Steam Packet Decide To Rip Off Some More

[John Quaye]

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[manxman8180]

Interesting debate.

 

FYI, current freight fares are as follows:

 

Flat deck trailer up to and including 11.9 metres £608.80 +£1.50 per metre fuel surcharge

i.e. £626.65 one way only

 

Flat deck trailer 12 to 12.4 metres £643.00 +£1.50 per metre fuel surcharge

i.e £661.60 one way only

 

Flat trailer returned empty and double banked i.e. 2 trailers

£15.00 + £1.50 per metre fuel surcharge

 

Box/curtain/fridge trailer £55.43 per metre + £1.50 fuel s/c

i.e 13.6 max length trailer Tesco/M&S etc £774.25 one way only

total return trip price £1548.50

Good post John. Thanks for the up to date figures, mine were going off a few years ago, so were bound to be a bit out of date.

 

I didn't know they raised a charge for Double Banked flats now either, although at a guess I would say that barely meets the port charges??? I'm guessing that MIC must be the biggest haulier in terms of 'groupage' trailers at the moment, and my point remains that those charges spread over the sheer number of items you can fit to any one trailer are, whilst expensive on the face of it, manageable to say the least.

 

On a typical overnight sailing my company will have up to 20 trailers on board the Ben My Chree, the cost of shipping these trailers on a one way sailing can be over £14,000 - and yes that figure is for one sailing only and we ship every night of the week.

Again though John, the end customer is the one that pays. All off shore Islands, far flung places (Highlands etc) are charged a premium service for delivery. It's one of the binds of living here I suppose.

 

yes there are certain commodities shipped off the Island, cheese perhaps 3 loads per week, flowers 1 load per week, scrap metal 2-3 per week but that is about it. There are no manufacturers on the Island shipping volume....

Agreed, I was merely pointing out to C-W that you can't simply 'double' the figures for return journeys. And not all (but most maybe) trailers are returned empty.

 

One round trip sailing per day would be adequate for the majority of freight provided the acquired vessel is of suitable capacity.

Perhaps, but it would represent a loss of flexibility compared to the current situation.

 

As regards, a booking system we could accomodate that process within our organisation

Not denying it could be done, but it would require significant additional resources, of both the human and financial variety. And of course, you would need to have all of the hauliers working together with a common voice. Which, considering you are all competitors, is not always guaranteed. In fact, over the years, some of you have had trouble having a civil conversation......

 

and loading and unloading would not present any problems as it would simply be an extension of a process that we already carry out.

You missed the 'smiley' from after this bit as I presume it was 'tongue-in-cheek'. Or is it because your guys drive trailers, so lets just drive them a bit further and put them on the boat, kind of argument. There is a bit more to it than that, and I've no doubt that you know it......