Euroferries
- 12 January 2009 19:4812624the above company has anounced a new service by fast ferry ramsgate to boulogne staring in march.
crossing time 75 minutes.
their website says nothing more than the above.
is this the same company that had connections with that cove now living in sardinia?
the chap with his glasses on a chain that became a television star. - 12 January 2009 20:1412627Howard yes I saw something about this but the whole thing seems very vague. Even local Ramsgate MP Dr Stephen Ladyman said he wont be celebrating til it actually happens..so there is some caution. Dover will have two new routes this year. One in Feb going to Dieppe as I remember, and the other LD Lines beginnning in July going to Boulogne, which sounds a very exciting option. With the Dover - Boulogne service looking very promising, its difficult to see how a longer route from Ramsgate would be very popular. The ferry companies have indicated 2009 will be a poor year for business so markets will be tight.email: dover7@msn.com
- 12 January 2009 20:2512632Nope not him, that was Chicera Shipping I think, with his BGV and dodgy cheques.
This is the lot (I assume as it is the same name) that were promising the Spirit of Ontario for Dover......Been nice knowing you :) - 12 January 2009 20:3312636that is right paul, chakira ferries!!
euroferries still rings a bell though,dover express tried to find stuff about them but could not.
best if i say no more at this stage, these people usually have good legal teams. - Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
12 January 2009 21:3712654i have read a news item about eurolines,they will be using a fast craft [catermerange]between ramsgate and bougline with a 75 minute crossing.see invictas web site for more info.
- 13 January 2009 07:5312687You mean Euroferries Brian. I'm not sure that the Ramsgate to Bouline service will be that profitable.
LD are working on bringing their Dover Boulogne service in by or during February, which isn't far away.
The Boulogne businesses must be very pleased if they do, but this is all about Dover TO Boulogne, we should also be working on bringing people from Boulogne to Dover - for the benefit of our businesses, especially as the Pound and Euro have almost parity.
Roger - 13 January 2009 11:2312700No doubt, it would be great to have a Dover - Boulogne service up and running again, which hopefully would bring in more revenue to Dover and a great plus factor all round Let's hope it all happens soon.
- 13 January 2009 17:5112726this is the same euroferries that were "talking" about buying a vessel from the states.
it is impossible to get any information from them.
ld lines are a tried and tested operator, i doubt that they will be concerned about euroferries. - Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
13 January 2009 18:3312739only time will tell if euroferries turn up or not. - 13 January 2009 20:1812746brian
where would they turn up from?
people have tried for the last couple of years to find out about them, to no avail.
i remember the express doing a credit check, turned out they are free to buy a jumper in a charity shop, but not much more. - 13 January 2009 20:4012752From Lloyds List. Trouble is no-one has a clue what ferry it could be !!
EUROFERRIES has announced plans to launch a new Ramsgate-Boulogne high speed service as early as March.
The company, which failed in its efforts to launch a Dover-Calais service in 2006, said in a website announcement that it would be using a 98m "state of the art" fast ferry to launch the service but did not identify the vessel.
In 2006, Euroferries had been planning to use the then US-owned Spirit of Ontario to start its Dover-Calais service but failed to conclude the purchase of the vessel from the city of Rochester in New York state.
After long, unexplained delays by Euroferries, the 86.6 m vessel was finally sold to Germany's Förde Reederei Deutschland (FRS) for $30m in May 2007. It is now in service for FRS Maroc under the name Tanger Jet II.
SpeedOne, the catamaran used by recently collapsed Dover Strait ferry operator SpeedFerries for its Dover-Boulogne service, is on the market but its 86 m length would indicate that it is not the right vessel for Euroferries.
The company, which was headed at the time of its previous attempt to break into the English Channel ferry market by former Hoverspeed chief executive Geoffrey Ede, indicated that it intended to start the new service at an undisclosed date in the spring.
It said yesterday that it was currently working on fares and timetables and would be making more information available "imminently".
Former UK shipping minister and MP for Thanet Stephen Ladyman, who was involved in negotiations between Euroferries, the port of Ramsgate and Thanet Council, revealed that the ferry to be used for the new service was due in Ramsgate in mid-February, with a view to going into service on March 1.
He hailed the planned new service as "great news for Ramsgate and East Kent" but warned against jubilation before it got under way.
"I'll breathe a sigh of relief when I see the service started," he said. "We should save our celebrations until then."
If it does start as planned, the new service risks finding itself in competition from the start with a new Dover-Boulogne service planned by Louis Dreyfus Armateurs' ferry and ro-ro subsidiary LD Lines.
The service, originally announced for the summer, is now reported to be set for launch early next month.Been nice knowing you :) - 13 January 2009 20:4512753all very vague paul, just like before.
i would love to know the name of any member of euroferries that was in negotiations with thanet council.
in view of the people made redundant from speedferries, i hope that it is not an elaborate hoax. - Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
13 January 2009 20:5712755as i said howard only time will tell. - 22 February 2009 15:5315884Some more details have emerged of this curious enterprise. It is not a con like Chikara but just seems to me to be a Walter Mitty dream. It seems extraordinary that anybody would be contemplating inaugurating a gas-guzzler fast ferry service from Ramsgate to Boulogne when all the previous fast ferry services from Dover to Ostend/Calais/Boulogne collapsed in a financial mire, when sources of finance have dried up, and when a full car ferry service has just commenced on the Dover-Boulogne route.
Geoffrey Ede, the former managing director of the failed Hoverspeed fast ferries operation, gave the previous incarnation of the Euroferries chimera a tenuous legitimacy, but he has apparently gone off to run a pub in the West Country. One cringes at the memory of their forlorn attempt to obtain the catamaran "Spirit of Ontario" in 2006, when they strung along the City of Rochester N.Y. for aeons with the promise of a cheque in the post until the mayor finally wised up and it was flogged to a company with a genuine source of finance.
The Thanet Strife blog below states that the registered main trading address of VER nominees, who own the Euroferries companies, is in a block of flats in St. Albans and that the nerve centre for Euroferries holdings etc is the domicile of an 87 year old relative in a warden assisted block of flats in Kingston upon Thames.
http://thanetstrife.blogspot.com/2009/02/nerve-centres-of-euroferries.html - 22 February 2009 20:0615905it does sound like someone is either indulging their fantasies, or simply having a laugh.
- 8 March 2009 08:5316828Further to the above, in todays Kent on Sunday the launch of the new cross channel service to Boulogne will start from Tuesday March 31st.the Bonaza Express as it is to be named will make 4 crossings in a 96metre incat.It will take cars,footies plus a limited number of freight and caravans.
Marek
I think therefore I am (not a Tory supporter) - 8 March 2009 10:4316834In January, an English company, Euroferries, announced its intention to launch a new route by fast catamaran between Boulogne and Ramsgate on 16 March. And today this project?
Euroferries still is a virtual operator, but with a long history. Every two years a project resurfaced. It is the elusive sea serpent who rode in the strait. In 2006, Euroferries announced routes would start Dover-Boulogne and Calais-Dover with a fast catamaran, the Spirit of Ontario. After a long series full of twists and turns, the company was unable to provide bank guarantees sufficient. Farewell, therefore the Spirit of Ontario and this project which aims to take the place of fire Hoverspeed. Geofrey Ede, the former director of Hoverspeed, which had joined Euroferries, has been involved in a hotel in the south-west of England.
Beginning in 2009, thus again Euroferries. This time the project is to connect Boulogne and Ramsgate by four daily rotations. A new road that cuts diagonally Strait and dedicated to buses and passengers. For this connection, a fast catamaran is a need for a crossing that does not exceed 75 minutes. To do this, Euroferries planned to charter a ferry with 96 m, Bonanza Express, owned by the company Fred Olsen. For the latest news, it appears that the ship, currently in the Canaries, has been repainted white. Sign that, indeed, it is about to be leased. For the rest, the news is rather thin. It is known simply as meetings, both at Boulogne Ramsgate, are continuing. It was unclear, however, this project will start in mid-March. The work to adapt the gateway English side have not started and it takes it for a good month.
Boulogne later, of course, testing technique with a bus took place. But there is still no reservations open.
It is thus Euroferries Holdings, Limited and Euroferries Euroferries Shipping Limited, all led by a certain Adrian Gillan. These three companies belong to MO Nominees Ltd, headed by Graham Hedley. Who are these people willing to invest while the sector is rather cross in crisis? Response, perhaps in the coming days, unless once again rearing its ugly head back for some time.
http://www.lavoixdunord.fr/Locales/Boulogne_sur_Mer/actualite/Secteur_Boulogne_sur_Mer/2009/02/25/article_euroferries-a-refait-surface-pour-mieux.shtml
The English translation is from google.There's always a little truth behind every "Just kidding", a little emotion behind every "I don't care" and a little pain behind every "I'm ok". - Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
8 March 2009 11:0316836jacqui,nice post there very informative.as ive said its pie in the sky at the moment,when the actule turns up in compny coulers and starts running then i might start believing it has actully happend.this brings on another problem ld lines are currently useing the seacat berth in boulogne,so what happens when both vessals turn up at the same time,who gets prioty to use the berth first?.need i say more. - 8 March 2009 11:3516839The "Bonanza Express" is a Fred Olsen vomit comet which has been running an inter-island service in the Canaries. Her reverse thrust failed as she entered Los Cristianos in December and she powered her way up the rocky beach, since when she has been under repair in Las Palmas. Interesting picture and article below:
http://www.el-sol-news.com/#3 - 13 March 2009 01:4017211Interesting edition of Inside Out South East this week, BBC iPlayer link below.
It followed the fortunes of ex Speed Ferries staff who discovered that their income tax and national insurance deductions had not been passed on to the Inland Revenue and initially had some difficulty claiming benefits. They were disappointed to be told that the designated Euroferries craft "Bonanza Express" would go into service with its own crew.
A reporter went to Ramsgate to view progress and found no trace of any imminent service by Euroferries. Their single page website states that they will commence running on 31st March and will be taking bookings next week. Nobody at Euroferries was available for interview. As Ramsgate is a publicly owned port, he was able to interview the Deputy Leader of Thanet District council who was remarkably guarded and defensive in his replies.
http://tinyurl.com/c47utw
More comment on this program on Thanet Strife, as well as an interesting piece on the price of cucumbers by their shopping correspondent, Granny Smith!
http://thanetstrife.blogspot.com/