Steam Packet Warns Of Disruption To Sailings

[Banker]

6 hours ago, finlo said:

Nice to see since the government got it's grubby mitts's on the racket it's gone from highly profitable to something else that looses millions every year and having the neck to call it a " marked improvement"!

Obviously didn’t bother reading the report!! It was for 2021 when TT etc was cancelled & Covid restrictions still in place & boats were running with very few passengers for long periods!!

[x-in-man]

8 minutes ago, Banker said:

 boats were running with very few passengers for long periods!!

..unless you were a welder, builder, banker, going to a rich lasses party etc etc etc

[SuperHans]

1 hour ago, x-in-man said:

..unless you were a welder, builder, banker, going to a rich lasses party etc etc etc

They made the ferry stick to the UA throughout the CV-19 period which was madness. We need freight fair enough but the Mannannan was running with 5 people on it most of the time burning a huge amount of fuel just to meet the terms of the UA. It was insanity. That’s why they lost a lot of the money. 

[Roger Mexico]

2 hours ago, Banker said:

Obviously didn’t bother reading the report!! It was for 2021 when TT etc was cancelled & Covid restrictions still in place & boats were running with very few passengers for long periods!!

Which gives rise to the question - why are we (and Tynwald) only getting this now?  The Annual Report was signed off by the Auditors and the Board by the end of March 2022.  There's no reason why the Treasury shouldn't have presented it shortly afterwards, certainly no reason to sit on it for nearly a year.

[TheTeapot]

1 minute ago, Roger Mexico said:

There's no reason why the Treasury shouldn't have presented it shortly afterwards, certainly no reason to sit on it for nearly a year.

I can think of a reason. 

[John Wright]

1 hour ago, SuperHans said:

They made the ferry stick to the UA throughout the CV-19 period which was madness. We need freight fair enough but the Mannannan was running with 5 people on it most of the time burning a huge amount of fuel just to meet the terms of the UA. It was insanity. That’s why they lost a lot of the money. 

That’s not really true. The number of sailings were reduced below UA levels by agreement. That was 2020.

By 2021 sailings were operating normally and quite reasonable numbers, just quarantine, so no visitors, until covid vax levels got to a high level.

There were two ways this could be covered, a government subvention or the steam packet making a loss, and that being covered by government subscribing shares ( capital ) and making loans ( capital ).

It was more a question of government accounting that dictated.

In fact, even in 2020 the loss was actually caused by depreciation, amortisation and write downs, rather than a P/L revenue loss. That’s even more so for 2021.

[Non-Believer]

13 minutes ago, Roger Mexico said:

Which gives rise to the question - why are we (and Tynwald) only getting this now?  The Annual Report was signed off by the Auditors and the Board by the end of March 2022.  There's no reason why the Treasury shouldn't have presented it shortly afterwards, certainly no reason to sit on it for nearly a year.

A bit like the MUA Report? Somewhat quirky, this sudden tardiness in delivering the Annuals.....

[John Wright]

12 hours ago, SuperHans said:

They made the ferry stick to the UA throughout the CV-19 period which was madness. We need freight fair enough but the Mannannan was running with 5 people on it most of the time burning a huge amount of fuel just to meet the terms of the UA. It was insanity. That’s why they lost a lot of the money. 

 

11 hours ago, John Wright said:

That’s not really true. The number of sailings were reduced below UA levels by agreement. That was 2020.

By 2021 sailings were operating normally and quite reasonable numbers, just quarantine, so no visitors, until covid vax levels got to a high level.

There were two ways this could be covered, a government subvention or the steam packet making a loss, and that being covered by government subscribing shares ( capital ) and making loans ( capital ).

It was more a question of government accounting that dictated.

In fact, even in 2020 the loss was actually caused by depreciation, amortisation and write downs, rather than a P/L revenue loss. That’s even more so for 2021.

Just checked. SPCo and Treasury signed a variation of the UA to reduce sailing requirements during covid. It’s referred to in the AR.
 

And depreciation and amortisation was £10.5 million, meaning on trading, ie fares income v operating related expenses SPCo made £7m.

Amongst other good news the value of the pension fund rose by £5.5m.

[0bserver]

6 minutes ago, John Wright said:

 

Amongst other good news the value of the pension fund rose by £5.5m.

Brains in Treasury will be working out how to absorb that into the PSP Black hole

[John Wright]

19 minutes ago, 0bserver said:

Brains in Treasury will be working out how to absorb that into the PSP Black hole

It should have gone up even more in 2022. The steam packet/Merchant Shipping pension schemes are supposed to be wholly funded, ie not paid out of revenue/current contributions like the CS is ( in part ). I doubt they’d have the will, or ability, to stage a raid.

[Andy Onchan]

52 minutes ago, John Wright said:

It should have gone up even more in 2022. The steam packet/Merchant Shipping pension schemes are supposed to be wholly funded, ie not paid out of revenue/current contributions like the CS is ( in part ). I doubt they’d have the will, or ability, to stage a raid.

The Isle of Man.....  Where you can! 

[Mercenary]

14 hours ago, John Wright said:

That’s not really true. The number of sailings were reduced below UA levels by agreement. That was 2020.

By 2021 sailings were operating normally and quite reasonable numbers, just quarantine, so no visitors, until covid vax levels got to a high level.

There were two ways this could be covered, a government subvention or the steam packet making a loss, and that being covered by government subscribing shares ( capital ) and making loans ( capital ).

It was more a question of government accounting that dictated.

In fact, even in 2020 the loss was actually caused by depreciation, amortisation and write downs, rather than a P/L revenue loss. That’s even more so for 2021.

Presumably the P/L cash flow is the main one to watch with £60m of intangible 'goodwill' from the acquisition to lose at some point over the next few years.

[John Wright]

1 hour ago, Mercenary said:

Presumably the P/L cash flow is the main one to watch with £60m of intangible 'goodwill' from the acquisition to lose at some point over the next few years.

But there is now a user agreement for 21 years, which presumably justifies an upward revaluation!

I think the UA variation in 2021 extended the most recent UA by 3 or 4 years due to Covid.

[John Wright]

Arrow is back from charter to CalMac today. Ben goes into dry dock for pre season maintenance and Mannanan takes over the service for two weeks.

Stunning silence as to when the remedial work on Manxman gearbox/final drive will be completed.

Perhaps it’s just as well the SPCo only accepted summer bookings based on capacity of the Ben.

[Banker]

1 hour ago, John Wright said:

Arrow is back from charter to CalMac today. Ben goes into dry dock for pre season maintenance and Mannanan takes over the service for two weeks.

Stunning silence as to when the remedial work on Manxman gearbox/final drive will be completed.

Perhaps it’s just as well the SPCo only accepted summer bookings based on capacity of the Ben.

Hopefully the winds will ease for sailings whilst Ben is out of action.

I was speaking to a senior person in steam packet last month & he said that ManxMan will not arrive until July at earliest as it is getting a new driveshaft/gear box fitted at steam packets insistence.