The North Boat (Northlink ferries)

[paulb]

your serious. anyone wanting to be on a ferry tonight well your braver than me.

[Kavi Ugl]

To be fair, I've just checked Marine Traffic and everything moving southwards even as far south as east/north east of Scotland is moving at a snail's pace so methinks it's just braaly rough.

 

The officers/crews have a pretty thankless job(and as far as I'm led to believe they're no fans of Serco either) and I know they find it exhausting sailing in the winter conditions.  Remember, they can't chug along at 4kts like a supply ship because with passengers and freight aboard they have to try and make progress(albeit safely) which must be pretty exhausting trip after trip.

Edited January 18, 2014 by Kavi Ugl

[brian.smith]

Policy seems to have changed since their little misshap east of Orkney

[Scorrie]

its just a way of saving money,(no blue paint to buy)they don't care how the ferrys look as long as

they make money in which there no doing this weekend.they should have sailed lastnite but to no avail,

theres no wind sooth of fair isle so they could have gone slowly till they got there and then put on

more engines,dont think there getting soft they are soft,vos trapper left lastnite at 4 knots and the

Shetland fishing boat venture left this morning and was donig 12 knots bye fair isle this after noon.

I think its about time they renewed the officers aboard and got some right seamen,if they had been

paying off in Aberdeen the next day they would have sailed,i think the level of seaman ship aboard

the north boats is declining and should be addressed a.s.a.p,theres thousands of pounds worth of fish,

shellfish and salmon going to be days older because they cant read a forecast

 

Internet mariner.

 

And before the internet every dockyard bar from Lerwick to Guz was full of clowns like you.

 

Stick to playing with yer todger in the bathtub.

[papsy]

Yes am serious paulb,as for kavi ug its a bit fresher now 14hrs on from this morning granted but still

possible for a journey north or south,You all know the route when you sign up and the north sea is not

the place to be if you don't like weather,It probably would be exhausting trip after trip but that's

not happening,as for not liking serco well as the saying goes IF YOU CANT STAND THE HEAT GET OUT,

I hear most off the good officers have left or leaveing which says a lot for the job know,just the certain few whos stuck in a rut doing little or who cant progress that's left there.the hjaltland could

have left last nite with a quick turn around and back to Aberdeen bye to nite,out of four northlink

vessels and not one would move,bring back the days of capt willie Duncan an co

[ll]

Think what is needed more than anything is capable cargo ships. If it comes any weather they are just hopeless and a look at their courses on AIS is like a sailing boat making progress into the wind with a course plotted like the profile of a flight of stairs with multiple 90 degree 'tacking'.

 

Fair enough that 'in the interest of passenger comfort and safety' in these days that they cancel passenger vessels, but they should hire in freight vessels that are fit for purpose. 

 

With the Hamnavoe in dry dock, the Helliar's lack of service is just a joke, the Pentalina completes 3 return trips every day and is a much smaller boat.

 

When you see a small 80 foot local fishing boat can set off bound for Whitby and record her maximum speed on AIS, whilst a 410 foot lifeline ferry lies strapped to the pier, its high time the service is reviewed.

 

When the operator is going to save up to 33,000 litres of fuel per vessel (and they have 5), they are not going to quibble the maaastaas decision not to sail, On top of these savings, the same level of subsidy which is iro. £110,000.00 per day (£40,000,000.00 per annum), is paid to remain tied up and not provide the lifeline ferry service.

[brian.smith]

Well looking out east of Fair Isle it does not look nice

[Mr Jingles]

its just a way of saving money,(no blue paint to buy)they don't care how the ferrys look as long as

they make money in which there no doing this weekend.they should have sailed lastnite but to no avail,

theres no wind sooth of fair isle so they could have gone slowly till they got there and then put on

more engines,dont think there getting soft they are soft,vos trapper left lastnite at 4 knots and the

Shetland fishing boat venture left this morning and was donig 12 knots bye fair isle this after noon.

I think its about time they renewed the officers aboard and got some right seamen,if they had been

paying off in Aberdeen the next day they would have sailed,i think the level of seaman ship aboard

the north boats is declining and should be addressed a.s.a.p,theres thousands of pounds worth of fish,

shellfish and salmon going to be days older because they cant read a forecast

 

 

Think what is needed more than anything is capable cargo ships. If it comes any weather they are just hopeless and a look at their courses on AIS is like a sailing boat making progress into the wind with a course plotted like the profile of a flight of stairs with multiple 90 degree 'tacking'.

 

Fair enough that 'in the interest of passenger comfort and safety' in these days that they cancel passenger vessels, but they should hire in freight vessels that are fit for purpose. 

 

With the Hamnavoe in dry dock, the Helliar's lack of service is just a joke, the Pentalina completes 3 return trips every day and is a much smaller boat.

 

When you see a small 80 foot local fishing boat can set off bound for Whitby and record her maximum speed on AIS, whilst a 410 foot lifeline ferry lies strapped to the pier, its high time the service is reviewed.

 

When the operator is going to save up to 33,000 litres of fuel per vessel (and they have 5), they are not going to quibble the maaastaas decision not to sail, On top of these savings, the same level of subsidy which is iro. £110,000.00 per day (£40,000,000.00 per annum), is paid to remain tied up and not provide the lifeline ferry service.

 

I think it’s a bit unfair and disrespectful to blame the officers because everone has had to gain there STCW95 qualification in order to sail at their rank.

 

I don’t know what type of ticket is required to skipper that arm chair of yours papsy.

 

Ultimately the Master of the vessel has the last word on if the vessels should sail or not. This puts him in a difficult position as there will be the moaners if it does not sail. Or there will be damage to cargo and injuries to passengers if they sail and its too rough like what happened in December.

 

http://www.shetnews.co.uk/news/7772-northlink-passengers-injured-cars-damaged

 

Which will be followed by the moaners saying he should never have sailed. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

 

I cannot really comment on recent cancellations of the Northlink boats as I am at sea at the moment away from Shetland. But it cannot be to great if the VOS Iona had to return to Lerwick with smashed in bridge windows.

http://www.shetnews.co.uk/newsbites/7860-ship-turns-back

 

II The course you seen of the cargo taking where is was 'tacking' is done quite frequently on merchant vessels. They will Plot a “dog Leg†course for a bit more comfort and to minimize the risk of cargo shifting.

[Scorrie]

There's a huge difference between a small private enterprise going out in all weathers to scrape a living on a relatively small trawler and a large passenger vessel making a decision based upon safety for its passengers.

 

The trawler skipper answers to just himself and a small team of tough, experienced crew, he can choose his weather to suit his commercial needs or his own level of bravery/stupidity. The ferries have to deal with the public and a few hundred thousand poundsworth of easily smashed cargo that doesn't belong to them.

 

But, as I said, it's easy to sit in a chair spouting pish and looking at AIS displays. Not so easy when you are the professionals who actually have to make the decisions. Comparing what a dedicated freighter or fishing boat is doing against a passenger ro/ro service is meaningless. You might as well criticise the local coach company for not following a Land Rover across a muddy field..... 

[Scorrie]

 

its just a way of saving money,(no blue paint to buy)they don't care how the ferrys look as long as

they make money in which there no doing this weekend.they should have sailed lastnite but to no avail,

theres no wind sooth of fair isle so they could have gone slowly till they got there and then put on

more engines,dont think there getting soft they are soft,vos trapper left lastnite at 4 knots and the

Shetland fishing boat venture left this morning and was donig 12 knots bye fair isle this after noon.

I think its about time they renewed the officers aboard and got some right seamen,if they had been

paying off in Aberdeen the next day they would have sailed,i think the level of seaman ship aboard

the north boats is declining and should be addressed a.s.a.p,theres thousands of pounds worth of fish,

shellfish and salmon going to be days older because they cant read a forecast

 

 

Think what is needed more than anything is capable cargo ships. If it comes any weather they are just hopeless and a look at their courses on AIS is like a sailing boat making progress into the wind with a course plotted like the profile of a flight of stairs with multiple 90 degree 'tacking'.

 

Fair enough that 'in the interest of passenger comfort and safety' in these days that they cancel passenger vessels, but they should hire in freight vessels that are fit for purpose. 

 

With the Hamnavoe in dry dock, the Helliar's lack of service is just a joke, the Pentalina completes 3 return trips every day and is a much smaller boat.

 

When you see a small 80 foot local fishing boat can set off bound for Whitby and record her maximum speed on AIS, whilst a 410 foot lifeline ferry lies strapped to the pier, its high time the service is reviewed.

 

When the operator is going to save up to 33,000 litres of fuel per vessel (and they have 5), they are not going to quibble the maaastaas decision not to sail, On top of these savings, the same level of subsidy which is iro. £110,000.00 per day (£40,000,000.00 per annum), is paid to remain tied up and not provide the lifeline ferry service.

 

I think it’s a bit unfair and disrespectful to blame the officers because everone has had to gain there STCW95 qualification in order to sail at their rank.

 

I don’t know what type of ticket is required to skipper that arm chair of yours papsy.

 

Ultimately the Master of the vessel has the last word on if the vessels should sail or not. This puts him in a difficult position as there will be the moaners if it does not sail. Or there will be damage to cargo and injuries to passengers if they sail and its too rough like what happened in December.

 

http://www.shetnews.co.uk/news/7772-northlink-passengers-injured-cars-damaged

 

Which will be followed by the moaners saying he should never have sailed. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

 

I cannot really comment on recent cancellations of the Northlink boats as I am at sea at the moment away from Shetland. But it cannot be to great if the VOS Iona had to return to Lerwick with smashed in bridge windows.

http://www.shetnews.co.uk/newsbites/7860-ship-turns-back

 

II The course you seen of the cargo taking where is was 'tacking' is done quite frequently on merchant vessels. They will Plot a “dog Leg†course for a bit more comfort and to minimize the risk of cargo shifting.

 

 

Well said.

[Scorrie]

Think what is needed more than anything is capable cargo ships. If it comes any weather they are just hopeless and a look at their courses on AIS is like a sailing boat making progress into the wind with a course plotted like the profile of a flight of stairs with multiple 90 degree 'tacking'.

 

Fair enough that 'in the interest of passenger comfort and safety' in these days that they cancel passenger vessels, but they should hire in freight vessels that are fit for purpose. 

 

With the Hamnavoe in dry dock, the Helliar's lack of service is just a joke, the Pentalina completes 3 return trips every day and is a much smaller boat.

 

When you see a small 80 foot local fishing boat can set off bound for Whitby and record her maximum speed on AIS, whilst a 410 foot lifeline ferry lies strapped to the pier, its high time the service is reviewed.

 

When the operator is going to save up to 33,000 litres of fuel per vessel (and they have 5), they are not going to quibble the maaastaas decision not to sail, On top of these savings, the same level of subsidy which is iro. £110,000.00 per day (£40,000,000.00 per annum), is paid to remain tied up and not provide the lifeline ferry service.

 

I know the Pentalina well.

 

She only does a relatively short hop between St Margarets Hope and Gills Bay, A much smaller vessel, too, and she's not a straight roll on/off, there has to be a fair bit of shunting around to get artics and caravans packed on. And she's a cat - so there is absolutely no comparison between the two services.

 

Also, if there's a big blow running, she's been known to abandon any attempt to get in at Gills Bay as it is so exposed to one direction (can't remember which one it is now, it's been 3 years since a was last there) and has had to return to St Margarets Hope - so she is just as susceptible to weather as any other service. 

 

But hats off to Mr Banks and co, they run a good ferry. IIRC he's stated that if he received the same level of subsidy as the Northlink Scrabster/Stromness line, he'd be able to run his service nearly FOC.......

Edited January 19, 2014 by Scorrie

[brian.smith]

Any idea why Nothlink still sitting in Lerwick nothing on their website other than delays possible

[RFR937]

Any idea why Nothlink still sitting in Lerwick nothing on their website other than delays possible

Because the they're a joke !!!! Seriously though , enough is enough ,  quite a few of the local fishing fleet have put to sea and plenty of much smaller oil related vessels are working so I see no reason these great big ships shouldn't be put to sea , nobody is forcing anyone who doesn't sail well to go on them so lets see business get back to business, no salmon or fresh fish has moved in days let alone the shops needing restocked as the shelves are bare , maybe we should give the contract to an oil company , they seem to keep working regardless of weather.

[Ian_H]

On AIS east of Mousa at midnight. Looks as if she left about 11pm.

[Scorrie]

 

Any idea why Nothlink still sitting in Lerwick nothing on their website other than delays possible

Because the they're a joke !!!! Seriously though , enough is enough ,  quite a few of the local fishing fleet have put to sea and plenty of much smaller oil related vessels are working so I see no reason these great big ships shouldn't be put to sea , nobody is forcing anyone who doesn't sail well to go on them so lets see business get back to business, no salmon or fresh fish has moved in days let alone the shops needing restocked as the shelves are bare , maybe we should give the contract to an oil company , they seem to keep working regardless of weather.

 

 

Do try and keep up.

 

There's a good chap.