Welcome Aboard! / Bienvenue à Bord!
Ferry Fantastic is for all who have an interest in Cross-Channel car ferries past and present.
It features illustrated histories of those that have sailed since the evolution of 'drive-through' over four decades ago.
Keep up-to-date with new features and amendments by checking the Updates page.
Brittany Ferries' Cotentin looks immaculate in early spring sunshine as she makes a lunchtime arrival at Poole from Cherbourg.
photo source: © Barry Quince
Preface
In the 1960's, a time when the Cross-Channel car ferry really began to thrive, the method of 'drive-through' loading through stern and bow doors was at last being exploited. The concept was pioneered by Thoresen's revolutionary 'Viking' series.
Meanwhile, a remarkable British invention was going from strength to strength in the form of the hovercraft. Although incredibly noisy and thirsty for fuel, record breaking crossings in under half an hour had become possible. In a sad and ironic twist of fate it was the very first car carrying hovercraft, The Princess Margaret, which performed the final 'flight' in 2000. Whilst the hovercraft had been consigned to history, the future had already arrived in the form of the aluminium twin-hulled 'Seacat'.
The necessity to accommodate rapidly growing amounts of road traffic on board the Cross-Channel ferries resulted in some extremely utilitarian designs that purely met functional requirements. Economy of scale took precedence over the nicely rounded features of the 'miniature liners'. Numerous attractive vessels were subsequently spoilt by the insertion of extra vehicle decks intended extend their potential useful life. Ugly stability tanks, known as ‘sponsons’, also appeared on many vessels to comply with tightened safety regulations. However, there have been some spectacular looking new vessels delivered in recent years.
The Channel Tunnel was always a source of great fear for seafarers who made their livelihoods on the Dover Straits. It was expected that the Tunnel would take all the traffic underground. Rather than preparing for defeat, the market leader, Townsend Thoresen, built the superb Pride of Dover and Pride of Calais in 1987. These vessels offered the widest ever range of passenger amenities and unprecedented passenger and vehicle capacity. Now after two decades of incredibly reliable service they have proven themselves to be the most successful Cross-Channel ferries of all time in terms of numbers of passengers carried. However, time is running out for the faithful 'Dover' and 'Calais' as P. & O. Ferries have announced that replacement ships will be ordered for delivery in 2010. Twenty three years is considered a grand age for Northern European ferries. The evolution of vessel design has rapidly developed as the business has changed beyond recognition. Rival companies are constantly vying with each other to seize the 'wow' factor.
The Tunnel did successfully capture a significant share of traffic when it opened in 1994. However the market has since grown substantially to compensate for this. In fact Eurotunnel has no where near enough capacity to accommodate the total amount of freight traffic that now crosses the Channel.
Established ferry operators have undergone several painful rationalisations such as the abandonment of the less profitable routes and the amalgamation of rival services. 'Cut-throat' competition from new upstarts has seen the emergence of the 'loss leader' tickets and slim profit margins.
A totally unforeseen source of woe materialised in the form of the 'budget airlines'. This form of competition really caught the ferry companies on the hop. However, it recently inspired Danish entrepreneur, Curt Stavis, to launch a low cost service called SpeedFerries, happily resurrecting sailings between Dover and Boulogne in 2004, after a gap of over eleven years.
The encouraging news is that the Port of Dover is busier than ever and the Harbour Board recently opened two new berths (8 and 9). This can be attributed to the rapid increase in freight traffic, with a record-breaking two million lorries passing through in 2005. This has offset the dramatic collapse in the numbers of tourists travelling by sea. Such is the growth in traffic, four additional berths will open at a new Western Docks terminal to be built by 2012.
It is now French flagged vessels that operate the majority of Cross-Channel ferry services today. Although a modest enterprise when it was formed a decade ago, Seafrance is now a force to be reckoned with. The company operates two of the most highly regarded sister ships on the Dover Straits. Seafrance Rodin and Seafrance Berlioz introduced a combination of emense size, power and opulance which had never been seen before.
Perhaps the most unexpected and audacious success story of recent years has been the expansion of Maersk's Norfolkline from container shipping into the Channel ferry business. The growth of the revived Dover/Dunkerque route has been nothing short of phenomenal. Three purpose-built superferries that eclipsed their rivals in terms of size and interior splendour were brought into service in 2005/6.
The 'pièce de résistance' of the ferry industry in 2008 is the much anticipated debut of Seafrance Molière. The longest and fastest conventional ship on the Channel, she will, indeed, be Ferry Fantastic!
Addendums
Work in progress:
The 'drop-down' index is being rolled out across the site as time allows, along with other improvements. So watch this space...
Contributions:
Readers are encouraged to participate in the Ferry Fantastic project.
Please e-mail your ferry photos and reports to:
ferryfantastic@yahoo.co.uk
Copyright:
Uncredited photos that appear on this site were taken by the webmaster and readers are welcome to use them for non-commercial purposes.
Republication elsewhere is permitted on condition that the original source is credited: www.geocities.com/ferryfantastic
Bandwidth Restrictions:
As this site is hosted free of charge there is hourly data transfer limit on the amount of files that can be accessed in one session.
However, it is possible to go to the 'File' menu in your web browser and select 'Save as...' to archive pages for unrestricted off-line viewing.
From all over the United Kingdom and as far afield as Australia,
the following are thanked for their interest in Ferry Fantastic:
Gary Andrews (Ferries of Northern Europe),
Steve Bloxham,
Trevor Boston,
Julian Crowley (P. & O. Ferries),
Gary Davies (Maritime Photographic),
Ray Goodfellow and John Mavin (Dover Ferry Photos),
Faith Jordan (Ship Images),
Trevor Kidd (Larne Ferry Web),
Rod Main (Newhaven Town Council),
George and Penny Matthews,
Justin Merrigan (Sealink-Holyhead),
Captain Charles Nelson (retired),
Ellie Philpott (Seafrance),
Barry Quince,
Andreas Schröder (AndreasKiel.de),
Carsten Watsack (Just Ferries),
Andy Wells (formerly of Transmanche Ferries).
Most recent Updates: Saturday 10/5/08.