ChrisArbon:
Coho is a type of salmon and the MV Coho sails between Port Angeles in Washington State and Victoria on Vancouver Island. It boasts that it has never missed a scheduled sailing since it was built in 1959. You drive through the side at Victoria and out through the stern at Port Angeles. I used the 90 minute crossing once after delivering jet skis on Vancouver Island and reloading near Portland in Oregon. The Black Ball Line vessel makes two round trips a day in Winter and four in Summer.All parked up at the minute Chris, Coho and the Clipper. Covid/ Border restrictions. Any US origin traffic or returning to same is all via Tswassen. Paul
ChrisArbon:
DEANB:
ChrisArbon:
This is a Woolwich style ferry service that crosses the Arrow Lake in British Columbia. Free service on the Columbia River system in the Rocky Mountains run by BC Ferries.Intresting pics Chris !
Can you imagine a free ferry in the UK !
Out of intrest do you know why the Americans/Canadians have the trailer axles right at the back with no overhang ?
Hi Dean. It is usually the 48 foot trailers that have the wheels right at the back. The 53 foot trailers usually have the extra 5 feet as rear overhang.
Here are some BC Ferries on the Vancouver Island and Gulf Islands routes.
Great photos Chris, I actually live on Vancouver Island. A bit further insight on the North America bogie positions Dean - most tandems or tridems have sliding bogies, operated by lever (superb fun in the winter - wd 40, large hammer to the fore) but latterly air operated. Reasons are invariably axle / bogie weight and centre of bogie to kingpin lengths, which vary throughout the states particularly (California being the shortest). Many box van and fridge locations, especially the big DCs, have a policy of sliding the axles to the rear when on the loading bay. This ensures more stability for the fork trucks when traversing the plate/ leveller. I could have made a few bob by helping or even carrying out the operation for the legion of new and inexperienced drivers in the US, perhaps a training omission? These chaps often don’t focus and leave the axles at the rear which gives an interesting cut in degree of angle when cornering a 53’. I always left my glove on the gearstick to remind me!
On a positive I’ve occasionally slid the axles forward to give a bit more traction when in the mountains in the winter. Hope this helps. Paul
mushroomman:
dieseldave:
ERF-NGC-European:
I seem to remember collecting and returning unaccompanied trailers to Schiaffino vessels in Ramsgate docks in the mid-'80s. RoIn 1982/3, I remember using a Schiaffino out of Oostende once because none of the other carriers would carry the nasty chemicals I was carrying.
I’d tried both Calais and Zeebrugge, but both asked me to vacate their port!!
When I presented my DGN to the nice man at Schiaffino, he wondered what all the fuss was about.
I remember that we docked at Western Docks, Dover.
IIRC, Ramsgate was Sally Line to Dunkirk, which offered the best buffet in those days and the opportunity to use the ‘Corridor.’
It’s amazing what memories some of these posts rekindle. 
I must of used the Schiaffino (a.k.a. The Paraffino) at least three times in the 80’s, the main topic of conversation at the dining table was always “is it Steak or is it Horsemeat”. It seemed more than a coincidence that Shergar had just gone missing. 
I truly believe that it was Horsemeat which was often served in Belgium restaurants in the seventies and as it was always served in a thick sauce then you couldn’t really tell the difference.
I remember waiting at the East German border once going into Poland along with a West German driver who had a horse box and while trying out my best Pigeon German I asked him " is das Rennen Pferds (Race Horses). He replied, Nein Essen Pferds, (eating horses).
The best part about the meal on the ship was that it came with copious amounts of free red wine which was basically Plonk, the bottles didn’t even have a label on them and the same bottles were quickly refilled.
The trip that really sticks out in my mind was when we had loaded once in Oostende, the ship had closed its doors, the engines had already started up and the all the drivers were stood on the top deck waiting for the ship to pull away.
I.I.R.C. you had to go through a set of lock gates and we were stopped there for about five minutes when one of the crew started to do a head count. You could tell that something was wrong the way the crew were all flapping about. Now I seem to think that there were only twelve drivers allowed because of insurance polices, the rest were unaccompanied trailers and on this day there were only about eight drivers on board. Sometimes you could park on the ship and then be told to come back before 5 p.m. when the ship sailed but on this occasion we were one driver missing.
Suddenly, the agents little Citroen 2 c.v. van came screeching up and stopped on the quayside, there was a lot of shouting going on and then we all watched as the crew lifted a thirty foot ladder over the side. A young English lad who looked in his late twenties got out of the van and started climbing up the ladder onto the deck of the ship. By now all the drivers had moved closer to see what was going on and by the time that this young lad had got to the top of the ladder he looked ashen faced.
As he climbed over the deck rail he asked “is Jeremy Beadle about”, and for all the younger Trucknet members that was a popular television programme at the time. It turned out that it was the lads first trip abroad and he had left his watch on U.K. time.
Now for nearly forty years I always thought that the steel ladder that this lad climbed up was attached to the side of the ship but as you look at this photo of the Schiaffino you can see what looks like a ladder laying on it’s side.
I also remember that on two occasions we actually went into Dover Eastern Docks.
2
Do you remember seeing the Hover Lloyd Hovercraft going out of Pegwell Bay just down the road from Ramsgate in the seventies. I only went on it once from Ramsgate to Calais in 1975. They were really noisy things on the outside but inside they were fairly quite and I can remember the captain saying "our flying time to Calais today will be thirty five minutes.
I do agree Mushroom Man, rekindled memories indeed. I caught Paraffino out of Ramsgate just the once, 12 drivers who were part of the crew. Only boat that would ship me given the hazardous carried. I’d got a tip off about the cuisine from another driver who’d shipped that way before and had a pub meal before loading, so no Dobbin for me!
Short trip to the Ruhr area and back on the regular Oostende - Dover ship, whose soup, regardless of ingredients or name was always pea green!
I have just been looking back at this thread and I am surprised that nobody has mentioned the P. and O. ship that sailed between Ipswich and Rotterdam in the eighties. It was a freighter run by North Sea Ferries which mostly carried unaccompanied P. and O. trailers and was allowed to carry up to twelve drivers. I.I.R.C. one was called The Norsky which was replaced by The Norsea (or the other way round) in the mid eighties. It would leave Europort as soon as it was loaded which would be anytime between 8 p.m. and midnight and it would arrive in Ipswich between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. the next day. As soon as it was reloaded it was on it’s way back to Europort.
I never bothered to take any photos of it but here is photo showing a Townsend Thorenson boat arriving in Zeebrugge at about one o’clock in the morning.
Europort on a Sunday morning.
Click on the photos twice to enlarge them.
P. and O. ship LION at Dover in 1980.
I have just found these images on my laptop when I was searching for something else.
It is a new Roll-On…Roll-Off ferry for the Isle Of Man Steam Packet Co, due to enter
service in 2023. It will be called " MANXMAN ", and it is being built at the shipyard of
Hyundai Miko in Korea. I imagine Chris Webb will already be aware of this new ship.
Not my pictures.
Ray Smyth.
Memories,eh? I recall a couple of trips on the “Schiaffino” vessel but I’m sure it left from Eastern Dock,Dover from a berth which I’m sure is now concrete.Another trip on Schiaffino from Marseilles to Annaba(Algeria)which I wouldn’t want to repeat.
I also recall a few trips on the RIF Line (Rotterdam/Ipswich).I can’t recall the ship’s name but the crew was German,the cabin steward being female and scary.Her shouted “Aufstehen” when you are still blotto reminded me of my dad’s days as a pow.
One trip as a passenger from Oostende on a passenger vessel (forgotten the name )which lifts onto 4 legs when it gets moving .Lumpiest voyage ever.Only the woman next to me and myself didn’t see our dinner again.Absolute carnage.Captain announced that the weather was borderline for attempting the crossing.Happy days.
The thing on 4 legs was a hydrofoil. I’ll be glad when my dementia pills start to kick in.
Gidders:
The thing on 4 legs was a hydrofoil. I’ll be glad when my dementia pills start to kick in.
You’ve gotta remember to take 'em first…
[emoji3]
I was watching the news on BBC TV earlier today, and it showed the enormous queues of cars, coaches, & lorries because it is
the start of the busiest holiday season. A reporter spoke to a family bound for Dover, they were a young couple and 4 children.
The family were from somewhere in the South East of England, and their destination was a campsite in Brittany. Their journey
would be approx 70 miles to Dover, and 450 miles from Calais to Brittany…a total of 520 miles, plus another 520 to drive home.
If they had drove to Plymouth, approx 250 miles, and sailed to Roscoff with Brittany Ferries, their total mileage would be about
500 miles and saved a fortune on fuel.
Ray Smyth.
Ray Smyth:
I was watching the news on BBC TV earlier today, and it showed the enormous queues of cars, coaches, & lorries because it is
the start of the busiest holiday season. A reporter spoke to a family bound for Dover, they were a young couple and 4 children.
The family were from somewhere in the South East of England, and their destination was a campsite in Brittany. Their journey
would be approx 70 miles to Dover, and 450 miles from Calais to Brittany…a total of 520 miles, plus another 520 to drive home.
If they had drove to Plymouth, approx 250 miles, and sailed to Roscoff with Brittany Ferries, their total mileage would be about
500 miles and saved a fortune on fuel.Ray Smyth.
This is where we have the advantage of being transport professionals - we can think outside of the box. Just wonder if there’s much difference in the price though with the longer crossings but certainly the savings on fuel would be big. My experience of folks from the south east tends to be that they think the world ends outside of the M25 though. Going to Plymouth would be space travel for them
Ray Smyth:
I was watching the news on BBC TV earlier today, and it showed the enormous queues of cars, coaches, & lorries because it is
the start of the busiest holiday season. A reporter spoke to a family bound for Dover, they were a young couple and 4 children.
The family were from somewhere in the South East of England, and their destination was a campsite in Brittany. Their journey
would be approx 70 miles to Dover, and 450 miles from Calais to Brittany…a total of 520 miles, plus another 520 to drive home.
If they had drove to Plymouth, approx 250 miles, and sailed to Roscoff with Brittany Ferries, their total mileage would be about
500 miles and saved a fortune on fuel.Ray Smyth.
What’s the difference in ferry prices though? I would expect Dover to be several hundreds of pounds cheaper than Brittany ferries.
stu675:
Ray Smyth:
I was watching the news on BBC TV earlier today, and it showed the enormous queues of cars, coaches, & lorries because it is
the start of the busiest holiday season. A reporter spoke to a family bound for Dover, they were a young couple and 4 children.
The family were from somewhere in the South East of England, and their destination was a campsite in Brittany. Their journey
would be approx 70 miles to Dover, and 450 miles from Calais to Brittany…a total of 520 miles, plus another 520 to drive home.
If they had drove to Plymouth, approx 250 miles, and sailed to Roscoff with Brittany Ferries, their total mileage would be about
500 miles and saved a fortune on fuel.Ray Smyth.
What’s the difference in ferry prices though? I would expect Dover to be several hundreds of pounds cheaper than Brittany ferries.
Brittany are expensive. The cheapest is DFDS Newhaven- Dieppe
OwenMoney:
stu675:
Ray Smyth:
I was watching the news on BBC TV earlier today, and it showed the enormous queues of cars, coaches, & lorries because it is
the start of the busiest holiday season. A reporter spoke to a family bound for Dover, they were a young couple and 4 children.
The family were from somewhere in the South East of England, and their destination was a campsite in Brittany. Their journey
would be approx 70 miles to Dover, and 450 miles from Calais to Brittany…a total of 520 miles, plus another 520 to drive home.
If they had drove to Plymouth, approx 250 miles, and sailed to Roscoff with Brittany Ferries, their total mileage would be about
500 miles and saved a fortune on fuel.Ray Smyth.
What’s the difference in ferry prices though? I would expect Dover to be several hundreds of pounds cheaper than Brittany ferries.
Brittany are expensive. The cheapest is DFDS Newhaven- Dieppe
Brittany about £950ish for return car and 6 passengers via Plymouth/Roskoff. (overnight crossing and no cabin).
Brittany £600ish Poole/C`bourg.
£270 ish Dover one way tomorrow.
Newhaven departures currently sold out…but Tues depart and two weeks return £450ish.
But all above are current sailings and that`d probably be less if booked in advance.
DFDS are fine in my book…
but Brittany have nice boats, and always have had very nice staff!
Dennis Javelin:
Ray Smyth:
I was watching the news on BBC TV earlier today, and it showed the enormous queues of cars, coaches, & lorries because it is
the start of the busiest holiday season. A reporter spoke to a family bound for Dover, they were a young couple and 4 children.
The family were from somewhere in the South East of England, and their destination was a campsite in Brittany. Their journey
would be approx 70 miles to Dover, and 450 miles from Calais to Brittany…a total of 520 miles, plus another 520 to drive home.
If they had drove to Plymouth, approx 250 miles, and sailed to Roscoff with Brittany Ferries, their total mileage would be about
500 miles and saved a fortune on fuel.Ray Smyth.
This is where we have the advantage of being transport professionals - we can think outside of the box. Just wonder if there’s much difference in the price though with the longer crossings but certainly the savings on fuel would be big. My experience of folks from the south east tends to be that they think the world ends outside of the M25 though. Going to Plymouth would be space travel for them
The roads from the South East to Devon are a joke.Basically it’s A30 or A303.Or A31 followed by an even more convoluted route of basket case roads.That 250 miles can take well over 6 hours.
The last run I did via Dover I used the A21 and then the cart tracks across to Dymchurch and Folkestone.The M25 and M20 are now a no go basket case.In large part because of Northerners and Westerners being fixated on using the Dover Calais route.
Added to which is the fact that the government and EU have imposed penalties on the longer crossings meaning the end of the direct North Sea crossings to Scandinavia and Germany.
The choice for me now is either Portsmouth or Harwich.Dover just isn’t worth all the aggro.Bearing in mind Portsmouth is actually closer and easily makes up for any extra distance needed on much better French roads.
As for the Tunnel obviously no one likes the idea of being stuck under the sea in a 25 mile long hole in the ground with only an exit at each end.
My next trip will probably be to Swiss and Austria via Harwich having finally got my new passport after an almost 3 month wait.
Carryfast:
Dennis Javelin:
Ray Smyth:
I was watching the news on BBC TV earlier today, and it showed the enormous queues of cars, coaches, & lorries because it is
the start of the busiest holiday season. A reporter spoke to a family bound for Dover, they were a young couple and 4 children.
The family were from somewhere in the South East of England, and their destination was a campsite in Brittany. Their journey
would be approx 70 miles to Dover, and 450 miles from Calais to Brittany…a total of 520 miles, plus another 520 to drive home.
If they had drove to Plymouth, approx 250 miles, and sailed to Roscoff with Brittany Ferries, their total mileage would be about
500 miles and saved a fortune on fuel.Ray Smyth.
This is where we have the advantage of being transport professionals - we can think outside of the box. Just wonder if there’s much difference in the price though with the longer crossings but certainly the savings on fuel would be big. My experience of folks from the south east tends to be that they think the world ends outside of the M25 though. Going to Plymouth would be space travel for them
The roads from the South East to Devon are a joke.Basically it’s A30 or A303.Or A31 followed by an even more convoluted route of basket case roads.That 250 miles can take well over 6 hours.
The last run I did via Dover I used the A21 and then the cart tracks across to Dymchurch and Folkestone.The M25 and M20 are now a no go basket case.In large part because of Northerners and Westerners being fixated on using the Dover Calais route.
Added to which is the fact that the government and EU have imposed penalties on the longer crossings meaning the end of the direct North Sea crossings to Scandinavia and Germany.
The choice for me now is either Portsmouth or Harwich.Dover just isn’t worth all the aggro.Bearing in mind Portsmouth is actually closer and easily makes up for any extra distance needed on much better French roads.
As for the Tunnel obviously no one likes the idea of being stuck under the sea in a 25 mile long hole in the ground with only an exit at each end.
My next trip will probably be to Swiss and Austria via Harwich having finally got my new passport after an almost 3 month wait.
Up to harwich to the hoek to go down to Swiss you really are raving mad old son but we all know that anyway
robthedog:
Carryfast:
Dennis Javelin:
Ray Smyth:
I was watching the news on BBC TV earlier today, and it showed the enormous queues of cars, coaches, & lorries because it is
the start of the busiest holiday season. A reporter spoke to a family bound for Dover, they were a young couple and 4 children.
The family were from somewhere in the South East of England, and their destination was a campsite in Brittany. Their journey
would be approx 70 miles to Dover, and 450 miles from Calais to Brittany…a total of 520 miles, plus another 520 to drive home.
If they had drove to Plymouth, approx 250 miles, and sailed to Roscoff with Brittany Ferries, their total mileage would be about
500 miles and saved a fortune on fuel.Ray Smyth.
This is where we have the advantage of being transport professionals - we can think outside of the box. Just wonder if there’s much difference in the price though with the longer crossings but certainly the savings on fuel would be big. My experience of folks from the south east tends to be that they think the world ends outside of the M25 though. Going to Plymouth would be space travel for them
The roads from the South East to Devon are a joke.Basically it’s A30 or A303.Or A31 followed by an even more convoluted route of basket case roads.That 250 miles can take well over 6 hours.
The last run I did via Dover I used the A21 and then the cart tracks across to Dymchurch and Folkestone.The M25 and M20 are now a no go basket case.In large part because of Northerners and Westerners being fixated on using the Dover Calais route.
Added to which is the fact that the government and EU have imposed penalties on the longer crossings meaning the end of the direct North Sea crossings to Scandinavia and Germany.
The choice for me now is either Portsmouth or Harwich.Dover just isn’t worth all the aggro.Bearing in mind Portsmouth is actually closer and easily makes up for any extra distance needed on much better French roads.
As for the Tunnel obviously no one likes the idea of being stuck under the sea in a 25 mile long hole in the ground with only an exit at each end.
My next trip will probably be to Swiss and Austria via Harwich having finally got my new passport after an almost 3 month wait.Up to harwich to the hoek to go down to Swiss you really are raving mad old son but we all know that anyway
For Swiss I usually prefer going via Germany anyway.
So you prefer battling with all the aggro on the M25 and M20 or the now often the clogged alternatives and French border ‘controls’.
Then getting nicked by Gendarmes for not driving at silly Brit speeds on roads designed for 120 mph like the A26 and A4 to Strasbourg and paying a rip off toll for the privilege.
So I’m going to Germany anyway might as well use the 120 via the 414 Hertford and Harwich to get further East and avoid all the Kent and French aggro.
You do know Swiss and Austria are well East of Dover.
Ray Smyth:
There have been a few posts on here recently regarding stern loading ferries. In 1982, I sailed on " Norland "
from Hull to Rotterdam, and 4 days later, returned from Rotterdam to Hull on " Norstar ", both of these vessels
were stern only loading, but they were so big that you drove forward through the stern and swung round at
the bow end and ended up at the stern, ready to drive off to your destination. My destination was a town in
the North of Germany called Braunschweig.Ten years later in 1992, I did the same journey, outward to Rotterdam on the " Norsea " on April 15th, and
returned on " Norsea " on Good Friday, April 17th.Picture 1 is " Norsea " at Hull, and ahead of the vessel is " Norland " which was now on the Hull to Zeebrugge route.
Picture 2 is " Norsun " at Rotterdam (Europort).
This journey was to a town called Stade, also in the North of Germany.Ray Smyth.
Hi Ray, I don’t know if you will be interested but I came across the old NORSUN in Naples a couple of weeks ago and thought that you might like to see some of the photos that I took.
It’s now called the GNV ANTARES and as far as I know, it runs between Naples and Palermo in Sicily.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_GNV_Antares
Thank you Mr M for your info and pictures of MV Norsun. Both of my journeys from Hull to Rotterdam were
because I did occasional work for singer Tony Christie, doing driving jobs in his large van, and working the
spotlights in theatres and cabaret clubs, mainly in the UK, but now and again to places abroad.
Cheers, Ray.
Franglais:
Gidders:
The thing on 4 legs was a hydrofoil. I’ll be glad when my dementia pills start to kick in.You’ve gotta remember to take 'em first…
[emoji3]
Now where are they?
Ray Smyth:
I have just found these images on my laptop when I was searching for something else.
It is a new Roll-On…Roll-Off ferry for the Isle Of Man Steam Packet Co, due to enter
service in 2023. It will be called " MANXMAN ", and it is being built at the shipyard of
Hyundai Miko in Korea. I imagine Chris Webb will already be aware of this new ship.Not my pictures.
Ray Smyth.
What a shame the construction was not in a UK yard.