Dover Dunkirk service

[Kelvin Davies]

Question; After the Norfolk Line/Maersk operation was taken over by DFDS I was wondering what the changes would be now it is a DFDS operation. I had travelled previously on the Maersk Delft, Maersk Dover etc.
So, this morning I turned up at Dover in time for the 06:00 sailing and boarded .... Norman Spirit!
How does LD Lines come into this equation then? (On the way in to Dunkirk, I saw the old Maersk Delft leaving, now named Delft Seaways.)
Kelvin

[Ferry-Man]

Hi

After the collapse opf Seafrance, DFDS got some sort of partnership with DFDS and chartered them the Norman Spirit, (replacing her with the Norman Voyager) Now they are together they are also aiming to start a Dover-Calais service

[Hawkeye]

Quote - After the collapse opf Seafrance, DFDS got some sort of partnership with DFDS and chartered them the Norman Spirit, (replacing her with the Norman Voyager) Now they are together they are also aiming to start a Dover-Calais service - Unquote.

DFDS in partnership with DFDS? Should be LD perhaps?

The Norman Spirit was chartered by DFDS from LD lines to help with the extra traffic caused by the Seafrance ships being laid up.
They were looking at taking over as a partnership, but this was rejected as the bid was too low. They never upped the bid due to the reaction of the French Union involved. The SCOP project was also rejected, so Seafrance was closed down.
All we can do now is to watch this space to see what happens next.

The three original ships were all renamed when DFDS took over from Maersk (Norfolk Line). A lot of the other DFDS ships were also renamed with the same naming system ie King of Scandinavia became King Seaways.

[Ferry-Man]

Yeah should have been LD 

Well they are starting up a Dover-Calais service with the Norman Spirit and the Cote d'Albatre

(don't ask how with the Cote, unsuitable to the extreme there)

[Hawkeye]

I'm a bit surprised of this news when I heard about it. A big ship & a little ship? Probably only a temperory arrangement, who knows?

[Kelvin Davies]

I made the return trip last night and this time it was on the Delft Seaways.
I remember Bob Scott making a comment about this service when DFDS took it over, something about organisation.
Maybe they don't actually have any!
I arrived at the check in at 19:53 for the 22:00 sailing. I was thinking to myself I seem to be making a habit of arriving at the port just in time to see the sailing before mine leaving. By the time I got through passport & security ships, it must have been 19:59 when I headed for my designated lane. A man stopped me, asked for my boarding card and waved me on board!
I guess the man in charge of loading wasn't expecting that! You should have seen his face when I rocked up on the ramp! And then when another vehicle appeared behind me. He was instantly on his radio shouting at someone. OK, I was wedged between 2 big wagons and had to lose 1 stone instantly in order to get in and out of my car but I was on the earlier sailing and quite happy about that!
That soon stopped though. I took my lap top up with me so I could monitor marinetraffic.com as we went through the anchorages. It is always interesting to see what that collection of lights is as you pass them by.
That's when I discovered the change in the service was more than just a name change. They have dropped the free wi-fi service! It seems it is available in the Vip lounge but for common people like me; gone! That left me humping a bloody lap top around the ship like a useless piece of excess baggage for the next 2 hours!
Ah well, at least I was home 2 hours earlier than expected. Well done the person who screwed up the boarding!
Kelvin