roolechat:
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, Buzzer
British 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 The 2 vessels withdrawn -Normannia & Falaise - were then converted to ro/ro & deployed at Dover & Shoreham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 posting
Viking 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.
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
in 1965 with TCF’s all year round service,freight volumes rapidly grew,but the facilities didn’t.IMHO,both TCF & BTDB underestimated the demand for unaccompanied freight .
Trailers had to be dropped with the legs on concrete strips,but there weren’t sufficient so railway sleepers were provided for drivers to use in order that trailers didn’t sink in the soft surface.
Dragging a 90kgs sleeper & placing it under your trlr,(or removing it once you had coupled) wasn’t to every driver’s liking !
An import compound alongside the river Itchen was made available,but because it had a concrete surface,the dockers weren’t always considerate in the way trailers were dropped.Sometimes far too high or low & sometimes dropped too close together that collecting drivers couldn’t access the legs to wind them up.
Note how close the Pitt & Scott,AM Garage,A N Other trlrs are parked-too close for drivers to access the landing gear
Drivers had to be adept at problem solving.Tractor units were day cabbed,so space was limited.A minimum of 3 trailer landing leg handles were needed (often to be seen lodged between fuel tank & chassis).Some trailers required a hexagonal headed handle,others a round head on a short shaft with a central bolt to connect it,others with a long shaft with a central bolt (which invariably snapped)
Sometimes the cross shaft(between the chassis) snapped & only the driven leg would operate.
Trailer lights were often a nightmare.Drivers carried round,square & rectangular lenses but often French trailers had different wiring & it was not uncommon to follow a French trailer being pulled by an English unit with both brake lights flashing !
Couplings. 2 line air was the norm & for UK trailers C & CA couplings were standard, but French trlrs had Palm couplings as standard,sometimes with internal valves .Again,drivers carried various conversion change overs & adaptors.
French trailers carried their own fixed registration plates & drivers had to affix their own square number plates often using the ’ S’ hooks on the TIR cord-which didn’t satisfy the authorities-. which is why many drivers carried a light board (& 10metres of cable)
Most British trls had fairly standard handbrakes-Ratchet or lever but every French trailer manufacturer seemed to have a different system with pulleys/wheels/ratchets which invariably were jammed or just didn’t work
Collecting an import trlr early on a dark wet morning was not for the faint hearted !
With freight demand increasing,TCF introduced the freight only Viking1V in June 1967 which loaded & discharged at No 2 North Compound .This not only had more space for unaccompanied trailers,but enabled other types of freight traffic to be accommodated such as imported agricultural tractors & export mobile homes.
As the demand for cross channel services grew,BTDF commissioned the Princess Alexander Terminal. It opened in July 1967 & offered an additional 4 Ro/Ro Berths.It enabled Normandy Ferries to commence their Le Havre service with the British crewed "Dragon"which was joined in April 1968 by the French crewed “Leopard” Neither vessel were drive through Ro/Ro s,but operated on a one way gyratory system on both main & wing decks. For accompanied freight,this often meant reversing along the linkspan & onto the vessel. After a few beers at the upstairs terminal bar,not the easiest manoeuvre on a wet dark night but if you were on the waiting list & there was a last minute space,you could drive on.The downside was reversing off in the morning watched by a shipful of spectators waiting to drive off!
Industrial relations were sometimes strained.Ro/Ro ferries were a new concept & dock employees considered driving accompanied freight on & off should be a dockers task. Unaccompanied freight was not a problem for them as they had control of it though often if an unaccompanied trailer was late clearing customs or seal check ,you could find a tug to load the trailer onto the ferry,but not a driver. It was not unusual to drive round to “The Queens” in Albert Rd & ask a tug driver to finish his pint & return to work. Putting a pint “behind the bar” invariably ensured co operation
The “Leopard” with it’s French crew also had their own issues, often relating to other French industrial action such as dock strikes
Also in 1967,Swedish Lloyd commenced a Bilbao service using mv “Patricia” It was a success & “Patricia” was joined by “Hispano”
The service lasted for 10 years. In additional to the normal wheeled freight,the IBC MacAndrews Mac Pak service using 20ft flat racks & containers was an important traffic. It also provided work for local Southampton hauliers
20ft MacPak flat rack loaded with Spanish melons discharging from mv “Patricia”
20ft Mac Pak at berth 3 ( S) with mv"Patricia" alongside
In 1968 Thoresen Car Ferries & Townsend Ferries Dover merged to become Townsend Thoresen Car Ferries As a result,some Townsend ferries supplemented TCF vessels on Southampton routes.For quicker turnrounds at Dover,Townsend vessels were capable of simultaneous loading through stern doors & side ramps.BTDB installed side loading facilities @ 7 Berth initially for Free Enterprise 11 but was later used for Vikings Valiant & Venturer
