aviation (jet) fuel so it's affected by aviation economics not normal boating ones.