Gunnel beaters
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• The first of two new super-ferries designed to compete with the Channel Tunnel was launched in Bremen last weekend.
Townsend Thoresen's 20,000 ton Pride of Dover is due to come into service on the Dover-Calais crossing next May and will be followed by a second jumbo ferry, Pride of Calais, six months later.
Geoffrey Parker, executive chairman of European Ferries, says the company has invested 285 million in the project to make sure the super-ferries out-moded rival ferries, as well as the Channel Tunnel.
The ships will carry twice as many passengers and vehicles as the largest ferries now on the route — 2,300 people and 650 cars, or an equivalent mix of light vehicles, coaches and lorries.
Townsend expects to be able to keep operating costs the same as for existing ships in the fleet. "The new ships can operate with less fuel consumption than their smaller predecessors," says Geoffrey Parker, executive chairman of European Ferries, "and can compete favourably in price terms because of increased tonnage."
The crossing will still take 75 minutes, but new berths being built at Dover and Calais will allow double-deck, double width loading and unloading and should speed up the turn-round time.
Facilities for commercial drivers will include a separate 55-seat waiter-service lounge/diner and 46 two-berth cabins, for use when the ferry is on back-up service on the crossing to Zeebrugge.
'The bunch of the superferry Pride of Dover in Bremen last Saturday was accompanied by a predictable amount of ferry operator rhetoric on the evils of a fixed link.
Townsend Thoresen dismissed the Channel Tunnel as a "travelling garage" and said it was confident of providing a cheaper, faster. more reliable service.
The new series of jumbo ferries have been dubbed the *Chunnel Beaters' by the company, which claims they will be "the death knell of the Tunnel."
A company spokesman said: "These ships will be the final nail in the Tunnel's coffin — assuming the project is not already aborted. The combination of increased capacity, greater efficiency and a luxury travelling environment should send shudders down the spines of Eurotunnel's backers."