longer view of Channel crossings
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BRITTANY Ferries is closing its credibility gap with transport operators. New routes, more sailings and lower rates are promised as the 11-year-old line embarks on a new phase of growth in the western Channel.
Hauliers have long regarded the French-owned line as being more interested in cars and holidaymakers than in lorries and prepared to sacrifice freight traffic at peak times. The routes, to Roscoff and St Male in extreme North-west France and to Santander in northern Spain, are remote from major sources of traffic. Its first UK port, Plymouth, is 300 miles from Dover, and there has been a strong bias among hauliers towards short-sea crossings for all routes.
But the company believes that its own development, and changes within the industry, are combining to force transport operators to view Brittany Ferries as a more attractive option.
The history of the company is well known to those in Southwest Britain. In 1973, Breton farmers chartered a ferry to take their potatoes and cauliflowers to England because noone was interested in providing a special service commercially. The vessel was a converted tank landing craft. A year later a ro-ro ferry, the Penn-ar-Bed, was put on a scheduled service between Roscoff and Plymouth as a result of passenger demand.
In May 1976 the Armorique started a summer-only service between Portsmouth and St Malo, and the route went allyear from 1977. Two years later the company started a service from Plymouth to Santander, with a journey time of 24 hours. A fourth route was started, between Cork and Roscoff, which now carries a large volume of intervention beef and fish to Paris market each weekend.
The Plymouth to Roscoff route still carries a large volume of vegetables from the farming commune which set up the service, but as a proportion of ro-ro freight tonnage on all services this "own account" traffic has fallen to just 17 per cent. With motorists and holiday revenue, produce movements from the Breton farmers has become a minor part of the company's operations.
Having established itself over the first 10 years in the commercially relatively calm waters of its long Channel crossings, Britanny Ferries last month announced its intention to compete with the major ferry lines with a service between Portsmouth and Caen in 18 months' time. P&O, Townsend Thoresen and Truckline all run comparable services at the moment, and Sealink cannot be discounted, with its new owner promising more routes.
The new Caen service will emphasise the rapidly growing importance of Portsmouth as a ro-ro centre. Townend Thoresen recently announced, not unepectedly, that it is to withdraw completely from Southampton and transfer all remaining sailings from there to Portsmouth.
"Interesting times", comments Brittany Ferries freight manager Gordon Day. The key to his company's success on the Caen route will lie in the frequency of sailings. There will be no shortage of freight space and operators will be able to get the ferry when they want it.
The problem of insufficient freight space on the routes to Brittany has already been solved with larger ships. Portsmouth — St Malo now has two sailings daily in summer, and one in winter. Plymouth — Roscoff has up to three a day in summer and one in winter. Cork — Roscoff sails once a week "95 per cent full", and the Plymouth — Santander service runs twice a week, and up to four times a week during the summer. Rates on all the routes are set on January 1 and are stable throughout the year, Mr Day said.
The Spanish service is perhaps the most interesting of the Brittany Ferries routes. In the past 12 months 4,500 commercial vehicles have been carried, compared with 2,700 during the same period in 1982/83. In February 1979 it carried just one lorry.
More frequent sailings on the route are promised "in the near future" as part of a plan for major expansion. Mr Day said last week. His comments came shortly after Associated British Ports announced its intention to invest £4m in expanding the Millbay Docks. This will include building a new linkspan and terminal, to be opened in 1986, which will allow Brittany Ferries to bring in ships larger than the 8,000 tonnes Quiberon.
ABP has an agreement until 1990 whereby Brittany Ferries can in effect exclude other lines from using the Ferryport.
There are a number of reasons why the service has gained popularity among operators. First, road links with Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester and Scotland are now very good. Drivers' hours laws have not changed, but enforcement is increasing. The ferry is the quickest way to Spain if the driver is going to stick to anything like his legal hours, and he will be much more fit for the last leg of the journey if he has a lot of driving to do from Plymouth or Santander. Secondly operators have been sure of getting space in summer as well as winter.
The permits situation has helped also. In 1980 the British and Spanish authorities agreed that the ferry service should be permit-free. And of course permits are not needed for • France at all. Using the ferry operators avoids trouble at the Franco-Spanish border.
Most important, however, in Mr Day's opinion is pure economics. The cost of commercial vehicles is going up all the time and firms are becoming increasingly cost effective, partly because haulage rates have generally not risen in the past two or three years. And ferry rates have not gone up by as much as the cost of running lorries.
The savings on a trip to Barcelona are "very marginal", but they are substantial to Valencia, Madrid and Portugal, especially if the operator is observing tacho rules. With fines of around £600 being imposed on firms found breaking the law, that can be risky.
The typical market price of the Santander round trip, for a regular user, is £850 to £900 (about double the cost to Roscoff), according to Mr Day. The driving distance saved from the French ports on a round trip to Madrid will be around 1,200 miles from Le Havre and 1,500 miles from Calais. You would have to be running at about 50 pence a mile to make any saving at all. "That is not what the Road Haulage Association tells me it costs to run a 38 ton ner," said Mr Day.
Yet Brittany Ferries takes only around 10 per cent of the haulage market between Britain and Spain. The reason is partly because the boat does not always sail when operators want it.
By guaranteeing three or four sailings in each direction, the company hopes to overcome much of this obstacle. According to Mr Day: "There are certain companies that will then wrap some of their services around our route. Volume creates volume."
Not only will services become more frequent, but costs, and therefore rates will fall. New business will come from new and existing customers, Mr Day believes. At present 80 per cent of freight traffic is accompanied, although he would expect this figure to fall as volumes increase.
At present Spain insists that it wants to join the EEC on January 1, 1986. There are substantial doubts if this target can be achieved, but there seems little doubt that, irrespective of membership, traffic between Britain and Spain will continue to grow. If Spain does join the EEC, a daily service to Santander would be likely.
For the driver, the 24-hour ferry can be a welcome change from the slog through France. Instead of driving he can put up his feet, and get a good night's sleep. Drivers' cabins are reserved. Food in the main restaurant is free Mr Day says seasickness is no problem: the Bay of Biscay only gets rough about three days a year!
Mr Day believes Brittany Ferries is benefiting from a generally more professional approach to routeing on the part of transport managers. At one time operators sent their vehicles through one port, usually Dover. Ports are now used much more according to the traffic destination. Transport managers are looking to save cost and move their goods as quickly as possible in greater depth than in the past.
They will also be watching to, see if Brittany Ferries maintains high standards of freight services as it expands.