Steam Packet Warns Of Disruption To Sailings

[Dirty Buggane]

See they are blaming reduced sailings on an officer having to respond to a family emergency, I wish him/her good luck. 

We are unable to move another officer to cover for two weeks due to work to rule by the crew. If they honestly have to rely on two officers for there whole sailing timetable I would call that quite a wreckless way that the company has set up the staffing levels. Are we getting into the equivalent of the ATC problem at the airport, that  just stinks of bullshit and are trying to blame the unions and crew for there own short-sightedness and muster public opinion on there side. What a bunch of government backed assholes. 

[Happier diner]

3 minutes ago, Dirty Buggane said:

See they are blaming reduced sailings on an officer having to respond to a family emergency, I wish him/her good luck. 

We are unable to move another officer to cover for two weeks due to work to rule by the crew. If they honestly have to rely on two officers for there whole sailing timetable I would call that quite a wreckless way that the company has set up the staffing levels. Are we getting into the equivalent of the ATC problem at the airport, that  just stinks of bullshit and are trying to blame the unions and crew for there own short-sightedness and muster public opinion on there side. What a bunch of government backed assholes. 

If they had 3 officers for the same job you would be the first one moaning about government bloat!

[Andy Onchan]

52 minutes ago, John Wright said:

Where did you get the info that completion was “by end of this week”? Thought practical completion was almost immediately after the deal was announced. That’s when Shoprite ( not ShopRite - different entities in USA and ZA ) head office staff were made redundant.

I'm sure I read somewhere in a local rag that a date in early January was when Tesco stopped accepting any supplies that had been ordered in advance by Shoprite (the previous spelling was from my mobile).

Anyway, the point I was making was, that unless Robbo's have secured a supply contract with Tesco then they'd be stupid to throw money at stock that they would be unable to sell in the former Shoprite stores. 

[Omobono]

1 hour ago, Andy Onchan said:

Isn't it the case that Tesco take over the ShopRite operation completely by end of this week? If Robinsons haven't already secured a contract with them for future biz then I doubt they (Robinsons) would still be ordering fresh produce. Perhaps.

But Robinsons do have an excellent wholesale business  and supply schools hotels ,and catering outlets ,they also prepare vegetables  and supply goods in commercial catering quantities , I hope they survive  they are an excellent operation 

[Yibble]

41 minutes ago, Dirty Buggane said:

I would call that quite a wreckless way that the company has set up the staffing levels.

I'd very much prefer it if IoMSPC continued to be wreckless. 😛

[woolley]

3 hours ago, Andy Onchan said:

Isn't it the case that Tesco take over the ShopRite operation completely by end of this week? If Robinsons haven't already secured a contract with them for future biz then I doubt they (Robinsons) would still be ordering fresh produce. Perhaps.

Please don't. Not even in jest.

[Manxman1234]

1 hour ago, Dirty Buggane said:

See they are blaming reduced sailings on an officer having to respond to a family emergency, I wish him/her good luck. 

We are unable to move another officer to cover for two weeks due to work to rule by the crew. If they honestly have to rely on two officers for there whole sailing timetable I would call that quite a wreckless way that the company has set up the staffing levels. Are we getting into the equivalent of the ATC problem at the airport, that  just stinks of bullshit and are trying to blame the unions and crew for there own short-sightedness and muster public opinion on there side. What a bunch of government backed assholes. 

Stuck between rock and a hard place. Extra crew on payroll increasing fairs further to

pay their wages

 

[Roger Mexico]

1 hour ago, Dirty Buggane said:

See they are blaming reduced sailings on an officer having to respond to a family emergency, I wish him/her good luck. 

We are unable to move another officer to cover for two weeks due to work to rule by the crew. If they honestly have to rely on two officers for there whole sailing timetable I would call that quite a wreckless way that the company has set up the staffing levels. Are we getting into the equivalent of the ATC problem at the airport, that  just stinks of bullshit and are trying to blame the unions and crew for there own short-sightedness and muster public opinion on there side. What a bunch of government backed assholes. 

Yes, that stuck me about their statement as well.  If they're not resilient enough to cope with a single officer being off for whatever reason, then it doesn't say much for their organisational abilities.  And if you're relying on the goodwill of existing staff to get you through even minor crises, then it's probably not a good idea to put them on notice.

Of course there's an argument that they don't really need to to provide an evening/overnight passenger service in January and the Arrow will be covering freight.  And this gets out of the Agreement's requirements for twice daily returns.   But it will be still inconvenient for a number of individuals and businesses, particularly those for travelling for work.

[Roger Mexico]

1 hour ago, Andy Onchan said:

Anyway, the point I was making was, that unless Robbo's have secured a supply contract with Tesco then they'd be stupid to throw money at stock that they would be unable to sell in the former Shoprite stores. 

Tesco took over Shoprite's business which will have included all their existing contracts with suppliers.  I suspect it was timed so the one with Sainsbury's could be terminated quickly (as it was) but those with local suppliers will be allowed to run their course (not least because Tesco won't want the bad local publicity of tearing them up). 

So Robinsons will know when they will be stopping supplying and adjust accordingly. They also have other areas of business to keep them going, not just their own shops but, as Omobono pointed out, in supplying businesses and organisations directly (hotels, restaurants, schools, hospitals, small shops etc).  Shoprite was only ever part of what they did.

[Harry Lamb]

2 hours ago, Dirty Buggane said:

See they are blaming reduced sailings on an officer having to respond to a family emergency, I wish him/her good luck. 

We are unable to move another officer to cover for two weeks due to work to rule by the crew. If they honestly have to rely on two officers for there whole sailing timetable I would call that quite a wreckless way that the company has set up the staffing levels. Are we getting into the equivalent of the ATC problem at the airport, that  just stinks of bullshit and are trying to blame the unions and crew for there own short-sightedness and muster public opinion on there side. What a bunch of government backed assholes. 

You object to the Steamie being 'wreckless'?

[Two-lane]

https://www.manxradio.com/news/isle-of-man-news/ministers-to-meet-with-steam-packet-as-union-action-disrupts-sailing-schedule/

Like being savaged by a dead sheep...

[manxman1980]

The criticism of Manxman is ridiculous.  

When the Ben My Chree was introduced she faced very similar criticism and complaints about cancelled sailings.  There was even an ongoing joke that the SPCo had one vessel which could not leave the harbour in high winds (one of the SeaCats) and one which could not enter or manoeuvre in the harbour in high winds (Ben My Chree).

Everyone was pining for the Lady of Mann.  Whilst she and her sisters were lovely vessels they could not carry freight and were designed for cars/bikes and vans along with foot passengers so required a vessel, the Peveril at the time, to undertake freight services.  

Once people have the chance to travel on Manxman they will wonder what they were complaining about.  She doesn't stink of marine diesel like every other SPCo vessel I have been on and she handles the sea conditions well. 

[ellanvannin2010]

23 minutes ago, Roger Mexico said:

Yes, that stuck me about their statement as well.  If they're not resilient enough to cope with a single officer being off for whatever reason, then it doesn't say much for their organisational abilities.  And if you're relying on the goodwill of existing staff to get you through even minor crises, then it's probably not a good idea to put them on notice.

Of course there's an argument that they don't really need to to provide an evening/overnight passenger service in January and the Arrow will be covering freight.  And this gets out of the Agreement's requirements for twice daily returns.   But it will be still inconvenient for a number of individuals and businesses, particularly those for travelling for work.

I wonder if EU regulation 1177 ( or its post brexit equivalent) applies to these cancellations with regard to compensation and overnight accomodation?.

[woolley]

6 hours ago, John Wright said:

Indeed they are. ManxLine effectively staged a reverse takeover of SPCo and MV became a SPCo boat.

Part of the initial “merger” was abandonment of Liverpool.

We've had twice a day RoPax all year round ever since ManxLine and MV

Dearie me. These memories!! ManxLine, (well, Sealink really, as ManxLine was first to founder in the price war, and had to be propped up by the UK taxpayer via BR's Sealink until the latter was offloaded to Sea Containers in 1984), did indeed stage a reverse takeover of the SPCo, and Manx Viking operated in SPCo colours for a year. However, the twice a day year round passenger service to Heysham did not survive the takeover.

6 hours ago, John Wright said:

Running order was 

Manx Viking 1978 to 1986

Monas Isle April-October 1985

Tynwald early 1986 to mid 1990

King Orry early 1990 to summer 1998

Ben my Chree Tynwald Day 1998

They all did 2 rotations to Heysham daily, all year round, except 

1. Mona’s Isle, which was supposed to take over from Manx Viking after the “merger” but was incapable. MV was then painted in SPCo colours

2. King Orry, because there was pressure to reintroduce a Liverpool service and she was adapted with a side loading car deck entrance for some limited Liverpool use. 

No, they didn't. I know the history and the chronology of the boats, etc, having sailed on all of them and a lot more besides.

Think about it logically if you don't want to believe me. Considering the massive overcapacity which was one factor in bringing both companies to their knees, is it credible that effectively the same service pattern operated previously by the two of them combined should continue, all concentrated on Heysham, with additional seasonal sailings to other ports by variously, Mona's Queen, Lady of Mann, and miscellaneous fast craft? Given that Peveril was the freight workhorse from 1981 to 1998, this would mean 2 passenger and 1 freight = 3 return sailings a day to Heysham all year round. It didn't happen.

I was often on board winter daytime sailings during that period when there were more crew than passengers, let alone a nightime sailing! Who do you reckon was patronising this intensive passenger service while the freight (the whole point of the overnight) was chugging over on Peveril? I recall that they did do a Sunday evening sailing (but no Sunday morning one) with a return overnight/Monday morning, because I sometimes used the outgoing leg when I had to take equipment across in the car with me. Usually nobody on that too.

2 hours ago, A fool and his money..... said:

I think you're wrong.

I'm not wrong. The Steam Packet freight and passenger services were fully integrated for the first time on Ben when new in 1998, and that was what enabled (or necessitated perhaps, in view of the limited accommodation) the reintroduction of twice daily, year round passenger sailings to Heysham. Of course there were seasonal augmentations and extra sailings at busy times, but the basic winter service was 1 passenger and 1 freight return. They used the additional "thousand of seats per year" as a marketing theme at the time it changed.

[woolley]

38 minutes ago, Roger Mexico said:

Yes, that stuck me about their statement as well.  If they're not resilient enough to cope with a single officer being off for whatever reason, then it doesn't say much for their organisational abilities.  And if you're relying on the goodwill of existing staff to get you through even minor crises, then it's probably not a good idea to put them on notice.

Of course there's an argument that they don't really need to to provide an evening/overnight passenger service in January and the Arrow will be covering freight.  And this gets out of the Agreement's requirements for twice daily returns.   But it will be still inconvenient for a number of individuals and businesses, particularly those for travelling for work.

As for resilience, you'd be amazed how many organisations operate in this way, depending on overtime and redeployment. It's the workforce equivalent of "just in time" logistics, and often the only way to be competitive. Bean counters rule.