http://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/11420375.Condor_Ferries_to_leave_Weymouth_next_spring/?ref=var_0 Condor purchase new high speed Austal 102 trimaran The "new" Condor Ferry:: Austal’s 102-metre trimaran Why should anyone be shocked and surprised by this story? On the 19th April I blogged this entry. http://new-agenda2012.blogspot.co.uk/201 4/04/the-writing-has -been-on-wall-for-al most.html Today, channelonline.tv carries the following: "Condor Ferries has bought a new £50 million high speed vessel. The latest addition to the fleet will come into service in spring 2015. The purchase follows the news Condor secured a ten-year licence to provide Jersey and Guernsey with ferry services. The Austal 102 trimaran can carry 1,165 passengers, 254 cars and has a 630 nautical mile range. The new licence allows for a rival operator to set up providing it can match Condor's services. CEO James Fulford said: "I am delighted to announce th...
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-jersey-28806481 Condor Ferries signs 10-year operating licence. Condor Express Condor Ferries have signed a 10 year non-exclusive agreement with Jersey Ports, allowing the company to operate passenger, vehicle and freight services until 2024. It is also announced that Guernsey's government have agreed to extend a "memorandum of understanding" with Condor until 2018. These new arrangements made public yesterday, may come as a bit of a blow to Weymouth and Portland Borough Council as the way is now clear for Condor to proceed with their plan to bring into service their new 102 meter trimaran for the UK to Channel Islands routes. The "new" Condor Ferry: Austal’s 102-metre trimaran The reason for the concern in Weymouth, is the continuing controversy and discussions regarding the required improvements to Pier 1 at the Weymouth ferry terminal. The improvements to Pier 1 will require a £10million ...
http://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/11158216.Weymouth_stunned_by_Condor_Ferries__bombshell_plan_to_leave_port/ Weymouth stunned by Condor Ferries' plan to leave port Condor Vitesse departs from Weymouth Why should the latest chapter in the Condor Ferries/Weymouth story cause so much surprise and agitation? I have been predicting a scenario such as this since before the Condor Ferry operation was forced to relocate to Poole, prior to the 2012 Olympics, and the repairs to ferry terminal three at Weymouth during the same year. Since 2012, numerous blog entries have commented on the fact that Weymouth and Portland Borough Council’s handling of the relationship with Condor Ferries, the Weymouth Harbour repairs and ferry arrangements during the work programme have been a catalogue of ineptitude and incompetence, not to mention the disastrous handling of the Olympics themselves. No matter how far this incompetent council drive their head into the sand, the evid...
http://jerseyeveningpost.com/news/2014/02/07/50m-ship-may-be-on-line-by-october/ A new £50 million ship could be in operation by October Austal’s 102-metre trimaran Condor ferries are in discussions with the Jersey States in respect of a long term operating licence with the company for the UK Channel Islands ferry routes. Senator Alan Maclean, Economic Development Minister announced last week. In the meantime, the company has been given an interim five-year licence after its previous one expired at the end of 2013. As part of the new arrangements, it is also reported, that provided all goes well. Condor will replace two of its existing fast ferries with a new £50 million Next Generation 102m Trimaran. The new ferry, built by Austal in Australia, with defence subsidiaries in the United States and a commercial shipyard in the Philippines, has a capacity for 1165 passengers and 245 cars. It is proposed that the ferry will be in service by October of this year (201...
http://www.channelonline.tv/channelonline_guernseynews/displayarticle.asp?id=508819 Both High speed ferries to Weymouth cancelled following news of high winds and wave heights Condor Ferries For sometime, I have been critical of the fast ferries operated by Condor on the Channel Island routes. Engine problems, delays and "high winds and wave heights exceeding limits", have frequently caused disruption to the service and frustration to the passengers. In addition, when they do sail, the condition of the facilities on board are less than satisfactory,and as I wrote in "The terminal decline of tourism to Jersey ?" (and in other blogs on related subjects) ".... the ships are generally grubby, the reclining seats are mostly broken and remain un repaired, and Club Class travel now only provides complimentary coffee and a muffin, which has usually seen better days". (http://new-agenda2012.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/the-terminal-decline-of-tou...
http://www.channelonline.tv/channelonline_jerseynews/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=507500 Condor Ferries is working with Channel Island governments to secure two new vessels I was having a conversation with some Condor people on the ferry back to the mainland a couple of days ago after another stay in St Aubin. It seems that the proposed "new" ships will be larger than Express, Vittesse and Rapide. However, the rebuilt Ferry berth 3 at the Weymouth Ferry terminal, is apparently not big enough to take larger ships. It seems that the planners did not see that problem coming. It this is in fact the case, then Poole may be the only port (other than Portsmouth for the traditional ferry) for arrival or departure from the Channel Islands. This would fulfill a long standing prediction that Condor's long term objective to relocate its operation to Poole and end its long standing relationship with Weymouth.
http://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/10716826.Demand_for_talks_to_solve_Weymouth_s_under_fire_traffic_system/?action=success Demand for talks to solve Weymouth's under-fire traffic system A public meeting is being "actively considered" by the Council. This will, (if it ever takes place), be followed by a "working group" to consider the problems. The next stage would presumably be a "report" to be discussed by the Council members and amended for further discussion. The wheel goes around and around. Scrap the lights and the spaghetti of painted white lines on the road surfaces. These junctions are both confusing and dangerous. The intersections should be controlled by roundabout's as previously. There is no need for discussions which will only lead to Council prevarication and delay.
http://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/10561263.Work_plan_sparks_road_chaos_fears_in_Weymouth/ IT IS feared new roadworks in Weymouth will mean traffic chaos as schools close for the summer. Traffic queuing at Boot Hill We can always rely on the "authorities" sending people to their stores to drag out the cones, temporary traffic lights, wheel barrows, diggers, dumpers, shovels and associated paraphernalia, over the months of June, July and August. True, there are road works at other times of the year, but it always seems that the summer months, when holiday traffic is at its heaviest, roads are naturally congested, and tempers are at their shortest the "lets dig up that section of road now" brigade comes into its own. It is not only Weymouth that suffers from this phenomenon.
http://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/10531951.Updated__Man_injured_in_Weymouth_Town_Bridge_horror_fall/ A MAN was seriously injured after plunging from Weymouth Town Bridge and landing on a concrete parapet. A paramedic with the injured man Weymouth Town Bridge Paramedics, Police, Fire crews, A&E (at Dorchester presumably), hydraulic platform, bridge closed all because some morons ignored the signs saying that it’s an offence to jump off the bridge. Perhaps these people had been drinking (there are pubs at either end of the bridge), but even if they were sober its a still stupid thing to do. There must be a cost associated with all the emergency services involved, so who picks up the bill?
http://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/10448604.Costs_soar_for_Weymouth_harbour_wall/ The cost of works will rise to more than £4.4 million and that is only the latest estimate. Repair work continues at Weymouth ferry berth three I have never been as optimistic about this repair project timescale and costs as Weymouth and Portland Borough Council seem to have been. Going back over some comments made by Condor Ferries since before the Olympic Games in 2012, it seems (reading between the lines), that they too did not share Weymouth's confidence that the repairs would be complete and operations from Weymouth would recommence in May of 2013. The date for the return of the ferry operator from Poole is now scheduled for July of this year, but it seems that even that date is questionable. The comment form Condor that "...The company is keen to return and will start sailings on July 17 – if the work is done." is a qualified one and does not seem particul...
http://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/10184616.Council_leader_Mike_Goodman_hits_back_over_Pavilion_internet_campaign/?action=success Council leader Mike Goodman hits back over Pavilion internet campaign Councillor Mike Goodman at the Pavilion “My inbox keeps clogging up, I keep having to delete 20, 30 or 40 emails at a time. It’s going to keep going until the end of February. I’ve got three days’ away for Local Government Association work. If I come back and my email system is completely jammed up I’m going to be furious" This pompous arse should remember that he is an elected member of the Council, a position of privilege in society. From my own experience , the "in box" of elected members is always full of correspondence from numerous bodies, people, organisations or pressure groups. It is part of the job. Now if Goodman does not want or understand this situation he should resign from the council and do something useful with h...
http://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/localnews/10071171.Council_plan_to_demolish_Pavilion_and_sell_North_Quay_offices/ Council plan to demolish Pavilion and sell North Quay offices The civic offices at North Quay . Weymouth and Portland Borough Council, is considering demolishing the Pavilion and selling the council offices on North Quay in a bid to save money.The council is also considering selling off other council assets including seafront hotels and reducing the number of councillors as it struggles will cuts which means it will be spending £3.9 million less each year by 2019/20. It seems to me that Weymouth and Portland Borough Council is, along with some other councils, run by and for the benefit of, its officers and departmental directors. Unelected and un accountable, these faceless shadows create "policy" and projects suited to only to themselves and their over inflated perception of their own importance. The elected members are relegated to the...
http://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/10054446.Weymouth_Esplanade_may_shut_in_summertime_car_free_plan_for_seafront/?ref=mr Weymouth Esplanade may shut in summertime Weymouth Esplanade . Weymouth and Portland Borough Council and Dorset County Council, preparing to shoot themselves in the foot again. After their collective self inflicted wounds of 2012, it is surprising to think that they have any toes left to aim at.
http://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/10017835.OLYMPIC_LEGACY__Weymouth_and_Portland_hotels_missed_third_of_expected_guests/?ref=mr HOTELIERS and guesthouse owners failed to attract a third of staying visitors during the Games Hotels on Weymouth This comes as no surprise to anyone. Prior to the Games, Weymouth and Portland Council ran, as it turned out, a very successful publicity campaign advising people all over the country to avoid Weymouth traffic congestion during the course of the Olympic sailing events. The discovery of cracks in the ferry terminal also came at a fortuitous time for the Council, resulting in Condor Ferries being prevented from using the terminal prior to the Games commencing and for the duration of the events. However, the subsequent decision to prevent Condor using Portland as an alternative terminal while the repairs were carried out, on the grounds that "the increase in traffic through the town (Weymouth), would cause severe ...
http://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/10017816.OLYMPIC_LEGACY__The_thousands_who_did_not_turn_up_in_Weymouth_and_Portland/?ref=mr VISITOR numbers to the Olympic sailing events in Weymouth and Portland failed to meet expectations following years of building up to the 2012 Games. Weymouth during the Olympics No matter what spin County council leader and transport spokesman Angus Campbell may try to put on it, the failure of the Olympic Games in Weymouth was the result of a classic example of councils "shooting themselves in the foot"...........again!
http://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/9962408.May_finish_for_Weymouth_harbour_wall_repairs/?ref=mc May finish for Weymouth harbour wall repairs Yesterday, I commented on a story in the "Dorset Echo" which questioned the return of Condor Ferries to their Weymouth operation. "From conversations I have had with people who work for Condor, it seems to me that this story has some credibility. I under stand that the work on rebuilding the quay at Weymouth is far from completion, and the March return date looks very uncertain. Add to the is the fact that Poole council are making very strong representations to Condor to remain in Poole, a return to the Weymouth operation seems less and less likely." Today, Friday 5th October 2012 , Dorset Echo carries this story of the repairs not being completed until May 2013 "at the earliest". It seems to me that Weymouth has seen the last of the Condor Ferry operations from the town, together with the employment and f...