• Competition on the short crossing from Scotland to Northern
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Ireland means that truck drivers have a good choice of departures for the 2hr 20tnin crossing. With five ships providing up to 15 daily sailings in each direction, there has to be a good reason why truckers choose a particular operator.
The P&O service to Lame, which uses a terminal at Cairnryan, a few miles from Stranraer, is near the mouth of sheltered Loch Ryan. Sealink operates from the terminal in the heart of Stranraer.
P&O has an extensive terminal complex at Caimryan with fairly basic passenger facilities, compared with the purpose-built terminal at Larne that is shared with Sealink. There, truckers have a separate room, with showers and a television.
The overnight crossings on the ships of both operators are popular vvith truckers, with car and foot passengers preferring the late morning sailings. P&O's ships, Europic and Ionic, differ greatly m terms of accommodation provided and facilities offered. Europic can handle up to 60 trucks per sailing, while the Ionic takes just 40, but a greater number of cars and passengers.
We sampled the Ionic ferry's 11:30hrs crossing from Cairmyan on a January day when severe gales were lashing the west of Britain, and the sailings were running at least an hour late. Only one of Sealink's ships was in use, which led to a considerable backlog of trucks at the terminal. P&O clearly recognises the importance of the all-year truck business, and has made efforts to woo drivers away from the competition in the shape of a Truckers Club card. When stamped as proof of 10 journeys with P&O, it is exchanged for a £10 Marks & Spencer gift voucher.
The 6,140-tonne Ionic was built in 1967, and the decor of the public areas is very 60s. Truckers have a club room on the main deck, where they eat their complimentary meals overlooking the sea.
Drivers who use the Cairnryan-Lame crossing on a frequent basis, are enthusiastic about the P&O service: "They treat us as people, not numbers, and the standard of service is excellent," says one. "They really seem to want truckers."
A group of drivers from W&J Riding, hauling ICI bulk PVC powder, say they use the P&O crossing in preference to Sealink. "The quality of the food is good, and there's lots of it!" Drivers meal vouchers can be used to pay for a bunk. Showers are also available.
Although there are no complaints about unreliability, the age of the ship could become a liability, and a newer ship from another part of P&O could give the Larne crossing a further boost.
P&() has put a great deal of effort into the Cairnryan crossing, and with better terminal facilities, and newer ships, it should be able to capitalise on the loyalty that exists.
E by Gavin Bondy IN On the night Commercial Motor travelled with Sealink from Holyhead to Dun Laoghaire it was said, by one of the drivers, to be a night "mild enough to bring horses over".
Not always so, because the 31/2 hour Irish crossing is infamous for its seesaw seas which can delay landings for several hours and panic the valuable racehorses Ireland exports.
To test the going for ourselves, we took a ride with Groundspeed of Taplow, Buckinghamshire, on one of its daily deliveries to the Irish Republic.
THE MULE
By the time we left Taplow at 18.30hrs on a Thursday, driver Andy Mintram had already worked for three hours loading his Mercedes 1625, a 32-tonne curtainsider affectionately known as "the mule".
The night's cargo was pharmaceuticals, packing machinery and waxed jackets.
The journey to Holyhead is staminatesting with Mintram's first stop coming at Hilton Park services after four hours. He says the steering on the 1981 tractor unit wavers a bit, "but it doesn't bother me — it keeps me awake", he says.
At Conwy Arch in North Wales the Mercedes squeezed through by a whisker shaving the edges of its mirrors.
Holyhead is reached, just before 2am. At the docks, Sealink provides the drivers with a rest room, including showers, television and kitchen, while customs check their documents.
At the time we crossed, in January, Sealink ran two services a day out of Holyhead and two back from Dun Laoghaire, on the St Columba which carries passengers and freight. The St Cybi, a freight-only ferry, adds an extra sailing at busier times of the year.
Both vessels can take 35 artics. On the St Columba, freight companies compete for space with motorists.
Groundspeed says a round-trip crossing costs them more than £750.
With Groundspeed's cargo cleared by customs, we were one of the last vehicles to board the ferry St Columba shortly before 3am.
Once their vehicles are secure, the drivers retire to their own lounge where they are served a free breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausages, black pudding, tomatoes and fried bread.
There is also a voucher for sandwiches, biscuits, fruit and juice.
The drivers say Sealink looks after them quite well, although Mark Metaal, who drives for Barking-based Seabourne, complained they get the noisiest cabins, uncomfortably close to the engine room.
This seems unfair as the truckers are the passengers most in need of a good night's rest. The truckers also believe that since most board early, they should be able to buy duty-free ahead of the official opening time of 03.30hrs.
Landing in Dun Laoghaire just before 7am, Mintram expected to be held up for at least three hours by Irish customs before continuing his journey to Groundspeed's Dublin depot.
There, after unloading, he would snatch more sleep in his cab before returning on the evening ferry, completing a 36-hour "day", arriving back in Taplow on the Saturday morning.
We hitched a lift the seven miles into Dublin with Mark Metaal. His parcelcarrying container was sealed, which meant customs only needed to renew the seal before sending him on his way.
.Metaal says that Dublin's roads are now as congested as those in London, but he reckons that when you ask directions, the Irish always know the way.
ROUTE: PORTSMOUTH TO CAEN OPERATOR: BRITTANY FERRIES
IN The Portsmouth/Caen route has become one of Brittany Ferries' most successful freight lines since it was launched in 1986, handling about 30% of the company's freight business. The route boasts the freight-only Normandie Shipper which can carry 64 15m trailers, doubling freight capacity on the route when it was introduced last summer. The multi-purpose Duc de Normandie also does the Portsmouth-Caen Ro/Ro run.
Truckline is Brittany Ferries' dedicated freight division, originally a French-owned freight line which was bought out in 1985. The 'Eruckline name is now used for all Brittany Ferries freight services.
Commercial Motor made the six-hour crossing on a calm January morning. All wagons are chained, whatever the weather, which haulier Mike Howles commends as a sensible precaution, having found his truck "halfway across the deck" when unchained on a rough crossing with another ferry operator.
MULTI-PURPOSE
The Normandie Shipper had been taken out of service for dry dock work for two weeks when we travelled, and was replaced by the multi-purpose MIS Tregdstel once a day.
Drivers were, in the main, very satisfied with catering and accommodation standards on board. Alvaro Gameiro takes a gropage load on the route once a week for the run to Spain and says the service provides "good food and a clean cabin". He has been using the line for a year and has no complaints, apart from the occasional delay.
Other drivers we met at Caen, waiting to make the return crossing, were not so satisfied and complained of long delays, especially in the summer.,
"Brittany Ferries guarantees to put you on 'the first available ship'," said one driver. "But if a coach comes along, that gets on instead of the truck because there's 42 people on it who'll buy dinners and dutyfree," he told us.
Another driver said his vehicle had actually been taken off a boat in favour of a coach.
Commercial Motor contacted Truckline's group freight manager Gordon Day, who was surprised by the complaints: "If a truck cannot get on one crossing, it goes on a waiting list and gets the next one. Even multi-purpose vessels take vehicles at a ratio of four trucks to one car. I've never known a lorry be taken off a ship.
"And why should a driver hang around for three days when he can always drive to Cherbourg to make the crossing?"