Condor looking at ways to ease stress on ferries’ engines
Tuesday 21st September 2010, 2:29PM BST.
CONDOR may alter its schedules next year to avoid overstressing the engines on its fast ferries.
The Vitesse and Rapide have been beset by engine problems over the summer months, meaning they have had to run on reduced power, causing delays.
‘We are as frustrated as our passengers by our technical difficulties,’ said Condor managing director Simon Edsall (pictured).
He said each of the three ferries has four engines that were always running close to their maximum capacity.
- Read the full story in the Guernsey Press. See below for subscription details
- To read Guernsey Press stories in full click here for subscription details. Individual editions are now available online.
Island Life
All about Guernsey
Ambassador of the Year 2011
History & Heritage
Visitor Information
Guernsey's government
Campaigns
Voice For Victims
Voice for Victims is a campaign aimed at promoting the rights of those affected by child sexual abuse.
This is Guernsey
Guernsey Press
Useful Links
Every passenger arriving at check in from 1st of
jan wil be issued with a set of oars!!!!!
Report abuse
I think people need to remember that these boats are 14 years old now, after 1000′s of miles service every year, engine problems are bound to happen. I think Condor need to look at replacing either Express/Vitesse with a newer boat on the main UK route.
I think Condor offer an excellent service with an ageing fleet of boats. When compared to other ferry companies in the UK that offer these high speed services, Condor are the most reliable! We should count ourselves lucky!
Report abuse
How can Condor MD keep his job. I have been travelling to/from Guernsey for 18 years and have had constant delys all of that time. Condors motto should be “never knowingly on time”.
Why buy and run these fast ferries in the first place is they cannot cope – new schedules are not the answer – a new MD is.
Also why are the States to gutless to represent the people and withdraw the licence to operate
Report abuse
Simon Edsall has only been the MD for 18 months or so.
And if you withdraw their licence who is going to bring in the goods to the island for the supermarkets etc??
Report abuse
Condor could cut its sailing distances substantially by dropping St Malo in favour of Cherbourg.
Cherbourg is much closer to Guernsey too, and has better links with the rest of France than St Malo.
Report abuse
Condor have already reduced the “stress” on the engines by running at slower speeds, in the interests of cost saving. It takes longer to get to almost all desinations now than it did in, say, 2003. Obviously this is to save fuel too, but it must surely too have the impact of “less stress”?. Basically Condor are angling for a service reduction in 2011, probably with early morning from, and late departures to the UK mainland, neither of which suits Channel Island or UK Travellers to the islands. It will suit, however, UK Travellers going to France, a market which Condor are much more interested in nowadays than their routes to and from the islands.
Report abuse
you on the payroll Paul?
Report abuse
G, no I’m not on the payroll. I’m just fed up of Condor being constantly slagged off by the public. They quickly forget the number of times that Condor come to the rescue due to fog or ash clouds or airport firefighter strikes. Give them a break!
Report abuse
Ok am not that frequent a traveller but every time I’ve used them I haven’t been delayed. I think the perception is once your delayed the once or twice that it’s suddenly ALL the time. Sounds like they keep all their passengers informed and there was a story not long ago about comp and what about the ash cloud when they put on extra sailings and didn’t put up prices? Funny how all the good stuff they do gets overlooked.
I’ve had more flights delayed/cancelled than I have the boat and I’ve had nada from them apart from them putting me on another flight when it’s been cancelled. Oh and let’s not even talk about when I want to change a flight and they charge me an arm and a leg.
And no I don’t work for them before you all start accusing me that I must do as I’m saying something positive.
I actually work for Flybe. Lol ok kidding.
Report abuse
This calling customers by phone to tell them,instead of the weymouth ferry leaving at 9.00pm they will be leaving at 2.30am in the morning is now wearing a bit thin, to arrive in Weymouth at 4.45am.
Condor have now decided to bring in Condor 10, which apparently, has been sat in Weymouth harbour for a couple of months.Is is there for repair too I wonder? Or could they have bought this boat in much sooner?
Report abuse
I agree with Saint Marcouf that a ferry to Cherbourg would be much more convenient than St Malo if you are planning to travel beyond Brittany – Cherbourg only 40 miles from the Normandy landing beaches and Bayeaux, and is much nearer to Paris and the French long distance auto-route network to the South. Can’t see it happening though as Guernsey is basically served by Condor as a stop off between the UK and St Malo and a service to Cherbourg will not attract that many passengers – see what happened to HD ferries on that same route a couple of years ago. I think Condor needs to invest heavily in its boats (and probably buy some new ones) before it can even think about new routes however and/or the States look to see whether there are any other operators who might wish to take over or compete on those routes (I don’t know if there are any or not).
Report abuse
What Condor should do is take a long hard look at how the Caledonian MacBrayne ferries are operated in the inner and Outer Hebrides. They serve islands with populations of 25 up to 15,000 using state of the art ferries, with time tables to suit the population and with the road equivalent tariffs, are very reasonable in price. They never cancel sailings and are extremely punctual. That would be a model of how to do it. And Cal-Mac is registered in Guernsey too. So a local investment.
Report abuse
Cherbourg is no good if you are heading south, you can’t beat St Malo.
Agreed, the boats are already travelling slower than they used to to save fuel.
Lastly , I have been delayed 6 times this summer on various routes and basically Condor gave me a 2 fingered salute when I asked for compensation. So let’s bring back P&O to start a service (if they would have us after the last so called competitive tender a number of years back) For those that don’t remember the public wanted P&O and the States chose Condor to continue.
Report abuse
Condor is rubbish. Condor has always been rubbish. Even when the boats were new they were always being cancelled because someone dropped a tea bag. But as usual, we have had to put up with bad service because nothing is ever done about it.
Report abuse
Condor are always having engine problems. Time for a new compnay I thinks
Report abuse
The fast ferries have long since passed their sell by date and need to be replaced before next year’s season.The space allocated to cars is a joke.Most times it is either the passenger or driver that is trapped and has to climb out of a different door. The seating in the lounges is grossly uncomfortable.The contract should be put out to tender to attract a better operating company.Condor is no longer locally owned so we should have no loyalties to cry over.Does anyone from the States ever read these comments? If so they should take heed and for once do something about Condor.But as usual they will probably take the soft option and do nothing.
George
Report abuse
The essential point about the Cherbourg route is that we should be travelling to the closest major French port – which for Guernsey is Cherbourg.
It is ludicrous that the Contentin peninsular is only 30 miles away yet we have to travel double that distance to get to St Malo.
Report abuse
News Flash,Condor are changing the names of their fast ferries,the Vitesse will now be known as Veryslow and the Rapide will be known as Reallyslow.all that said,T>I>C why not!! use Cherbourg instead of St Malo,it would save them ( Condor) fuel costs and less stress on the engines,
And you never know,costs to passengers might drop also??
Report abuse
In my opinion most of the problems are caused by a number of factors.
Most telling are:
1 – The turn around time allocated in port is too short by at least half. This means that vessels are running late all the time as they over run while loading. The engines then have to be pushed harder to keep anywhere near schedule.
It also means minimal time can be spent by engineers to check nachinery in port.
2 – Vessels at peak times of the year are running very heavily loaded and again engines need to be run at higher loadings to maintain an already almost impossible timetable.
Simple physics show a very heavily loaded vessel requires a greater power to maintain the equivlent speed of a lighter loaded one.
That the above details have not been recognised and addressed smacks of poor management and working knowledge of the vessels Condor operate.
Every engine has a service life, the duration of which is partly dictated by quality of maintenance but also how hard it has been worked over its lifetime.
All will require replacement eventually and this requires substantial investment by the operator – something Condor seem a little slow in coming forward with.
Very poor percieved customer service and seemingly services being cancelled when not full enough to warrant sailing just compounds the poor service record and reputation of the company.
Report abuse
I would welcome the return of traditional ferries operating to anywhere along the south coast.
I know it takes ages to get anywhere but they would be more reliable, go in any weather, and hopefully be cheaper. If they ran two conventional ferries along side the fast cats, with a substancial price difference, people who wanted a quick crossing or who were’nt good sailors would pay the premium rate
Report abuse
I don’t agree the engines are failing because they are used a lot. The diesels down at the power station used to run continously for 2 weeks or more, and at maximum load and they didnt fail that often. That was before we got the cable link.
The Condor diesels are just too old and have probably had their life expectancy curtailed by a lack of maintenance rather than over use.
Report abuse
With regards to Paul,s comments regarding who will bring in freight for the supermarkets should Condor get binned , i believe that passenger and freight service are seperate. That said there is a wonderful alternative in Huelin Renouf who already bring goods in to the islands and are a Channel Island company. Also serve Cherbourg as well , though not passengers
Report abuse