Steam Packet Decide To Rip Off Some More

[Silentbob]

I have recently found out that the IOM Racket has discontinued their frequent traveller bonus scheme, for those of you who dont know what this WAS; if you travelled 5 times, you could hand in your 5 tickets for 20% of their combined values. So basically, if you spent 200 quid 5 times, you got your 6th crossing for free.

 

Racket have said that their prices are so good now, that they no longer feel this is warranted.

 

Thieving tossers, always have been, always will be.

[emesde]

I used to think IOMSP did their best to offer good deals especially "out of season" until I tried to book a short break in September( 9th --14th ).

Best fare for a car and 2 for those dates was £312 and most expensive £342.

For less I could have booked 4 nights in a hotel in France including the Ferry Crossing with a cabin both ways.

Any guesses why passenger numbers were 12% down in May 2006 v May2005

[Albert Tatlock]

Just saw on MR that the Steam Packet will be holding its Round-Island Cruise on July 15th. I always like these trips - gives you a chance to see many places on the island that you don't normally/easily get to see.

 

However, I couldn't help notice that they say "passengers will see the Isle of Man coastline in just over three hours. This year, she’ll set off from Douglas at quarter to seven, and is expected to be back in the harbour by half past eleven".

 

I make that 4.75 hours not just over 3 - a 37% increase. (Probably the same guy that works out the fares!)

[Silentbob]

De-privatize the linkspan, let the competition dock, and see what happens

[Cholmondley-Warner]

De-privatize the linkspan, let the competition dock, and see what happens

The freight hauliers would get their own freight vessel, there would be a price war on freight but as the hauliers control the freight they would win, the Packet freight revenue would decrease (and that is where they make their profit - not from passengers) they would look at ways to cut costs in order to compete and one way would be to reduce sailings to, say, one a day and get rid of the Superseacat, the price for moving freight would decrease because it would travel on the hauliers freight vessel, passenger fares would stay the same or go up and there would be fewer passenger sailings and whether or not this would be good for the Isle of Man in general is a totally different debate

[Theskeat]

The IOMSP will still honour the sale and save tickets, but have stopped new issues, the fares on the IOMSP aint that bad and some good deals are available. Large van and 3 passengers return IOM Belfast 13/8- 20/8/06 =£188.

[Albert Tatlock]

The IOMSP will still honour the sale and save tickets,

Do you know till when they will honour these?

[emesde]

the fares on the IOMSP aint that bad and some good deals are available. Large van and 3 passengers return IOM Belfast 13/8- 20/8/06 =£188.

Just tried to book those dates for Belfast for a small car and 3 . Its now £228 plus fuel surcharge. Oh well there's IOMSP inflation for you

[Theskeat]

The IOMSP will still honour the sale and save tickets,

Do you know till when they will honour these?

 

 

they said to the ned of the year

[Albert Tatlock]

The IOMSP will still honour the sale and save tickets,

Do you know till when they will honour these?

 

 

they said to the ned of the year

Did you see my PM?

[inspector]

I had a quote for the Landbridge fare last week because I'm going to France for a small trip. Bearing in mind I used the Starlight sailings, my ticket quote was £390.

 

I then booked the trip personally and got the Starlight fare at £230 (fuel charge too don't forget), £103 for my trip over the Channel (car and four) and saved myself £60.

 

Dick Turpin would have been proud.....

[The Old Git]

they said to the ned of the year

 

Nice typo!

[manxman8180]

De-privatize the linkspan, let the competition dock, and see what happens

The freight hauliers would get their own freight vessel, there would be a price war on freight but as the hauliers control the freight they would win......

Yeah, right. Of course it's really easy just to get a decent ship nowadys and commence your own ferry service isn't it. Then you have to crew it, load and unload it, berth it. Pay the exhorbitant fees to the Govt (port taxes and linkspan charges).

 

And you expect several two-bit haulage firms to be able to organise that? FFS they couldn't even get my wardrobe here in one piece.

 

Silentbob - What competition? Who exactly is cueing up ready to jump in an basically one round trip sailing a day that makes any decent money (The 0215 from Heysham 1945 return)

 

Just tried to book those dates for Belfast for a small car and 3 . Its now £228 plus fuel surcharge. Oh well there's IOMSP inflation for you

OMG, you mean that the goddamn Steam Packet offer fares which vary according to advance booking and availibility? The charlatans, they should be burned at the stake......Oh, hang on, so does every other fucker in the industry. Surprise, surprise

[Cholmondley-Warner]

De-privatize the linkspan, let the competition dock, and see what happens

The freight hauliers would get their own freight vessel, there would be a price war on freight but as the hauliers control the freight they would win......

Yeah, right. Of course it's really easy just to get a decent ship nowadys and commence your own ferry service isn't it. Then you have to crew it, load and unload it, berth it. Pay the exhorbitant fees to the Govt (port taxes and linkspan charges).

 

And you expect several two-bit haulage firms to be able to organise that? FFS they couldn't even get my wardrobe here in one piece.

 

Silentbob - What competition? Who exactly is cueing up ready to jump in an basically one round trip sailing a day that makes any decent money (The 0215 from Heysham 1945 return)

 

Just tried to book those dates for Belfast for a small car and 3 . Its now £228 plus fuel surcharge. Oh well there's IOMSP inflation for you

OMG, you mean that the goddamn Steam Packet offer fares which vary according to advance booking and availibility? The charlatans, they should be burned at the stake......Oh, hang on, so does every other fucker in the industry. Surprise, surprise

 

Why is it difficult to charter a suitable vessel, the Isle of Man has plenty of ship management companies who would take on the task of locating, crewing and operating a vessel, the loading and discharge is carried out by the relevant port authorities and the port taxes and linkspan charges are currently being paid by the shipping companies anyway. You obviously have no idea about what the two-bit haulage companies actually do for you and the rest of the Isle of Man, without them you couldn't survive and wouldn't even be able to wipe your arse!

 

Go to the quay and watch the trailers being discharged each one costs in the region of £600 to ship (one way) the larger of the haulage companies will ship up to 20 trailers daily, that amounts to somewhere around £12,000 per day and that's only what they ship in, the empty trailers have to be paid for going back off the Island then, so double that figure and you will find that they are paying the Packet £3-400,000 per month, not bad for two-bit haulage companies? Take that figure a bit further and multilply it by the 3 or 4 large hauliers and you get a figure of between £1 and 1.5 million per month, believe me that sort of money will easily charter and operate a freight vessel.

 

There are two things you are correct on, the Packet will take advantage of their unique situation and charge whatever they want and there is no real competition at the moment becuase the harbour user agreement has stifled competition.

 

Look at what McQuarrie paid for the Packet, was it £220 million? they sold their land and offices to the Government for £8 million and their only other asset is the Ben My Chree which cost about £25 million, that means they paid £187 million for fresh air (Goodwill) only they didn't, they paid that sum for the right to go in increasing fares and striping everyone up for the next ten years!

[manxman8180]

Why is it difficult to charter a suitable vessel, the Isle of Man has plenty of ship management companies who would take on the task of locating, crewing and operating a vessel

Locating and crewing maybe, but operating it is a different matter. As it's not just hauliers that use the 'freight' service you would need to provide a service for these customers as well. Your chosen ship will be a freight vessel and subsequently have a passenger limit of 12, so that makes taking the wide vareity of self propelled vehicles more difficult and complex to organise. It will be a fairly slow old tub, for the sort of money you are talking, so you would only get one round trip a day, which would represent a loss of flexibility. Unless. of course, you see the good old days of the Peveril as the way forward.

 

They would need an office to take bookings / enquiries etc, some form of port based staff to deal with checking-in etc.

 

the loading and discharge is carried out by the relevant port authorities

Is it really? No. The entire operation of docking, loading and discharging the vessel (on the Island) is carried out by Steam Packet staff, so there's another wage bill for you to fund.

 

You obviously have no idea about what the two-bit haulage companies actually do for you and the rest of the Isle of Man, without them you couldn't survive and wouldn't even be able to wipe your arse!

Great statement, which, of course, equally applies to the Steam Packet as well. As without them the hauliers wouldn't be able to operate.......... And anyway, I buy my bog roll from Tesco, whose only envolvement with a local haulier is the 800 yard drive along the quay. Even they couldn't fuck that up.

 

Go to the quay and watch the trailers being discharged

I don't really need to, but thanks anyway.

 

each one costs in the region of £600 to ship (one way) the larger of the haulage companies will ship up to 20 trailers daily, that amounts to somewhere around £12,000 per day and that's only what they ship in, the empty trailers have to be paid for going back off the Island then

There is a variety of fare structures for freight depending on what type of trailer you use and what you are shipping, so £600 would be about the maximum one of these companies would pay. But even taking your charge of £600, let's look at a groupage trailer with maybe 400 (conservative estimate)items on board. That equates to about £1.50 each. And we pay how much for additional shipping to the Island? At the end of the day, don't hold the hauliers up as being hard done by, they only pass these costs on to the customer, so it is you and I that pay not them.

 

A lot of the trailers do not have to be paid for going back off the Island, and many that do are not empty. They are used to carry a variety of things off the island, such as scrap, cars, cheese, flowers, furniture etc etc.

 

Your figures of 12 - 15 million a year are probably pretty much correct, but I genuinely think you are underestimating the cost of providing the service in the first place. There is no doubt that the freight service subsidises the passenger operation at times throughout the year, and that is why the two have to be coupled. No regular passenger service could be maintained on it's own.

 

There are two things you are correct on, the Packet will take advantage of their unique situation and charge whatever they want and there is no real competition at the moment becuase the harbour user agreement has stifled competition.

I believe that the linkspan user agreement does have certain clauses in it relating to the increase in fares, but I have no doubt that the management of the Packet outwitted the numpties in the DoT when they were negotiating it. The linkspan was built in the first place to give the Govt some control of the port (as the IOMSPCO owned the other two at that time), naturally the Steam Packet didn't want it at the time, but they have turned the situation around to their advantage obviously.

 

Look at what McQuarrie paid for the Packet, was it £220 million? they sold their land and offices to the Government for £8 million and their only other asset is the Ben My Chree which cost about £25 million, that means they paid £187 million for fresh air (Goodwill) .........

Shock horror, a business that exists to make a profit! Come on, there are many organisations in existence that may have little in the way of tangible assets, but are targetted for buy out because of their potential to make money. And of course, if you are looking to make an investment, if that company has a guaranteed market share for X number of years, it makes perfect business sense.

 

I'm sure the hauliers will have the odd gripe with the SP, but all in all, I'm sure they appreciate the additional flexibility, capacity and reliability of the current levels of service. As I'm sure, deep down, we all do.