Dublin Port 2012-2040

Better connections for the ferries, and especially for foot passengers would indeed be a good idea, and the concept of a central check in for ferries could also work, an even better idea would be a facility to give cars and their passengers a suitably discounted rate for the port tunnel, given that to use the tunnel for a morning crossing at present adds a significant extra cost or extra time to the journey to the port. The same is true for an evening arrival, to get out of the port also incurs a premium rate charge, if it truly is a PORT tunnel, then surely, a vehicle with absolute requirement to access the port to connect with a ferry should not be hit with the anti commuter charge.

Some of the ferry crossing times at present are not particularly well suited to public transport connections, and I cannot understand why one of the Stena boats does not carry any foot passengers at all, given the times it runs at. There are buses that serve the ferries, but only one per crossing, and the morning one is not well timed to tie in with anything, so even getting to the port by public transport from somewhere as close as Ashbourne is not easy. Rail that early doesn't work, and buses are possible, but tight.

The cruise ship enhancements are already needed, and are now a high priority, and again, with the port tunnel facility, flying in to Dublin and then joining a cruise ship should in theory be very easy and straightforward to do, but given the ability of too many companies to screw something this simple up, there will undoubtedly be problems making it work properly, and unfortunately, semi states do not have a good track record in this area, and we're talking 2 large ones here, DAA and Dublin Port, and we've seen just how wrong DAA can be on occasions, and that's in the things people see, let alone the operational problems that are ususally only talked about in specialist forums.

If I compare Dublin Port to Holyhead, there are good points and bad points. Holyhead has rail links from the terminal to just about anywhere in the UK, and the station is effectively attached to the ferry terminal. I know that's an accident of history, and goes back to the days of the mail boats, but it is definitely a better service that side. What does let it down, in the same way as Dublin, is that the new berths for the traditional ferries are now a long way from the terminal, and the coaches they use to connect to the ferries are not the best, the terminals at the ship are also pretty poor. The old berths for the ferries were a lot closer, but I am guessing that the inner harbour at Holyhead doesn't have the depth to accomodate the much larger ferries that now operate the route, they have grown exponentially over the last 20 years. Unfortunately for them, the fast ferry concept that Stena spent so much on didn't work out, a combination of high fuel costs and poor reliability, especially during winter months, has meant that their high speed vessel has become more of a liability than an asset, and the terminal for it is now a massive waste of space in many ways. Poor port design didn't help, reversing the HSS into the berth at Holyhead is a nightmare in poor weather, and has caused more than a few crossing cancellations.

In that respect, Irish Ferries at Dublin is a lot better (I've not used Stena as a foot passenger so can't comment on their facilities), the problem is getting to the Irish Ferries terminal, as mentioned, there's one bus per sailing, which is not ideal. What is a LOT nicer is the entire experience, compared to the hassle of travelling by air these days. There is security, and there are ID checks, but nothing as unpleasant as the system that is now the norm at most airports.

Longer term, I can see the ferries becoming a more used resource for foot passengers, depending on what happens long term to the price of oil, but that's not something that can be assumed.

It will be interesting to see how much of the Dublin Prt plan does actually happen, and how well it is implemented.

AngryLips wrote: »

Isn't the requirements of a car ferry sufficiently different from a cruiseliner as to require two different terminals anyway?

The ferries would need separate terminals and berths yes, but that's not what DPA are proposing, my understanding is that they are looking at a common check in for all the ferries, instead of multiple check in locations as used now.

I've never understood why there aren't more services between Dublin and Liverpool given that it is much more of a major population centre than Hollyhead.

Sailing time and operating costs. The Holyhead route can be sailed twice a day with the present ships, the same ships on Liverpool would only be able to do one crossing in each direction per day, so the cost of the crossing would have to be considerably higher to cover the operating and fuel costs.

There are Liverpool routes now, but they don't take foot passengers. Some of the ferries are also freight only, so limited numbers of drivers/passengers, which reduces their cabin requirements, Liverpool is about an 8 hour crossing, OK by day, but really needs a cabin for a night crossing.

At the moment, the money earner is freight, cars are very seasonal and in comparison to freight, more expensive to support, the passengers need facilities that just are not there on freight only services, having used both, I know ,

I suspect that's why Stena have kept the HSS, even though it's only doing one crossing a day during a restricted season, the times it runs at are more convenient for car passengers than for freight, which make it more attractive to the car passengers, being able to get to home, regardless of which side of the water it is, without an overnight stop en route, is a significant factor, and the existing cruise ferry timings make getting home without an overnight stop a lot harder to do.