Mezeron & Steam Packet Master Thread

[Sean South]

Sorry I digress, kevster it's from Caen - Pompey

 

Is that with Brittany Ferries?

 

Or is it with their rival service - Condor?

What??? You mean that they allow two ferry companies to compete? Shh! Don't tell Mr Woodward or he'll be crying again.

 

alas and alack his business sector is currently in negative growth - for which he fairly and squarely carries the can.

The downturn in the fortunes of shipping is solely the fault of Mark Woodward? Or are you just an ill-informed, opinionated oaf who posts without thinking?

The reason his company is where it is today - sh1tting itself at the arrival of a competitor - is surely down to him isn't it? He should have been legislating for a day like this over the years and building alternative sources of business such as additional routes apart from solely Manx ones. But, I suppose that would have meant competition and he wouldn't have been up for that...

[censorship]

alas and alack his business sector is currently in negative growth - for which he fairly and squarely carries the can.

The downturn in the fortunes of shipping is solely the fault of Mark Woodward? Or are you just an ill-informed, opinionated oaf who posts without thinking?

The reason his company is where it is today - sh1tting itself at the arrival of a competitor - is surely down to him isn't it?

His company, maybe, 'his business sector', which is what PK said, I'm not so sure.

[P.K.]

alas and alack his business sector is currently in negative growth - for which he fairly and squarely carries the can.

The downturn in the fortunes of shipping is solely the fault of Mark Woodward? Or are you just an ill-informed, opinionated oaf who posts without thinking?

The reason his company is where it is today - sh1tting itself at the arrival of a competitor - is surely down to him isn't it? He should have been legislating for a day like this over the years and building alternative sources of business such as additional routes apart from solely Manx ones. But, I suppose that would have meant competition and he wouldn't have been up for that...

 

Sean South, try not to rise to Mr censorships rather low quality trolling. Censorship knows full well I meant Woodward's division in the diverse Macquairie group and not the shipping industry at large. He ignored that to to give himself a platform for a pathetic insulting personal attack as per usual. Low self-esteem would be my guess...

[censorship]

I meant Woodward's division in the diverse Macquairie group and not the shipping industry at large.

Then why didn't you just say that? It only takes a moment to read through your post before you submit it.

[censorship]

knows full well I meant Woodward's division in the diverse Macquairie group and not the shipping industry at large

 

He would have to be psychic to know that, because that is not the meaning of "business sector"

Watch what you say to and about PK, he can be really bitchy when you have the gall to challenge anything he says - he doesn't seem to be a very nice person.

[P.K.]

Sorry I digress, kevster it's from Caen - Pompey

 

Is that with Brittany Ferries?

 

Or is it with their rival service - Condor?

 

What??? You mean that they allow two ferry companies to compete? Shh! Don't tell Mr Woodward or he'll be crying again.

 

The reason I asked the question is because I believe Condor is ultimately owned by - Macquairie!

 

Because from ballaughbiker's post it would seem that competition is just what a Macquairie operation needs...

[IOMRS97]

Does anyone reading this thread seriously think the Steam Packet's present difficulties are a good thing for the travelling public? I've been using the SP Co for more years than I care to remember and of course the service could have been improved and cheaper at times but by and large they have provided a good service as far as I personally have been concerned. Best case scenario is going to be a reduction in service and, probably, higher fares to compensate for loss in freight revenue. In the event of the SP Co going under, don't expect one of the other ferry operators to step in with a vastly improved service and mega-low fares - why would they do that?

I know it's fashionable to knock the Steam Packet but be careful what you wish for......

[Tugger]

knows full well I meant Woodward's division in the diverse Macquairie group and not the shipping industry at large

 

He would have to be psychic to know that, because that is not the meaning of "business sector"

[piebaps]

While not a SP apologist, there's some correction/perspective needed in some of these posts.

 

 

PK - Condor don't sail from Portsmouth to Caen.

 

http://www.condorferries.co.uk/Media/Timetables.html

 

Sean South - its hardly a comparison to match IOM/UK with UK/France. The sheer volume of traffic and choice of routes will mean that there is bound to be competition.

[When Skies Are Grey]

I know it's fashionable to knock the Steam Packet but be careful what you wish for......

 

Monorail Monorail Monorail Monorail Monorail Monorail

[P.K.]

PK - Condor don't sail from Portsmouth to Caen.

 

http://www.condorferries.co.uk/Media/Timetables.html

 

I know.

 

For two years running we have had summer hols in Brittany. Because of the competition on the routes you can get a good deal which basically comes down to you either driving further or sailing further. As per usual it ALL comes down to the £numbers...

[Sean South]

Just to add a little bit of fairness to the debate, I've just booked a sailing from Rosslare to Pembroke for a Camper and One Pax on 6th Nov and Irish Ferries are charging me €340 for the pleasure (Stena were much the same to Fishguard). I've just priced a sailing for same size camper from Douglas to Heysham (similar distance) on the same dates on the SP Website and it's coming up as €180 so in fairness it's a good bit cheaper on the Steam Packet. Credit where it's due.

[Lost Login]

The reason his company is where it is today - sh1tting itself at the arrival of a competitor - is surely down to him isn't it? He should have been legislating for a day like this over the years and building alternative sources of business such as additional routes apart from solely Manx ones. But, I suppose that would have meant competition and he wouldn't have been up for that...

 

If it was his business and he had the authority to make the relevent strategic decisions that I would agree with your argument.

 

But his job is basically to follow the decisions and policies set down by the board of directors and my guess is that they will have been following very closely the line from the undelying shareholder. MW as CEO may be the public face of the Steam Packet but if you think he is the strategic decision maker then I think you are very much mistaken

 

I am not sure what you have against MW, maybe he took stole your girl friend once or made you redundant but I think it is wrong to try and lay the blame at his door. You even had a go at his interview on manxtube which I thought was basically him answering the questions as put fairly honestly. You seem to want him to sit there and say that loosing a substantial amount of freight business will not affect the SP as anything else you see as threats!

 

I am no lover of The SP, but I doubt if any replacement would be much improvement. But I think that critisism should be directed at the SP or its owners rather than just its public face. After all I doubt if he really anything at all to do with the valuing what the current owners decided to pay for it, how it was financed etc

[ballaughbiker]

 

A good firm that doesn't make you feel like a criminal if you want to take a private van instead of a car. And they let you book vans online without the 20 questions the SP Freight Office ask and no declaration forms with the question "why are you travelling with a commercial vehicle" or the like.

 

I did say direct comparisons to x-channel routes were unfair and was just pointing out what I think is great value to what I thought was poor value as a foot pax on SP. Oh, and just to add a bit of fairness to this argument, it would have been cheaper still (€148 all in) to travel from Cherbourg - Rosslare with Irish Ferries (19 hours!) with a cabin but there's no way of getting from Ireland to IOM. Your fare with Irish seems a lot more than the one I was quoted Sean . However I've just got an ordinary car not a camper.

 

think that critisism should be directed at the SP or its owners rather than just its public face

No, he's the one whose job it is to justify this so he's the one to, er, discuss any subsequent points with. Edited November 2, 2010 by ballaughbiker

[Frances]

But I think that critisism should be directed at the SP or its owners rather than just its public face. After all I doubt if he really anything at all to do with the valuing what the current owners decided to pay for it, how it was financed etc

very much agree - no criticism of the actual staff either - but it was obvious from the amounts paid for the SP that the only reason was the potential of monopoly rents that could be extracted via what they thought was a foolproof user agreement. Once a company thinks it is a monopoly then its behaviour changes - the cost of poor decisions (eg as to boat) can easily be passed onto the punters (who of course have to pay the cost of the high price paid as there were few assets left to strip for a quick return) - history would appear to show that the Island's traffic is not enough to keep two companies in business, especially for a reliable PAX service - the SP should have been kept in local hands instaed of going to SeaContainers but at that time there probably was neither enough money but more importantly probably not enough will as Air transport was the glamorous topic - local hands as then feedback from users and the community can have some effect.