The Moliere.
- 7 August 2008 07:414691Ive been away out of the country for 7 days or so ...so not sure if this is old news or not...but yesterday wednesday all the Seafrance ships were carrying bunting and so on and I wasnt sure what was going on until I spotted this new ship. I assume this is what the celebrations were for..
It was basking in a berth normally reserved for P & O ie Dover 9. But here is a shot for those who havent yet seen it.
It really is great to see Seafrance investing in this cross channel route, as they continue to do. P&O it seems have been dragged reluctantly into doing likewise...not before time as most of their ferries look embarassingly old.email: dover7@msn.com - 7 August 2008 11:024699Great to see another new Seafrance ship on our cross channel route. I love to see bunting on ships in the summer sunshine, yes will be good to see P&O do same as some of their ships are looking quite sad.
- 7 August 2008 19:024708Oh that looks nice and new definitely did'nt hear about that, shows seafrance thinks Dover's worth it lets hope the others follow suit.
- 7 August 2008 19:434714sea france do everything at the expense of the french taxpayer.
easy for them to invest.
i remember a few years back they were duty bound to employ the long term unemployed of "pas de calais".
it showed too. - 7 August 2008 20:574717Never done Seafrance, but may have to give this one a try.....Been nice knowing you :)
- 8 August 2008 08:384737I dont know how Seafrance get the funding but they are much better at getting government money than we are this side of the channel..if indeed thats where they do get the financing.
Scotchie for years now I've only travelled Seafrance for the simple reason is that I like the ships they have..clean modern new sleek etc etc..so go for it!
The last time I went on a P&O I remember distinctly this particular not so fond memory. As I boarded on a hot day in Calais I was hit with a pungent wave of aroma from the steaming urinals ..yes just as I went onboard with a young child. Not ideal.
It was an old ship which is still going I might add..changed over after that to modern facilities all round.email: dover7@msn.com - 8 August 2008 18:454750So PO must have thought ok as it was on the news today 2 new ships to come on line in the next 3yrs, to replace the sad looking one's
- 8 August 2008 21:094758paul
the title of the company says it all.
they are nationalised and subsidised heavily by the french tax payer.
there is much bad feeling about this over the channel.
the ferries are state of the art, well appointed, stylish, the customer service however is more akin to our own loveable post office home phone. - 16 August 2008 07:075015I see the brand spanking new sleek Moliere hasnt been back since, so the picture at the top of the thread of it basking in Dover is rarer than hens teeth. I read in one of the papers thats its had berthing difficulties....oh dear! Hopefully the difficulties will be fixed soon.email: dover7@msn.com
- 16 August 2008 14:085037She is in Calais at the moment so I assume doing berthing trials there. Meant to be in service in the middle of next week....Been nice knowing you :)
- 20 August 2008 10:485143
Yes here she is Scotchie..operating normally in rough conditions yesterday. It looks like she will operate from Dover9 which up til now has been the domain of P&O...perhaps there are berthing difficulties at the other piers for the moment. But yes she took a full load of trucks etc yesterday.email: dover7@msn.com - 21 August 2008 04:065176Interesting new addition to the Dover ferries. She was built as the Superfast X for Superfast Ferries. This is a Greek company which was formed in the nineties to operate large RORO ferries at a higher speed than the norm, as you might expect. Unfortunately this means a high consumption of fuel, the cost of which has since gone through the roof. As a result, Superfast have been flogging off ships and Superfast X is one of them.
She originally operated briefly in the Baltic. Superfast then obtained the contract to run a new service from Rosyth to Zeebrugge and put two ships on the run. With their high speed, they were ideally suited for a long run like this. The escalating cost of fuel made the run uneconomic and Superfast first reduced to one ship and are now pulling out altogether. Superfast X then went to the Meddy as the Jean Nicoli. Now SeaFrance have purchased her to replace the old and small Manet and Renoir. Together with the Rodin and Berlioz, this will give them three modern superferries. Cezanne will become freight only and Nord Pas de Calais will continue as a dedicated freight ferry. Renoir will remain for a time for refit reliefs.
Their problem is that she is built for long runs at high speed and is therefore comparatively long and thin. For example, she is 203 metres long and 25.4 metres wide with a tonnage of 30,000 as compared with the Maersk vessels which are 186 metres long and 28.4 metres wide with a tonnage of 34,500. This is going to give her manoeuvring problems when berthing and an extra bow thrust has been installed to help compensate.
She is capable of nearly 30 knots but will obviously operate at a much lower speed on the Dover-Calais run. The name of the game for all ferry companies in the present climate is fuel economy and speeds are adjusted to maintain the correct service times.
As she is longer than any of the purpose built ferries in Dover, she overhangs the end of the berths and will be using berth No.9 normally as the pier is longer than the others. In the photo below, she is conducting berthing trials on No.3 and was overhanging the end. Maersk Delft had to negotiate her way round her, given the prevailing wind direction, in order to berth on No.2 and was accordingly given the use of the tug standing by the Moliere to facilitate this.
She has not had Dover or Calais gangways installed and will not be carrying foot passengers. I understand that the French unions will not permit footies to be conveyed on and off by buses.
She is presently operating in freight mode for a few days to gain experience and will then commence operation in full passenger and freight mode.
Complete sequence of photos showing her manoeuvring from berth 3 to berth 9 at:
http://shipsintheportofdover.fotopic.net/ - 22 August 2008 06:295220Many thanks for all that Ed..very excellent read there, I enjoyed that. Now we have all the info to hand. Yes she looks like a ship built for speed as she has a very sleek go faster look about her. But having read all the above she doesnt seem to have been the ideal choice because of size, speed capabilities, and so on...but she certainly looks the part and along with Rodin and Berlioz will make up quite a formidable set of ferries.email: dover7@msn.com
- 22 August 2008 17:115245Oh thats good to hear about foot passengers a trip on her looks as though it could be a very comfortable crossing.
- 22 August 2008 22:235255i was under the impression that the vessel was not going to carry foot passengers.
- 24 August 2008 10:165296Yep, no footies unfortunately. My ambiguous wording above. When I said full passenger and freight mode, I just meant vehicular traffic. As you can see from the photos, she does not have a Dover gangway skywalk installed as per Kent/Canterbury/Burgundy where there is an elevated walkway running back across the open area at the stern where they stow the trucks carrying hazardous goods.
- 25 August 2008 22:105336Moliere approaching Dover on monday afternoon.
