Hi everyone, I am just about to start a new job having been made redundant recently. My new boss is starting a new venture for a trial period running to Europe. I have never run over the water, neither has he and I have loads of questions, but lets start with this one. One of the runs is Leicester to Madrid. Would it be better (more cost effective) to run via Calais and down or go via Bilbao, or do each have different drawbacks. Any help, advice or general chat would be most appreciated.
Give it a little bit of time ,and the experts who do Spain will post, have you tried looking back through the old posts on the EURO forum, we have lots of information, also take the TIME to read the EURO STICKYS;
the usual ferry route generally would be Portsmouth to Caen, Cherbourg, St Malo or Le Havre.
Brittany ferries is cheaper into Spain (Santander) than P&O,(Bilbao) I personally prefer P&O, we were starting to use it coming home because of the cost of tolls and fuel going so high, but fuel costs have been dropping again so it is cheaper driving through France now.
A lot will depend on your driving hours and whether you can benefit from taking your weekend breaks on the ferry etc.
Good luck
Unless you can get an exceptional deal on the Spanish bound ferries (unlikely), the most cost effective routes are Poole - Cherbourg or Portsmouth - Caen.
Also they have multiple daily sailings, as opposed to the 2 or 3 sailings per week to Spain.
squarepeg:
Unless you can get an exceptional deal on the Spanish bound ferries (unlikely), the most cost effective routes are Poole - Cherbourg or Portsmouth - Caen.
Also they have multiple daily sailings, as opposed to the 2 or 3 sailings per week to Spain.
What squarepeg says is quite correct but as someone said in an earlier post a lot depends on your hours, the vehicle can be kept moving during your weekend break by using the Spanish ferries but only your boss knows if this
Vascoingles:
[What squarepeg says is quite correct but as someone said in an earlier post a lot depends on your hours, the vehicle can be kept moving during your weekend break by using the Spanish ferries but only your boss knows if this
a) operationally necessary
b) financially viable
But worst of all you miss out on France .
Mind you not everyone would agree with me that that is a bad thing.
Have you tried Louis Dreyfus.(LD lines),it is part of the Transmanche group.They have routes from Newhaven to Dieppe/Portsmouth to Le Havre/Dover to Dieppe.Not sure on rates.Best to google their website in the freight section.
tim williams:
Have you tried Louis Dreyfus.(LD lines),it is part of the Transmanche group.They have routes from Newhaven to Dieppe/Portsmouth to Le Havre/Dover to Dieppe.Not sure on rates.Best to google their website in the freight section.
Yep, I’d go with tim, I used to ship out alot from here to Spain, (in fairness I was only 10 miles from Newhaven too, but it is still the same principle), but it will depend on the rate. At least from Dieppe it can be good route national nearly all the way, plenty of fast roads, lots of parking options, also only 2 hits to Madrid from Dieppe, easy. Lots of advice coming your way I should think, but thats the way I’d go. Even from Leicester you’ve got 3.5 hours to Newhaven, 4.5 on the boat, and still get a good way down in one day (maybe Tours+). My favourite all the time, even for Italy etc as long as you make your boat!! Only a few crossings each day.
tim williams:
Have you tried Louis Dreyfus.(LD lines),it is part of the Transmanche group.They have routes from Newhaven to Dieppe/Portsmouth to Le Havre/Dover to Dieppe.Not sure on rates.Best to google their website in the freight section.
Wrong way round there Tim - LD lines actually are the parent company, they took Transmanche into the group
Thank’s guys for all the help. Whats going on with the rates for this type of work? We researched, worked it all out, quoted not unreasonably we thought and were underquoted by 900 quid !!! (Sorry, that was for N Italy back to midlands). What is reasonable for that run, one drop UK?
Any ideas.
Cheers, Mash.
mash8668:
Thank’s guys for all the help. Whats going on with the rates for this type of work? We researched, worked it all out, quoted not unreasonably we thought and were underquoted by 900 quid !!! (Sorry, that was for N Italy back to midlands). What is reasonable for that run, one drop UK?
Any ideas.
Cheers, Mash.
I was in Spain recently and a guy had brought a load down from Germany, knew he had to sit there for 4-5 days and then go back with the same stuff. he charged less than I worked out the derv costs.
Very hard to make sense of it all sometimes Mash
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