quote=“roolechat”]
roolechat:
Buzzer:
roolechat very interesting your mention of Townsend Thoresen out of Southampton just wondered when they started services out of the city as when I was a kid I went out on one of there ships with the family on holiday and would have been about 6 or 7yo so well over 60 years ago, BuzzerBritish Railways coud see no profitable future at Southampton & withdrew their Southampton to St Malo & Le Havre services in 1963. The 2 vessels withdrawn -Normannia & Falaise - were then converted to ro/ro & deployed at Dover & Shoreham
Otto Thoresen saw the opportunity & commissioned 2 purpose built ro ro vessells -Viking 1 & Viking 2. Tourism -coaches /cars & caravans - were the target market as people became more affluent & took “foreign” holidays Thoresen Car Ferries first sailing was Viking 1 to Cherbourg in May 1964 I’ll add to this with another postingViking 2
British Railways had operated the Normannia on the Southampton Le Havre service since 1952 The facilities on board were somewhat dated,but brave motorists could use the service as a small number of cars could be craned on & off which were stowed in the holds along with conventional freight. The Falaise offered similar facilities on the Southampton St Malo route. Neither route made any money & British Railways decided to close them both & Normannia’s last sailing to Le Havre was in early December 1963
At that time,conventional shipping,both short sea & deep sea, provided the means to to move imports & exports The Falaise could carry400 tons (presumably onions for the French onion sellers who cycled around Hampshire !).
Hauliers would collect export goods from factories or export packing places & deliver them to various ports with the usual delays incurred ( In 1964 the vehicle offloading queue at 104 berth for Union Castle exports was often 4 days or even more) The same for import collections,3 or 4 collections from various sheds in Southampton would be a full days work-even if some of the collections were for minimal amounts of cargo.
Shipping methods were limited to vessel design.Red Funnel ran ferry services to & from Isle of Wight but with very limited freight capacity
The Cowes Castle & Carrisbrooke Castle were 2 of the Castle class with only bow doors & limited height clearance,until they were all stretched & converted to drive through in the early /mid 70’s
Most freight to & from the Island was carried by barge. In 1960,over 70,000 tons was carried this way. British Road Services introduced 2 new barges on their Town Quay-Cowes/Newport service in 1961,Both “Needles” & "Cowes " had a crew of 4
“Cowes”
Otto Thoresen had looked at 3 possible South Coast ports for a new ferry service & decided on Southampton -Cherbourg as his first venture. When his decision was taken,he was not aware British Railways were intending to terminate their Le Havre service.
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Otto Thoresen saw the opportunity to create a new market & Thoresen Car Ferries Viking 1 & 11 set new standards They were the first Ro/Ro vessels & the up to 800 passengers enjoyed first class facilities-Le Commandant restaurant-Smorgasborg(later replicated on Sally Lines vessels ) excellent bar areas & duty free shops(large Toblerones weren’t available in the UK !).This all contributed to a high on board spend.“Your journey should be enjoyed,not endured”.As a result,freight was not a priority. TCF targetted the tourist market via travel agents,Coach operators & newspaper adverts “Your holiday starts the moment you come aboard”
Both vessels were charted out for the winter at the end of the 1964 season,but both returned to Southampton for the 1965 season.
TCF had seen the potential of the Le Havre route vacated by British Railways & with the introduction of Viking 111 in June 1965
TCF were able to offer an all year round service & the coach operators & the tourist market quickly adapted to it “Your quickest route to the sun”
Traditionally imports & exports were caried in the holds of conventional ships with all the delays,cost,packaging etc associated with perhaps a weekly or fortnightly service , but with the opening up of all year round sailings the haulage industry was presented with all sorts of opportunities
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European hauliers were used to the regulations controlling intra european transport.UK hauliers were used to domestic rules when they delivered an export load to the docks,but with TCF now offering an all year round service,UK hauliers could now offer direct services.
However,like the Klondyke days of middle east haulage in the early 70’s,it was a steep learning curve
TIR rules were strict,documentation had to be in order,Carnet de Passage had to be vaild for at least 6 months etc but,once you had cleared at say Le Bourget or Gennevilliers (along with 200 other lorries), you were free to deliver your load
The opening of the Mont Blanc tunnel in July 1965 opened up the Italian market to direct services (but many preferred Mont Cenis etc to save some of their running money)
Italian/French/Spanish hauliers weren’t particularly interested in coming to the UK for various reasons but,this had repercussions later when the demand for French & Italian permits exceeded their availability
A Double Diamond always worked wonders
Unaccompanied trailers quickly became popular
