Author Topic: DFDS agree to bareboat charter  (Read 3057 times)

Offline ianwatson

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DFDS agree to bareboat charter
« on: June 22, 2015, 03:22:25 PM »
DFDS have today agreed to bareboat charter Rodin and Berlioz from MyFerry (Channel tunnel)
This means that, from 2 July 2015, DFDS has entered into longterm
bareboat charter agreements for the two ships. In addition,
the agreement gives Eurotunnel a so-called

Offline CedricH

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Re: DFDS agree to bareboat charter
« Reply #1 on: June 22, 2015, 06:52:36 PM »
The buy-option at the end of the charter is because of a clause in the original sale of the vessels to Eurotunnel. They were able to purchase the ships (the rumor goes below market price) on the condition that they would employ ex-Seafrance staff and also that they would not sell them before mid-2017.

It will be interesting to see what DFDS do with their fleet now. They've just installed two new engines in the CALAIS SEAWAYS so I presume (and hope because I really like that vessel) they would want to keep her around a bit to get some return on investment. The BERLIOZ and RODIN are also the best ships on the route from a passenger perspective I think, so I hope they don't change them too much.

For the members less familiar with the fleet on the Dover - Calais run, here are a few pictures.

BERLIOZ:
ShipSpotting.com

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Offline simonwp

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Re: DFDS agree to bareboat charter
« Reply #2 on: June 22, 2015, 07:14:10 PM »
Both Rodin and Berlioz are reported to be in poor internal condition, so there may be some work to do on them. No indication yet as to how many vessels DFDS will now operate on Dover - Calais. Their web-site shows only a two vessel service into July. They may do the work on the vessels first while they work out exactly how they are to operate going forward.

Offline CedricH

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Re: DFDS agree to bareboat charter
« Reply #3 on: June 22, 2015, 07:24:53 PM »
As far as I can see from being a passenger, the ships are cared for extremely well but that only goes as far as the car-decks and the passenger spaces of course. When I travelled on them (at least 6 trips in the last two years) the ships were always extremely clean and on calmer crossings you could smell paint in the car deck. That said I don't know how well the engine spaces were maintained
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Offline simonwp

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Re: DFDS agree to bareboat charter
« Reply #4 on: June 22, 2015, 07:48:21 PM »
The internal condition of the vessels appears to have gone downhill in the last few weeks, reading sites like Tripadvisor etc., with dirty and torn seats, and dirty toilets. I guess that's a result of all the uncertainty for the crew about what was happening.

The interesting thing will be to see how many vessels DFDS operate on the route.

Offline CedricH

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Re: DFDS agree to bareboat charter
« Reply #5 on: June 22, 2015, 08:27:28 PM »
I went with DFDS last weekend so I can't judge that but I can imagine that with the uncertainty. The things you describe are (sadly) commonplace on older P&O ships so not all that bad.

My guess (hope) is that DFDS will operate a three ship service both to Calais and to Dunkerque so they can offer hourly departures from both sides though not through the same port in France. That's just my guess though, it will be wait and see what they come up with.

Interestingly Eurotunnel will keep the NORD-PAS-DE CALAIS for freight and this ship will remain to be crewed by the workers' SCOP which currently operates the other ships as well.

Kind regards
Cedric
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