BOAT VOTE WINNERS
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Commercial Motor readers were asked to vote for their favourite ferry service. Here are the results
• Sealink has every right to be pleased with the results of Commercial Motor's first Boat Vote. We asked our readers to vote for their favourite ferry service and Sealink took eight of the top ten places.
Top vote winner was the Sealink Dover to Calais route, which received 11% of the votes from Commercial Motor readers. Interestingly, the least favourite was the P&O service on the same route, where 9.5% of readers singled it out as their least favourite ferry service, although two readers chose it as their favourite.
Sealink's domination of the top ten favourite ferry sailings follows our own investigations for the special ferry issue (CM 25 February-2 March) which found that the company had improved its services in recent years.
Of all the votes received at Commercial Motor, 28 were invalidated because they failed to specify a particular route. Even so, 27 of these wasted votes named Sealink as the favourite ferry company.
Closer scrutiny of the voting forms reveals the secret of Sealink's success. The phrase "customer service" was repeated on many of the forms. H B Arkison from Pembroke Dock described the Sealink staff as welcoming, while some P&O staff showed a "couldn't-care-less" attitude. T Shepherd, from Havant in Hampshire said Sealink staff were "courteous and obliging", while some P&O staff were "unfriendly, and bookings were not honoured." John Collins from Ashford in Kent described the Sealink staff as "really wonderful", and complained about the "herding attitude of stewards on the Pride boats," operated by P&O.
C King, from Barking in Essex, who works for Seabourne Express says: "Sealink need and want the business — their attitude is good", while, with P&O, he says: "The business comes in easy — their attitude is poor."
Owner-driver B P Smith from Haddenham in Buckinghamshire was more blunt about the P&O Dover to Zeebrugge service: "Pigsty — boats for pigs", he wrote in the "other reasons" section of the voting form. Interestingly, he gave the service a good rating for its checkingin procedure.
We had several comments from voters that some P&O staff have "a bad attitude to trucks". Owner-driver Alan White from Redditch said P&O gives priority to nontruckers on its Dover-Calais route, while R Jacobs from Rayleigh in Essex suggests P&O has a preference for coaches.
Although Sealink and P&O generated a fair amount of strong comment, other operators attracted their fair share, Sally Line, for example, won third place in the favourite ferry vote for its RamsgateDunkirk service. One aspect of the Sally service which proved most popular with our readers was the quality of the food.
John MacKenzie, from Weybridge in Surrey, commented: "the food is good and there are no excess charges." M C Abraham, from Romford, said: "Sally's food is excellent and the prices are good." K WinnUigton, from Braintree, described it as "a very good service." Those who voted against Sally identified waiting-area facilities, booking procedures and entertainments as particular shortcomings.
Olau Line was the only other operator to make it into the ferry service top ten, winning votes for its Sheerness to Flushing service with no votes against. There were few comments on the Olau service, although it scored well in all sections, except for its waiting-area facilities.
Sealink's sweep of the favourite ferry service votes is almost mirrored by P&O's placing among the least favourite ferry services. Out of the bottom 12 placings, P&O (formerly Townsend Thoresen) takes six. Many of the criticisms from our readers concern staff attitudes on the .P&O services. Their comments, together with the recent sea man's dispute at Dover, suggest that the P&O takeover has not been entirely successful. One reader commented of P&O's Dover-Calais service: "Words fail me."
Simon Sargeant, a haulier from Atherstone, complained that trucks and trailers were damaged on the P&O service from Felixstowe to Rotterdam. Mark Wilkes, from Stourbridge, wrote of "the appalling sleeping accommodation" on P&O's Dover-Ostend service.
British Channel Island Ferries feature towards the bottom of the table of favourite services. Ron Heath Transport, from near Bristol, is very criticial of this service, and blames the lack of competition on the route. W Glenn, from Slough, marked the service badly for disembarkation and checking-in procedures. Derek Stevens, a furniture remover from Ilfracombe in Devon, complained of the "awful food and dining area" and the "take-it-orleave-it" attitude of the staff.
The Sealink Newhaven-Dieppe service was one of only two blots in Sealink's performance in the Commercial Motor Boat Vote. Haulage Contractor Paul Gidney, from Redcar, gave the service poor ratings for everything but disembarkation procedure and vehicle security. Driver M S Simmons, from Southampton, complained of irregular sailings and bad staff attitudes on the route.
Schiaffino also fared badly in the Boat Vote. Gordon Summers, from Dundee, complained of insufficient room, and claimed that "it's best when you are not on the ferries." T M Cashmore, a haulier from Leek in Staffordshire, described the Schiaffino service as "very poor".
We were surprised to see Truckline so low in the ratings since it is a dedicated freight service. John Dexter, an ownerdriver from Nottingham, had some very strong comments about the Truckline Portsmouth to Caen service: "We would now rather wait for the next boat", he said. D Cockburn, a haulier from South Ruislip, described the service as "tacky".
Finally, there were one or two positive criticisms of ferry servicea by Commercial Motor readers which deserve mention. Alan White, an owner-driver from Redditch, voted for the Brittany Ferries Portsmouth-Caen service. "Caen is handy for Spain and Italy" he wrote. One haulier from Ilfracombe in Devon, voted for the P&O service between Aberdeen and Lerwick. "The St Magnus staff and officers put every effort in to making our trips to and from the Shetlands a holiday, and not just another job," he said.
CONCLUSION
Sealink's strong performance in the Boat Vote, and P&O's poor performance, may be partly explained by the recent ferry dispute at Dover (although only three ballot forms mentioned the strike). Sealink's freight director says an "excellent effort" has been made by staff in the past few years to improve the company's service to freight customers. P&O declined to comment on the results of the survey.
The treatment of truck drivers and operators by ferry companies varies considerably. Commercial Motor readers on international trips provide the bread and butter work for ferries during the offseason periods. Ferry companies ignore truckers' needs at their long-term peril, given the construction of the Channel Tunnel.
Sealink, Sally Line and Olau Line are wise to the needs of truckers and are prospering accordingly. As Sally's freight manager Simon Taylor says: "We have always seen the satisfaction of freight drivers as an absolute priority." Other ferticompanies should follow their lead. by Richard Scrase