Dover Calais Ferry

Crossing the channel on the Dover Calais Ferry

Photo Update (Spirit of Britain) – October 2010

New pictures of the Spirit of Britain and the Spirit of France, the new supersized ships being built for the Dover Calais Ferry route.

Photo Update (Spirit of Britain) – October 2010

Ship Build Updates, Uncategorized

11/10/2010

STX Europe, Finland.  Some of the more eagle-eyed amongst you may have noticed in last months photo update that the ‘P&O’ painted on the Spirit of Britain looked a bit odd – it turns out it was not finished!  So here is a picture with the finished livery and a photo of our ’sparkly clean’ dedicated car deck…..

 

Spirit of britain, now in her final livery

 

 

The dedicated card deck. Without lorries and coaches, hopefully the car deck will remain this clean for years to come!

 

filed under Ship Build Updates, Uncategorized

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via blog.onenewera.co.uk

I think these new ferries are going to make sailing from Dover to Calais more popular than the tunnel again.

New Dover Calais Ferry Photos

The P & O New Ships Blog has been busy posting lots of pictures from the shipyard in Finland where the new Dover Calais Ferry pair of ships are being constructed.

Photo Update (Spirit of Britain) – September 2010

Ship Build Updates, Uncategorized

20/09/2010

STX Europe, Finland.  With work continuing at pace on both vessels now, I’ve decided to split the photo updates from the yard into Spirit of Britain and Spirit of France separate updates.

As mentioned previously much of the ongoing work on the Spirit of Britain involves the fitting out of the internal spaces and as these begin to take shape we will bring you more pictures of these spaces. 

In the meantime, this months updates shows the final ships livery taking shape and in reply to some of your requests, some more ‘techy’ images….. 

 

The main 'P&O' is now in place and work underway on the two blue bands that run around the vessel. Unfortunately, in this picture its difficult to see the two seperate lines as, just like when painting at home, the yard have used a masking tape type effect to keep their lines straight!

 

The view across the ship's bridge as work commences installing all the equipment required to sail a ship of this scale

 

The Engine Control Room (ECR) looks a little like something from a sci-fi film. In total there is over 700km of cabling onboard the Spirit of Britain!

 

These odd looking green tubes (6 in view) are the air conditioning units for the Spirit of Britain

 

via blog.onenewera.co.uk

I remember when the Herald, Pride and Spirit of Free Enterprise were introduced and seemed just too enormous. But these are a whole scale bigger again. Actually the maximum size possible with current ( and future ) facilities at the ferry ports of Dover and Calais.

Episode 9 Back from France

We came back on this side of the English Channel from France after the weekend away on the Eurostar from Lille, but we could just have easily taken the slower train through the North of France and then Dover Calais Ferry across the English Channel. That's probably what I would have done if I still lived in East Kent rather than London. Anyway, I had to rush straight into doing the weekly podcast as usual, but having been away on a short break in France, I found myself singing one of the songs in French.

A couple of hours back from taking a short break in France, I still wanted to do the weekly podcast but episode 9 nearly got lost forever due a glitch with Ustream. This morning is had processed OK though, so here we have the Andy Roberts Podcast Episode 9 with some new and old songs as usual. I’m still working on the combined song about the walk and the rain, with the six string open tuned in D minor, so I had a go at that one live to kick off the show last night. There’s still more work to be done, but it seems to be a slow process with this one.

The other songs are all played on the 12 string guitar again.

So here are the links for Podcast Episode 9:

 Standard Podcast [00:29:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Subscribe to the podcast RSS feed using the url:

http://andyroberts.me/?feed=podcast

Subscribe in iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/podcast/andy-roberts/id378470885

You can also download the MP3 audio file which is 27.9Mb in size and 29 minutes long from this link

09 Andy Roberts Podcast Episode 9.mp3

There’s also a stored video file from the live broadcast over at Ustream.tv where the podcasting event takes place on Tuesdays at 7.00pm UK time

Video Podcast Episode No 9

Podcast Episode 9 Show Notes

Show notes and information for Podcast Episode 9 broadcast on August 31st, published on September 1st 2010.

Working Title: Changes

Unfinished work with lyrics and music by And Roberts

Biggleswade Stomp

Just a quick blast of the Biggleswade stomp by Andy Roberts and Gaseous Mass

Reason To Believe

An old favourite song by Tim Hardin, which you may know as the A side of Maggie May by Rod Stewart.

San Fransisco – Maxime le Forestier

My favourite song to sing in French, by one of France’s best loved singer songwriters from the 1970s.

Mazet – Andy Roberts

After meeting up with one of my old pals from the Cafe Mazet last week after 30 years, I couldn’t resist playing this one.

Now That I’m Living Here – Andy Roberts

Another Andy Roberts Revival song, I had to relearn the chords to this one last year but ever since have kept it high in the repertoire.

via andyroberts.me

Maybe I'll learn that other song about "The Night Ferry is taking me home again". I remember the night ferry well of course, standing on the Western Docks pier at Dover waiting for the train ferry in the middle of the night and then having to walk all round the port at Calais to catch the train to Paris at the other end. Those were the days... NOt!

Green Ferry Trips Around the World

Sometimes the waterway is both greener and faster than the highway. Though ferries are bigger than cars and usually use more fuel, they can carry hundreds of people and cars at one time. Plus, they are also often the shortest route from point A to point B -- meaning a fraction of the mileage that would be spent in a car. In cities that offer commuter ferries to keep rush hour under control, ferries are also a solution to traffic jams -- meaning less stress as well as fuel consumption.

How Can Technology Reduce Global Shipping’s Fuel Consumption?

There are some great examples around the world so lest hope the Dover Calais Ferry can lead the way in terms of green ferry crossings.

Ramsgate to Ostend cross channel ferry

Transeuropa_ferries

New Cross Channel Ferry Services Available

DirectFerries have announced that they are now offering the Transeuropa Ferries cross channel ferry service between the UK and Belgium.

The Transeuropa Ferries service runs 6 times daily between the ports of Ramsgate in the South East of England and Ostend in Belgium.

A spokesman for DirectFerries commented

Our aim is to provide our customers with a complete online ferry service covering every ferry route in Europe. With the addition of the Transeuropa Ferries service to our product, it gives our customers an alternative to the Dover - Calais and Dunkerque crossings and a more direct option for onward travel to Belgium and Holland.

The cross channel sailing takes around 4 hours, and the crossing is the only direct sea route ferry link between England and Belgium. Prices start from as little as £49 each way for a car and up to 9 people

dover calais ferry news

dover calais ferry offers

Savings on the P&O Dover-Calais ferry crossing. May 7, 2010, 7:44 pm.
As part of “National Ferry Fortnight”, an initiative set up by the
Passenger Shipping Association, if you book your ferry crossing with
P&O Ferries before Sunday 22nd.

PandO Ferries Offer Details - Dover - Calais any duration From £30
each way Dover - Calais any duration From £30 each way from PandO
FerriesOffer

P & O operate the Cross Channel ferries route from Dover to Calais,
Norfolk Line operate from Dover to Dunkirk, whilst LD Line operate
from Dover to Boulogne The slightly longer routes from Newhaven to
Dieppe.

The cost of ferries between Dover and Calais and nearby ports remain
relatively good value – return tickets in August can still be had for
well under £100. But if you are thinking of taking one of the longer
ferry crossings expect to pay more.

PO Ferries announces the arrival of 2 of the largest new ferries ever
between Dover & Calais. The Ships are due for delivery.

Stories from the Dover Calais ferry

In the various roundabouts on the return ferry journey it is
surprising to notice the various drills and machines used to construct
the tunnel under the English Channel from Dover to Calais. If you are
lucky on a clear day from the ferry you can see even the white cliffs
of Dover! Calais is a popular spot for British tourists because it is
too easy, both from the ferry and through the Channel Tunnel and the
price of wine and cheese is so much friendlier.

£19 Dover to Calais ferry Trip

£19 Dover to Calais Trip Plus 6 Bottles of Wine. Sail from Dover to
Calais for just £19 with P&O Ferries, but don; forget to get your car
insurance up to date before taking a cross channel driving holiday in
France.

The recognition of packet routes similar to Dover to Calais in France,
Harwich to Hook of Holland nearby Rotterdam as well as Holyhead to
Dublin meant that holidays in Europe have been increasingly expected
as the norm with British holidaymakers. Getting from Southern England
to Belgium by ferry without a trip across Paris need some careful
research. I think you can catch a train to Dover, then a ferry to
Calais, and train to Brugge without going to Paris. Of course it would
be better to get a ferry straight to Zeebrugge.

Dover Calais Ferry Competition

The main Dover Calais Ferry operators are P and O Ferries and
SeaFrance but with any duopoly there's always room for a third
contender to sneak in through the crack between them, as indeed did P
& O Ferries themselves do back in the days when the ont Dover Calais
Ferries were either Townsend Thoresen (European Ferries) or Sealink.

For example, ferry operator LD Lines has introduced a 'best-value
cross-Channel early-booking' offer from £18 each way via its exclusive
Dover-Boulogne route. The offer is valid for a car and two people.

LD Lines is a subsidiary of Louis Dreyfus Armateurs, a major player in
maritime transport with a fleet of over 60 ships operating worldwide.
LD Lines added the popular Dover-Boulogne crossing to their existing
ferry routes in February 2009. This new service operates year round
and there are four crossings each way during the week.

The Norman Spirit operates the route with a crossing time of just
1h45. The Norman Spirit has capacity for 1850 passengers, 700 cars and
110 freight vehicles.

Bolougne is just thirty kilometres from Calais and it's a much nicer
town to visit for a day trip or indeed to end a motoring holiday in
France. So the Dover Boulogne route is in close competition with the
more numerous Dover Calais ferry fleet.

dover calais ferry 14/12/09

Cheap trip to Calais.

Thought we would take day trip to Calais yesterday as supplies of Wine
ran out. £30 day return was good as far as we were concerned. Got to
Dover and realised Warning Triangle was in the other car.
Travelling Onboard Ferries to France
In the UK, Dover and Portsmouth are amongst the most popular points of
boarding, and these ports run ferries to different international
locations. Calais is one of France's most popular port, and ferries
between Dover and Calais run at very frequent intervals all year
round, even if they are only half full.

dover calais ferry

I used to live in a house up on a hill in East Kent with a great view
of the English channel and the Dover Calais ferry from my living room
window and you could watch the ferries all the way across to the other
side of the English Channel on a clear day.

ferry from Dover

Ferry from Dover to Calais
Plans for simpler train ticketing in Europe derailed
Until May 2007, it was perfectly possible to buy a through ticket from
London by rail and boat (using the ferry from Dover to Calais) to
points on the continent. Through ticketing by Eurostar to various
points in France and Switzerland.

Dover esplanade gets £2m overhaul: New Start - Latest news for Dover Ferry Port
The esplanade is recognised as an important amenity for Dover
residents and is often the first encounter with the town for many
ferry and cruise passengers. The £2m project to revive the esplanade
is funded by the SeaChange programme.

Ferry in English Channel
A longer ferry crossing can mean fewer miles to drive, which means
less petrol and less stress. If you live in Wales or the West of
England, say it would be silly to drive to Dover if your eventual
destination is southern France.We were ready to roll at the glorious
hour of 5am and gave ourselves plenty of time to head to Dover for our
ferry crossing....but the traffic Gods had other ideas. 20 minutes
into our journey and we were at a standstill for well over half an
hour.

A few miles can make an awful lot of difference to paying for your
retirement - if you live in Dover; you have no choice about buying an
annuity before your 75th birthday because if you don't, you may face a
massive tax penalty. ... Now catch the ferry and 90 minutes later move
in to your new home just a few miles away in Calais. After a while you
will qualify as non-UK resident but you still retain your UK pension
rights. Instead of having a UK pension plan, you transfer.