Sally: occupying the Ramsgate-Dunkirk alley
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SALLY THE VIKING LINE is, and will be for years to come, the cross-Channel underdog. The company is fighting the Townsend Thoresens and Sealinks of this world in the same way that the People's Express is fighting Pan Am and TWA.
Sally's strategy is simple. It offers a low-cost, cross-Channel service between Ramsgate and Dunkirk at no-nonsense rates that are difficult if not impossible to beat. Arguably nobody can touch the service price-wise.
The company has been operating between Ramsgate and Dunkirk since the early summer of 1981, the previous operator, Dunkirk-Ramsgate Ferries, having been forced into bankruptcy. The fishermen's blockade of the French Channel ports in the critical months of August 1980 was blamed for the demise of Dunkirk-Ramsgate Ferries. Significantly, poor traffic flows did not cause the company's collapse.
But since taking over from the ill-fated previous operator Sally has had its own share of problems, too. Shortly after introducing the service in the summer of 1981 it was withdrawn "due to technical operating difficulties".
And since the service was reintroduced in May 1982 those technical hitches have occasionally emerged again and have actually resulted in the cancellation of several sailings during the winter months.
Ramsgate harbour was to blame. Quite simply, during bad weather the sea became choppy and manoeuvring was too difficult. But I must emphasise that Port Sally Management has now cured the problem (thanks to a newly constructed breakwater that is due for completion this month) and cancelled sailings are expected to be a thing of the past.
The company recognises that even though very few crossings were lost last winter, the problem had to be solved and it is now confident that there will be a totally reliable service between Ramsgate and Dunkirk this winter. The message from Sally is simple: if you have been reluctant to use the company in the past because you were worried about the threat of cancelled sailings, you need worry no more. The breakwater will, it hopes, ensure a service that is absolutely reliable.
So much for the past problems. What Sally the Viking Line is about is providing an excellent service at extremely low costs. And it undoubtedly succeeds in doing that.
The Viking and The Viking 3 sail between Dunkirk and Ramsgate under Danish and Finnish flags respectively.
The Viking is the superior of the two and was only recently introduced on the route. The 4,400 ton ro-ro ferry has just been re-built and refurbished at a cost of E3m. Apart from the obligatory facilities (duty free shops, cafeterias, restaurants etc} it has aircraft-style as well as conventional seating, lifts and escalators, a casino area, and a sauna. According to Sally Line's man aging director Michael Kingshott the vessel is second to none.
"Sally Line brought new standards to the Channel ferry market when it introduced its Ramsgate — Dunkirk operation in 1981. Now we have a vessel on the route which is in a class of its own.
"We have designed The Viking to offer the high standard of pas senger facilities which our parent company. Rederiaktiebolaget Sally in Finland provides on Scandinavian and Baltic services. No other vessel on the short sea routes compares with The Viking in the range and sophistication of on-board facilities provided."
It can hardly be a coincidence, says Michael, that Sally's competitors are now offering a higher standard of service than they have been prepared to in the past.
The Viking and Viking 3 are passenger/freight vehicles able to carry 26 15m units each, with additional capacity for smaller
goods vehicles and cars. Tt. is a strong possibility tha freighter (freight-only yes will be introduced later this and will operate betw( Ramsgate and Dunkirk anc possibly — from Ramsgatt Zebrugge also.
Meanwhile The Viking Viking 3 offer facilities and pr that are unbeatable. Sal freight tariff is simple and att live. Customers buying a boc 25 pre-paid vouchers — E valid for one journey — pay or £11 per metre dependinc which sailings they choc Those who pay by cash cheque on the day of depar pay £11 or £12 per metre (al depending on whether they on the cheaper morning cr ings or not) and account cust ers paying within 30 days ol date of invoice pay £14 metre. These rates apply to I. and small operators a whether they use the servici gularly or not.
Simon Taylor, Sally's fr€ sales executive at Rams says that the cheapest wa) most operators to cross Channel is with Sally.
"The exception to that those who can get maE discounts with other compa. Everybody gets the same with us — we don't o discounts."
I can vouch for that. Posir a customer, I telephoned SE. Ramsgate terminal. I said t was thinking of using the sei on a regular basis and ther( wanted discounts. I was poi turned down.
I also phoned Sealink, sails between Dover and Du and Townsend Thoresen, vt sails from Dover to Calais, vt is just west of Dunkirk. It i coincidence that both have i tical freight rates: E22.50 metre loaded, £19.70 empty fuel surcharge. Although h companies said they could ,r me substantial savings if I la to use them regularly, they nitted that they could not ously compete with Sally's :es if I were only to use them asionally.
3alink said that to get anyire near Sally's E10 per metre re I would have to qualify for
i per cent discount which — I ier — is possible if the seris used on an almost daily is. Townsend Thoresen I much the same: "There is way that we can get down to same level of prices as
Ut it must be remembered Sally only offers a maxi-n of four sailings per day n Ramsgate (9.00, 11.00, 10, and 21.00) and four from kirk (8.00, 13.30, 18.30, 10).
uring the off-peak season ptember 19-July 7) Sally re:s to just two sailings per day n Ramsgate (10.30 and 21.00) two from Dunkirk (8.00 and 10). Sealink and Townsend iresen offer substantially -e crossings throughout the r from Dover.
ut what they do not offer, in opinion, is the same kind of onier service that Sally prom. The quality of food and aurant facilities on both The ng and Viking 3 are first s. The small a la carte restau: on Viking 3 deserves a ition in the next edition of Egon Fionay Good Food de and similarly, the breakthat I had on The Viking on my outward journey was superb.
With the compliments of Sally Line, lorry drivers are able to enjoy breakfast on morning sailings and a full three course dinner (or a lighter Scandinavian style smorgasbord meal) on crossings later in the day. A private cabin for all professional drivers is also thrown in.
This is particularly useful on the 21.00 crossing because drivers who sail on that crossing can get their heads down, and stay on board until about 8am the following morning. But remember the 21.00 only sails between July 8 and September 18.
Not content with providing professional drivers with excellent on-board facilities, Sally also operates a promotional scheme whereby lorry drivers who use the Ramsgate-Dunkirk service 25 times receive a free ticket that enables them to travel with their car and family on the route. The company realises that while drivers cannot tell their employers what ferry service to use, they can heavily influence them.
Sally is looking to turn Ramsgate into one of Britain's most important ro-ro ferry ports. Apart from the breakwater that has been built to safeguard the existing berth, a portable passenger walk-way is also planned.
Stage Two of its development programme includes reclaiming 35 acres of land, construction of further berths and new passenger terminal and wharf facilities.
When complete, there will be four berths, storage facilities for up to 2,500 tons of cargo, a passenger terminal capable of handling .10,000 passengers a day and accommodation for 500 trailers. The port will also handle
up to 50 vessel movements per day.
"We are not creating a scheme designed to draw traffic away from Dover, but rather to cope with the enormous increase in passenger and freight traffic which will be seen on the Channel in the years ahead, Ramsgate will be to Dover what Gatwick is to London Heathrow Airport," says Michael Kin gshott.
It is too early in the day to say whether Sally can establish Ramsgate as the "Gatwick" of the Channel. It must also be uncertain how long the company can keep on providing such an attractive ferry service, between Ramsgate and Dunkirk at such low rates.
But what is clear is that, for the time being, import clearance at Ramsgate is fast and efficient thanks to the manual rather than computerised system it uses.
And it is also worth remembering that transit without permit to the Belgian border is allowed from Dukirk, which effectively means that it can be used in the same way as a Belgian port. And if you take the trouble to look at some road maps, you will notice that Dunkirk is the only French Channel port within minutes of a motorway. The journey from Dunkirk to Paris, for instance, is 96 per cent motorway. Calais and Boulogne are not similarly blessed.
Ramsgate is not quite the backwater it seems either. It is 79 miles from London. Dover is marginally closer — 77 miles from the capital. The quality of the roads serving Dover and Ramsgate is about equal — ie, middling.
Now that Sally seems to have cured its operating problems at Ramsgate, it is in an enviable position. If its low prices an splendid on-board facilities can be maintained, Sally could eventually discard its underdog image.