newcastle to Norway ferry starting in June 2009?
 

Hello,
I don't know if this is a wind up.
But a new guy in our office, is starting beginning of June 2009.
he has just driven from Southern Ireland to Oslo.
His route, ferry from southern Ireland, Rosslare to Fishguard, drive to Harwich,ferry to Esbjerg, drive to Hirtshals, ferry to Kristiansand, then drive to Oslo.
3 ferries !
Hat's off to him.
Any way, he heard while waiting for the DFDS from Hirtshals to Kristiansand, that the DFDS from Newcastle to Stavanger etc, was resatrting.
he was 100% sure of it.

Now I can't say it won't because I don't know.
however, even if it was limited to a once a week trip, therby, ensuring the vessel was always fully 110% full !

I understood the reason for stopping it last september (2008) was that it was not making enough money.

Any one else hear any snippets of info. ?

Our prayers answered, if it's true. :clap:

I have no plans yet for my summer trip other than the IOM so that would be great. Let's hope it's not just hot air.

Hi

I made a phone call to DFDS in Norway to check. They said they had no plans of resurrecting the Newcastle-Stavanger-Bergen route. Perhaps another ferry company? BTW, DFDS does not operate the Hirtshals-Kristiansand - it's a route operated by Color Line.

The people working at the front end of a company are always the last to know! I always hear about my company changes on the 6 O'Clock news. I remain hopeful, especially as the fuel prices are way down. I'm not sure what it takes to reinstate a route but a summer only service must be able to make money. Every boat I've been on was full.

Thanks Indu for phoning on our behalf

I hope this happens. As mentioned in another thread, a colleague's husband works in Norway and he's heard similar stories about it re-starting. He didn't mention which company. I live about 15 mins from the Newcastle ferry terminal and I know of loads of people at this end who did the mini-cruises to Norway so I can't believe it wasn't paying. If they're turning non-freight away from the Immingham crossing due to priority given to cargo, a route out of Newcastle must be able to pay as a cargo route too.

The trip I want to do this summer is Newcastle to Norway, tour as much of Scandinavia and Eastern Europe as time/funds allow and then back home via the Amsterdam-Newcastle ferry (or vice versa), so I'd love to see it happen, even if it's a summer only, once a week trip.

Out of interest, could everyone who would seriously use this route, post a note of support on this thread. Might be worth sending an email to the ferry companies.

Thanks to all who replied.
I for one would be very happy if it re-started.
Me and the other half, with our Land Cruiser, single , 1 way, paid £224 in May 2008.
To be honest, I would £300 for the same trip.
It must make money now, look how much the price of fuel has dropped.
And I am sure the ferry company's will get it substantially cheaper than we could ever hope to get it.

Like I say, even if it was just a 'shared ferry' which had an alternative route for most sailings of the week, and just did a 1 round trip a week.
I can't believe to think it could not make money.


Well, I wait and hope.

Traveling back from Oslo to Manchester could be quite a long drag, or and expensive drag with all the ferry crossings.

'vette

i'd use it, i've been planning my norway trip for ages, i have my route sortedand everything!!!

Southern Ireland to Nordkapp - Svalbard
 

Hi All :clap:

Were 2 bikers on the west coast of Ireland and plan to go to Svalbard and Nordkapp in June. I have been looking at the whole Newcastle ferry thing for the last 12 months amid fleeting rumours of things re-opening but I don't have much confidence that that will happen before June for us and that bad and all as it is for the UK guys to have to do the tunnel/Denmark route or other versions of it, it is even longer for us Irish:(.

Because of the usual time constraints on our trip we decided that we will try to get the bikes to Oslo or Bergin before our trip begins, by air or sea or maybe even ride them to Oslo on the June bank holiday weekend and fly Ryanair round trip Oslo - Dublin and then back to Oslo to begin our trip mid June (Ryanair 60 Euro all in rt)

Anybody know what is the feasability of shipping or air freighting to Norway? It would be expensive but then again it is expensive to pay for ferry crossings and fuel and food and accomodation.

.
.
Hey, thats a good idea.
It's a bus ride from Oslo to Torp airport where the Ryan Air Leaves from.
My work colleauge does it regular.
he does Torp to Stanstead then to Ireland
The bus from oslo to Torp is £18 a single
Takes 1h 40min.
Book in advance, 2 months or so, and get Ryan Air for about £40 to Ireland

Svalbard? Not by bike, I assume?

No, thought about it but it might be a bit wet :oops2: and so have booked a flight from Tromso to Longyearbyen.

A new ferry terminal have been buildt just south of stavanger, currently there is only a route to denmark. But on some the new signs leding to it has both DK and UK on them although the UK is covered with tape. Maybe they have just reused some old signs? I'll keep my eyes open for more info and post it here if I hear something...

This is looking more promising all the time. Who were the ferry company operating out of that terminal? Might be worth contacting them.

.
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Well spotted Elbert,
We are all ears.

Is this it?

TTS develops new passenger gangway for Port of Risavika - TTS Marine ASA

Risavika goes for growth Port of Risavika,Stavanger, Stavanger Port Authority, Ports and terminals miscellaneous, Helsøy, Bjørn, February 2008


This is the link to the website of the Greater Stavanger Port Authority, who operate that port.

Port of Stavanger

Anyone on the Norwegian side fancy phoning or emailing them to ask what the crack is?