Tag: travel

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No cheap, sickly, unreliable catamaran ferries for Scotland

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Professor John Robertson OBA, Navel Architect From the Bournemouth Daily Echo, two days ago: The Condor Liberation has made its final passage through Poole Harbour and out to sea. The ferry made its final departure from Poole at around 10am on Friday morning, March 28,, escorted through the harbour by a flotilla of our Harbour Master’s team and other working vessels, paying tribute to her years of service.1 How many years of service? Originally named Austal 102, it was built Austal at its shipyard in Henderson, Western Australia as a speculative order. It was launched in January 2010 and was laid up at the shipyard … Continue reading No cheap, sickly, unreliable catamaran ferries for Scotland

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Eight months later BBC Scotland tries to undermine zonal pricing for Scotland with evidence and threats reminiscent of 2014 from companies based in England and Spain

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in July 2024 in the National: THE boss of an energy company has said Scotland could have “the cheapest electricity in Europe” if the UK Government introduces regional pricing. Eight months later BBC Scotland feel ready to acknowledge but to undermine the idea, with: Could Scotland have Europe’s lowest electricity bills? The boss of one of the UK’s biggest energy providers says people living in Scotland could have the cheapest electricity in Europe. Greg Jackson, who founded Octopus Energy, wants the electricity market to be reformed to introduce zonal pricing. He argues that if prices were based on local generation, the high … Continue reading Eight months later BBC Scotland tries to undermine zonal pricing for Scotland with evidence and threats reminiscent of 2014 from companies based in England and Spain

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Channel Islanders sickened as new Danish ferry service cancels sailings on very first day due to ‘technical issues’ only days after hearing there will be no Sunday service at all for more than a hundred thousand of them

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Professor John Robertson OBA, International Ferry Correspondent From ITV today: DFDS has cancelled its sailings between Jersey and St Malo for the first day it serves the island. The Danish firm, taking over from Condor, says the cancellations on Friday 28 March are due to “technical issues” with preparing one of their ferries, the Tarifa Jet, to run to and from Jersey. https://www.itv.com/news/channel/2025-03-27/dfds-cancels-sailing-between-jersey-and-france-on-opening-day Surely they checked the boat out a few days beforehand, to enable a professional start to the contract? Kind of makes you think they must be a rubbish company putting profits ahead of passengers? There were warnings. Only two … Continue reading Channel Islanders sickened as new Danish ferry service cancels sailings on very first day due to ‘technical issues’ only days after hearing there will be no Sunday service at all for more than a hundred thousand of them

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SNP Government to give free ferry passes to all under 22 year-old islanders in Shetland, Orkney and Hebrides

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Professor John Robertson OBA In the Orcadian today but getting no mainstream media coverage: Orkney residents aged under 22 will soon be able to travel between islands free of charge, the Scottish Government has announced. The new scheme comes into force at the beginning of April, allowing young residents to travel for free as foot passengers on inter-island ferry services within Orkney by showing their Young Scot or National Entitlement Card. Residents in Shetland and the Outer Hebrides are being given the same government subsidy. https://orcadian.co.uk/under-22s-to-travel-free-on-inter-island-ferries/ Emma Roddick MSP (SNP) had already announced this to a similar media silence in … Continue reading SNP Government to give free ferry passes to all under 22 year-old islanders in Shetland, Orkney and Hebrides

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It’s not a scare story, it’s fact – essential PPE supplies during Covid were prioritised by UK Government for England and denied to care homes in Scotland yet, later, we helped them out

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Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks once again to AR for alerting me to this. Ignored, of course, by BBC Scotland and somewhat downplayed by STV in ‘Scotland didn’t have a Covid PPE VIP lane and we didn’t need one’ at https://news.stv.tv/politics/scotland-didnt-have-a-covid-ppe-vip-lane-and-we-didnt-need-one, this is a shocking revelation of how, when the going got tough, Scotland did not benefit from the Union but, rather, was actively harmed by it. The above short video is a must watch and share for any who doubt the true nature of Scotland’s position in the UK. Nearly 5 years ago we knew this but the ‘Scottish’ … Continue reading It’s not a scare story, it’s fact – essential PPE supplies during Covid were prioritised by UK Government for England and denied to care homes in Scotland yet, later, we helped them out

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Canada buys two catamaran ferries from Romania which take another two years to make ready then quickly prove unsuitable for the conditions

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Professor John Robertson OBA From CBC Canada today: The Wolfe Islander IV (WI4) was off its regular course when it’s believed to have struck bottom, tearing a roughly 30-centimetre gash in its hull and causing the ferry to take on water, according to documents obtained by CBC. The collision happened just before noon on Dec. 4, when the long-awaited boat had only been carrying passengers for about three months. Now, after limping to dry dock in Hamilton with the help of tugboats, the ferry been out of commission for the same length of time. Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation (MTO) has yet to provide any information about what … Continue reading Canada buys two catamaran ferries from Romania which take another two years to make ready then quickly prove unsuitable for the conditions

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‘Complete insanity’ and ‘disaster after disaster’ – How affluent Canada’s ferry system fails

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Professor John Robertson OBA It’s now around two years since I heard a local councillor from the Island of Mull on Radio Scotland, suggesting that CalMac ran the worst ferry service in the world and that they should try to learn from other ferry services in other countries. I took him at his word and have monitored events from Alaska to New Zealand and, in the process found disaster after disaster, concerns far greater than reported here, from passengers killed by crew, through endless collisions and multiple fires to the more mundane, inflated prices, delays and really old ships. It’s … Continue reading ‘Complete insanity’ and ‘disaster after disaster’ – How affluent Canada’s ferry system fails

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The astonishing year-round value for money of Scotland’s island ferry travel constantly being hidden from us

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By stewartb The ticket price differences are crazy. The single adult passenger fare for the 2 hour 45 minute journey from Penzance Harbour, Cornwall to St Mary’s Harbour, Isles of Scilly by the ferry Scillonian III on Wednesday March 26, 2025 is available for purchase online at £92.99. For the reverse journey on 27 March, the ticket price is £87.99. The passenger only ferry, Scillonian was built in 1977, so now c.48 years old. It operates March to November. (https://www.islesofscilly-travel.co.uk/scillonian-iii/ ) By contrast, for the c. 4 hour 45 minute journey from Oban to Castlebay, Barra on 26 March, CalMac is charging £17.30 for … Continue reading The astonishing year-round value for money of Scotland’s island ferry travel constantly being hidden from us

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How ferries under Labour from 1997 to 2007 were never bad news and never politicised

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Professor John Robertson OBA Today, try searching for Scotland and ferries and you’ll be flooded, unlike the MV Glen Sannox‘s slightly damp steering gear, with a surge of reports, several directly ‘accusing’ or ‘shaming’, the SNP for the kind of minor repair that is often required in the teething stages of new ship. Try narrowing your search to the period from 1 January 1997 to 1 January 2007, Labour and the Lib Dem’s time in power and you’ll find very little indeed. You will find one (only) story of delays, due to repairs lasting 6 months, on 22 April 2003, … Continue reading How ferries under Labour from 1997 to 2007 were never bad news and never politicised

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So, in other parts of the developed world, a ferry passenger pushed to his death by the crew, fishermen killed by crew who don’t speak English, car decks flooded, one ferry runs aground because the only man on the bridge pressed the button wrongly, really old ferries, high prices, endless cancellations but in Scotland a one-day delay to fix a wee weld crack is an ‘SNP ferry fiasco?’

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Professor John Robertson OBA The discovery of a small crack in the hull of the MV Glen Sannox, a common event in new ships, and the 24 hour period out of service, has triggered an unholy, slavering media feeding frenzy, wholly out of proportion to the event. These objectively far more serious incidents in other parts of the developed world, have attracted far less attention and virtually no blaming of political parties or governments. On March 9th 2025, Red Funnel [should be Red Face] ferries on the Isle of Wight cancel sailings and disrupt travel because they spend too much on shareholder dividends … Continue reading So, in other parts of the developed world, a ferry passenger pushed to his death by the crew, fishermen killed by crew who don’t speak English, car decks flooded, one ferry runs aground because the only man on the bridge pressed the button wrongly, really old ferries, high prices, endless cancellations but in Scotland a one-day delay to fix a wee weld crack is an ‘SNP ferry fiasco?’