John Wright
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Posts posted by John Wright
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2 hours ago, woolley said:
Are these problems officially acknowledged though? Perhaps they are, and I have missed it, but you did tell us that the Ben had to sail at half speed, presumably from the same sources, then when she sailed she went at normal speed. I've been aboard umpteen times now and never felt a judder. Smooth as being on a yacht!
The steam packet have acknowledged the judder, and had engineers on board. They’ve also acknowledged that the batteries need replacing.
They’ve not acknowledged the fuel consumption.
As for the IMO certification, what I posted was correct at the time. She’s had 4 temporary certificates so far, each with different, and increasing limitations. The latest two, one from IoM and the other from England have different limitations.
At the time I raised it SPCo hadn’t acknowledged publicly. Eventually they did, and it was raised in Tynwald. They then fudged acknowledging. By then it was on its most recent certificates, and things weren’t as bad, speed wise. I suspect the questions in Tynwald were prompted by someone reading here.
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Just now, Andy Onchan said:
Where is the evidence of "excess fuel costs"? What are the comparators? Same fuel type or different more expensive fuels to reduce carbon?
MX is currently burning about 40% more than Ben. See my post above. That’s as limited at 17knts, due to the resonance.
Im reliably advised that the excess fuel consumption wasn’t anticipated and is, as yet, unexplained.
You’ll notice that SPCo are remarkably silent and don’t issue mythbusters when they’re trying to be opaque.
If fuel is £800/tonne that’s 3.4 million extra litres ( 3,400 extra tonnes ) and £2.4 million extra cost.
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27 minutes ago, WTF said:
but now we excess capacity for more of the year with excess fuel costs, docked boats dont tend to burn much fuel
We had huge over capacity, all year round, before. As I pointed out, the side loaders carried about 1400 passengers each. The sisters were certificated with capacity of 2200. And the three 1930’s super ferries/mini liners, Ben, Lady and Queen were 2500-2700. And don’t think that mothballing is without expense. Each laid up boat was crewed and a boiler fired for heat and light. 8 boats for 6 months a year.
Of course there’s another difference. MX carries our freight 24/7/365. Those old boats, pre 1978 didn’t. We had two freight carriers. The size difference over Ben shouldn’t make much difference in fuel consumption. And it’s covered by freight.
Quite what the reason for the excess fuel consumption is hasn’t been resolved. It’s way above forecast/target. Whilst MX is mainly self limiting to 17knts, because of the resonance, I’m told that each day sees about 30 tonnes of fuel used. Ben is about 21.5 tonnes. They should have been broadly the same.
If resonance is cured and higher speed allowed the 30 tonne figure will increase.
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12 minutes ago, WTF said:
thanks for the history lesson of almost no relevance to the 'bad new days' where we are now, other than motor racing events we have excess capacity on the boats for our current requirements with increased fuel bills
It’s not a history lesson. It’s totally on point. We’ve always had excess capacity. Just that we now deal with it differently
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2 hours ago, Loungehake said:
Manxman scheduled sailing moved 30 minutes earlier from 0845 to 0815 because of tidal conditions. It actually departs at 0930. Jumbo had to be moved to Mannannan's berth to get a coach onboard.
How is it that this chaos is only happenig with the coming of the White Elephant. The idiot alpha male MHKs who imposed this stupidity should be called out. The reliability of the Ben-My-Chree is already becoming the stuff of nosalgia.
Why the heck do we need a cruise ship for a 3¾ hour crossing? The private cabin seating is even less comfortable than the Bens's.
Next thing, demonstrations on Strand Street.
And by using her power reserves she did the crossing in 3hours 3 minutes. Berthed in Heysham at 12.33
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31 minutes ago, WTF said:
anything that is going to spend most of its yearly journeys at nowhere near capacity and has to burn increased amounts of fuel compared to a smaller vessel IS oversized for our actual needs.
But that’s the problem with somewhere with wildly varying seasonal passenger capacity demands.
You know, in the good old days, we had a SPCo with 10 passenger boats. 2 of them were used all year round. For 5 months they each did one single ( not return ) crossing 6 days a week. MX does 4 singles a day.
Another couple were brought out at Easter and mothballed, with crew, from end September. The rest came out mid May. And whilst they covered Fleetwood, Llandudno, Ardrossan, Belfast, Dublin, sometimes Barrow and Whitehaven, they only really got used fully for TT and GP and Scottish, Lancashire and Yorkshire wakes week change over weekends, in June, July, August.
That wasn’t economic. 80% of your fleet mothballed for 6 months a year, all with onboard crew.
As half the income is freight, and that’s spread evenly over the year, it makes sense to have passenger over capacity most of the year. I went on many winter sailings on the Ben, Queen, Lady and Maid in the 70’s, to and from uni, where there’d be 20 or 30 passengers max and a dozen cars and 20 white vans and drivers. And their passenger capacity was 1400 passengers, that’s 500 more than Manxman.
Was just checking. Manx Maid and the other 3 side loaders drew 5.5metres. And Manxman? 5.2metres.
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8 minutes ago, Loungehake said:
I did not know that the hull needed ballast to be put in its bottom spaces. That means the White Elephant will draw even more water than it was designed to. Excuses and blame deflection cut no ice. If there is no long term solution for the bloated Pride of Man, discontent and anger will only increase. The Steam Packet has the monopoly of sea access to the Isle of Man. Monopolies breed complacency in their leaders. Us customers are expected to know our place and meekly comply with Steam Packet requirements.
It was madness to procure such an oversized vessel. Eggs in baskets, etc., etc.
That was the Ben. You’re very confused.
There’s no suggestion Manxman will need extra ballast.
It’s not oversized, ffs.
Likewise, no suggestion SPCo wanted two smaller boats. The User Agreement specifies a RoPax conventional ferry and a fast craft, and Ben as reserve. I suspect they may want two conventional ferries and a freighter as reserve.
There’s been extensive dredging at Heysham in the last couple of weeks. She just left port.
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13 minutes ago, Happier diner said:
Is the Manxman a white elephant or not. Lets have a vote
You haven’t voted!
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1 minute ago, Loungehake said:
I have been travelling on the Steam Packet for 52 years. The service has never been this bad and it ain't likely to get better as long as the oversized White Elephant continues. That ship's draught is too deep, particularly at full load. The problem is insoluble unless the service is switched to Liverpool and even then Douglas harbour needs extensive work. Is the harbour sufficiently dredgeable.
I’ve been travelling 60+ years. I’ve experienced delays, cancellations, 12 hour journeys from Peel, 6 hour journeys to nowhere when the Lady has had to turn back, groundings.
Sure this boat had a poor start with extreme weather/tide combinations, in November/December. She’s been sailing well since then. I’m due my 12th single crossing in one weeks time.
Ive had one cancellation and one retiming. Using a wheelchair it’s now easy to get from car deck to passenger accommodation and I can now move between decks at sea. I’m prepared to give it time.
It’s all well and good suggesting Liverpool. Rather defeats the concept and advantages of a freight/passenger vessel to go to somewhere that can’t handle freight.
Pretty sure both Heysham and Douglas can be dredged deeper. The work in Douglas is nearing completion.
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1 hour ago, WTF said:
only after it had shit loads of concrete added to make it usable
She was useable, but very bouncy. Also added extra passenger capacity from 450 to 600.
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1 minute ago, Loungehake said:
Manxman scheduled sailing moved 30 minutes earlier from 0845 to 0815 because of tidal conditions. It actually departs at 0930. Jumbo had to be moved to Mannannan's berth to get a coach onboard.
How is it that this chaos is only happenig with the coming of the White Elephant. The idiot alpha male MHKs who imposed this stupidity should be called out. The reliability of the Ben-My-Chree is already becoming the stuff of nosalgia.
Why the heck do we need a cruise ship for a 3¾ hour crossing? The private cabin seating is even less comfortable than the Bens's.
Next thing, demonstrations on Strand Street.
Would help if you got your facts correct. The coach broke down on the linkspan blocking all other vehicle loading. They tried to move the coach using the tugmasters. No luck. So they moved Manxman to the other linkspan berth, loaded, set off late, without the coach. Now using spare speed capacity to catch up schedule.
Again, I repeat, this isn’t chaos because of Manxman. These things happen. No MHK’s ( idiot, alpha or male ) were involved in speccing Manxman. It was the board and their naval architects. There was, however, a public consultation. The public wanted lifts ( that worked at sea ), more cabins, more pet friendly accommodation. The steam packet needed more capacity to deal with the seasonal peaks.
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1 hour ago, Loungehake said:
The IOM Steam Packet service is now chaotic. The perpetrators of this mess cannot hide from their responsibility for it. The magnificent vanity vessel will br the bane of travellers lives for many years to come unless the relevant harbours can be upgraded. It will be a deterrent from holidaying in the Isle of Man.
The standard fare is now huge and refunds hard to obtain for lost crossings due to lateness, illness, etc. What a mess! Are the guilty MHKs to be confined to a loony bin for the safety of the Manx public?
What is chaotic at the moment?
Who do you say has perpetrated what?
As headline fares are strictly regulated and SPCo has to offer a substantial number of steeply discounted fares how do you come to this conclusion?
What has any of this to do with MHK’s, even if your wrong assumptions/wild unsubstantiated allegations are true?
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7 hours ago, woolley said:
Why this now? The new vessel is working fine regularly, and the remaining issue appear to relate to completion of the harbour upgrade in Douglas (that should have been sorted before she arrived), and the dredging of Heysham. Ben-My-Chree has been a great servant, although similarly widely condemned when she first arrived for missing sailings, but she is totally outdated now. The experience is streets ahead on Manxman.
Except they still have to deal with the battery issue, and no mention of the excessive fuel consumption, and the judder still requires resolving.
Im sure the first and third can be resolved by taking out of service. For several weeks, even if they can get it done in Europe. The second has long term fare cost implications.
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4 hours ago, Non-Believer said:
In which case it could have been identified much earlier and he could have been managed out, as would have been almost certain in the private sector.
Were it not for HR inertia and cast iron CS T&Cs which make it virtually impossible to empty such cases.
He was managed out. This is the hangover result.
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7 hours ago, Last Ten said:
The problem lies directly in the IOM Civil Service, this bloke will have spent lots of his time at work conjuring up issues when he should have been actually working on behalf of us the tax payer, where were his line managers ensuring he was working for the good of the IOM?
6 hours ago, 2112 said:Very costly exercise. Assuming he had a lawyer?
1 hour ago, Dirty Buggane said:No doubt payed for by us.
1. He was self representing throughout.
2. An inordinate amount of management and HR time was spent over a decade dealing with complaints, under performance, disputes with fellow workers.
Source is the original decision in 2022 and the current May 2024 decision.
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54 minutes ago, Omobono said:
there seems to be a story going about that Manxman needs new batteries at a cost of somewhere approaching £3 million apparently she was fitted with batteries that were approaching end of life or replacement , also some of her electrical equipment seems to be somewhat dated , anyone out there heard anything similar , ?
44 minutes ago, NoTailT said:Surely not..?
39 minutes ago, Jarndyce said:£3M worth of batteries? That’s a lot of sausages.
20 minutes ago, Happier diner said:Yeah. And JD wetherspoons are taking over the bar for TT.
Think someone posted, months ago, that one of the two banks of batteries, for use for low emissions, whilst manoeuvring in port, had failed, that the manufacturer had stopped producing maritime batteries, and this was a problem.
The batteries were supposed to give 3 hours but only give one.
Was mid December it was posted.
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11 hours ago, finlo said:
Well the busses aren't insured so I see no reason for other government vehicles to be.
You’re making an assumption that it’s a government vehicle. I’m pretty sure the governor owns his own car and has an allowance out of which to fund its purchase, maintenance, tax, insurance.
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So there are 400 on payment plans? Out of how many thousands of customer accounts? It will hardly dent their income or their profitability.
The CURA pricing formula is based on a fixed return on capital employed. To arrive at the unit price and the fixed charge CURA looks at demand, price changes, market conditions, projected wholesale gas pricing, how much MG exceeded or undershot their allowable profit in the last period.
There are two types of payment plan by the look of it. Type one is a monthly sum that covers current consumption and arrears. Type two is arrears only as they’re cut off. The split isn’t given.
At least being on a payment plan ex customers are paying off their unpaid bills, so they shouldn’t be accounted for as bad debts.
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26 minutes ago, Two-lane said:
"New Pier Head operator GPH have informed the company that a previously agreed usage of the landing stage on those days will prevent Manannan from using the berth."
That raises some questions.
2 minutes ago, WTF said:yes, the previously agreed usage on price is now going up because we know you are fucked without us
It’s pretty clear. SPCo had anticipated being off the landing stage in April. For whatever reason they aren’t. New operators, in anticipation of the SPCo not using it agreed someone else could use it. SPCo will be on a day by day or week by week extension.
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2 minutes ago, Gladys said:
As I say, haven't researched it, but would imagine it would be muscle attached to bone?
Includes offal, brain, all sorts
FOOD AND DRUGS
COMPOSITION AND LABELLING
The Sausage and Other Meat Product Regulations 1967-
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24 minutes ago, Gladys said:
When you say 'now' it implies it is recent and a logical presumption is then that recent inflationary pressures have resulted in the reduction.
But the reduction happened in 2019, so not a new change and one that seems to have been accepted by customers for 5 years, or thereabouts.
What is the context of the submission last Tuesday?
No it happened between 2019 and 2023, not in 2019.
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1 hour ago, WTF said:
to be fair, sausages with high meat content tend to be dry and horrible, a sausage needs a good fat content to baste the meat that is in it
The definition of meat in a sausage includes the fat and gristle. It’s the rusk or crumbs that have been increased.
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33 minutes ago, IOM said:
A bit like some of their sausages that now have 90% meat compared to previously 97% . But their fresh food Director said that reducing the meat content and charging the same price was what customers wanted !!!!!Similarly putting less beef in the beef lasagne!
‘Twas ever thus. Reduce size or content/quality of ingredients. Keep price same. This can happen several times. Then relaunch, new bigger size, with a price hike.
My great grandparents had a bakery. My grandmother had multiple sets of cake and bread tins in graduated sizes. She told me that’s what they did.
Its why meaningful price comparison per standard unit is essential.
Brexit Penny Dropping?
in International News
Posted
The UK didn’t have to do anything. What it did was entirely out of self interest due to close interconnectedness of the two economies. £3.5bn out of €120bn+ and all repaid.