Siem Group, Bygg nr. 93 ved Fosen Yard, RoPax "Honfleur"

As i have said it from the beginning that the Honfleur-route will go to Melilla it is to see that this ferry is much much much too big sadly. Only ca. 20 cars and 8 trailer onboard. Most cars only with single-driver also only. No foot-passengers.
Shows the totally nonsense of wrong state-subventions. Balearia will get many Millions bonus-payment if this is the best ferry to Melilla this year. So other routes are year-around very full or overloaded as f.ex. from Cadiz and Huelva to Canarias where often all cabins are booked already and sometimes is also no space for a car anymore.

Much better would be a "pay no tax anymore programm" as it was in the past for North-Norway if you move from there from Oslo.
So Tromsö, Bodö, Narvik etc. are today much bigger and more attractive than 50, 60, 70 years ago.

In Canarias are many big hotels with 800 + x rooms - give TUI etc. "30 years pay no tax" - then they will built very fast a lot of biggest hotels also in Melilla, with all positive results as 1000s of new jobs also for construction-companies, taxidrivers, busdrivers, souvenier-sellers, restaurants, cafes, watersports, boat-excursions, supermarkets, shopping-centers etc. .
In Tenerife you can book travelling on a big ship of the Norwegians Vikings, a lot of biggest sailing catamarans, Fred Olsen has just now ordered 2 more excursions-catamarans, glass-floor-boats, submarine-boats for tourists, dolphin-/whale-watching-tours etc. . But nothing is in Melilla. There are no really holiday-hotels with pool ! No touristic infrastructure, then nobody is coming there, no jobs, nothing.
And a new very nice big comfortable ferry will change nothing on all these points.
Fu58QIqXoAA8qlV.jpg


The different comfortable lounges and spaces onboard Honfleur / Rusadir are well to see because of nearly complete empty (2 or 3-times are single-persons to see !). Comfortable empty sundeck with sunbeds, chairs, tables, wind-protecting-glass-walls and waterproof blue "cruise-ship-mats" partly on the floors. So Balearia is doing all for to have the best ferry there. But restaurants and bars seems to be (partly) closed because of there are no people onboard ? There are closed shutters to see.
And much too much staff and crew for marshalling etc. on the decks !
All paid from the Spanish tax-payers !

Very very sadly - this really comfortable big Ropax-ferry would be very well for a lot of big ferry-routes in Europe - and is here now nearly unused operating. Think the newest biggest high-speed-train would used for to operate in the last poorest small-town in the most behind corner of a country (f.ex. to Zittau in Germany...) - and other big-city-train-connections are overloaded often - this is what Honfleur / Rusadir here is doing !
Only to hope that they will move next year this ferry to any bigger route... .
 
As i have said it from the beginning that the Honfleur-route will go to Melilla it is to see that this ferry is much much much too big sadly. Only ca. 20 cars and 8 trailer onboard. Most cars only with single-driver also only. No foot-passengers.
Shows the totally nonsense of wrong state-subventions. Balearia will get many Millions bonus-payment if this is the best ferry to Melilla this year. So other routes are year-around very full or overloaded as f.ex. from Cadiz and Huelva to Canarias where often all cabins are booked already and sometimes is also no space for a car anymore.

Much better would be a "pay no tax anymore programm" as it was in the past for North-Norway if you move from there from Oslo.
So Tromsö, Bodö, Narvik etc. are today much bigger and more attractive than 50, 60, 70 years ago.

In Canarias are many big hotels with 800 + x rooms - give TUI etc. "30 years pay no tax" - then they will built very fast a lot of biggest hotels also in Melilla, with all positive results as 1000s of new jobs also for construction-companies, taxidrivers, busdrivers, souvenier-sellers, restaurants, cafes, watersports, boat-excursions, supermarkets, shopping-centers etc. .
In Tenerife you can book travelling on a big ship of the Norwegians Vikings, a lot of biggest sailing catamarans, Fred Olsen has just now ordered 2 more excursions-catamarans, glass-floor-boats, submarine-boats for tourists, dolphin-/whale-watching-tours etc. . But nothing is in Melilla. There are no really holiday-hotels with pool ! No touristic infrastructure, then nobody is coming there, no jobs, nothing.
And a new very nice big comfortable ferry will change nothing on all these points.
Fu58QIqXoAA8qlV.jpg


The different comfortable lounges and spaces onboard Honfleur / Rusadir are well to see because of nearly complete empty (2 or 3-times are single-persons to see !). Comfortable empty sundeck with sunbeds, chairs, tables, wind-protecting-glass-walls and waterproof blue "cruise-ship-mats" partly on the floors. So Balearia is doing all for to have the best ferry there. But restaurants and bars seems to be (partly) closed because of there are no people onboard ? There are closed shutters to see.
And much too much staff and crew for marshalling etc. on the decks !
All paid from the Spanish tax-payers !

Very very sadly - this really comfortable big Ropax-ferry would be very well for a lot of big ferry-routes in Europe - and is here now nearly unused operating. Think the newest biggest high-speed-train would used for to operate in the last poorest small-town in the most behind corner of a country (f.ex. to Zittau in Germany...) - and other big-city-train-connections are overloaded often - this is what Honfleur / Rusadir here is doing !
Only to hope that they will move next year this ferry to any bigger route... .
Hello, i guess, Balearia did research, analysis and calculations before renting the ferry, to make shore to earn money with Honfleur on this route.

I also think, that Stena, TT, Brittany, Polferries etc. did the same calculation, with the outcome that it would not be a good business for them.
 
Ok, forgotten to give some add. info:
Most domestic Spanish ferries are supported by the state.
If a resident there book a ticket he pays only 25% of the price and the state gives the missing 75% to the ferry-company.
This system is f.ex. also on all routes between the Canary Islands and from Spain to Canary Islands.
Generally ok, maybe 50% would also be enough, but OK.

But especially here to Melilla - what is the poorest smallest region / small-town in Spain "anywhere in nowhere" (there is f.ex. no hotel with pool, no touristic infrastructure) the state gives furthermore 12 Mio. on top to the ferry-company who operates with the best ferry this year.
So Balearia has chartered the Honfleur now for 7 month (+ extension-options) and it is possible that they take in november the 12 Mio. and the ferry goes back to SIEM-group if the Spanish state decide that Honfleur (Rusadir) is better than the direct competing ferry "Ciudad a Melilla".
And in fact both ferries are operating parallel daily nearly empty from Malaga to a poor small-town - and the millions of extra-bonus for the ferry-company are paid by the Spanish tax-payers, f.ex. a nurse working in Zaragossa, a cleaning-women in Granada or a busdriver in Gijon.

Instead of to give the route after tendering to the cheapest best ferry-company similar as f.ex. the Norwegian Fjordroutes or also the ferries to Gotland. So this case of state-support is the opposite of sustained. And 2 biggest competing ferries are operating nearly empty daily.

So on other routes Balearia is planning the capacities and shipsizes - but here in this case it is a kind of just try to get extra-money from the state - what was not possible with the simple Visentini which was before on the route.
 
Ok, forgotten to give some add. info:
Most domestic Spanish ferries are supported by the state.
If a resident there book a ticket he pays only 25% of the price and the state gives the missing 75% to the ferry-company.
This system is f.ex. also on all routes between the Canary Islands and from Spain to Canary Islands.
Generally ok, maybe 50% would also be enough, but OK.

But especially here to Melilla - what is the poorest smallest region / small-town in Spain "anywhere in nowhere" (there is f.ex. no hotel with pool, no touristic infrastructure) the state gives furthermore 12 Mio. on top to the ferry-company who operates with the best ferry this year.
So Balearia has chartered the Honfleur now for 7 month (+ extension-options) and it is possible that they take in november the 12 Mio. and the ferry goes back to SIEM-group if the Spanish state decide that Honfleur (Rusadir) is better than the direct competing ferry "Ciudad a Melilla".
And in fact both ferries are operating parallel daily nearly empty from Malaga to a poor small-town - and the millions of extra-bonus for the ferry-company are paid by the Spanish tax-payers, f.ex. a nurse working in Zaragossa, a cleaning-women in Granada or a busdriver in Gijon.

Instead of to give the route after tendering to the cheapest best ferry-company similar as f.ex. the Norwegian Fjordroutes or also the ferries to Gotland. So this case of state-support is the opposite of sustained. And 2 biggest competing ferries are operating nearly empty daily.

So on other routes Balearia is planning the capacities and shipsizes - but here in this case it is a kind of just try to get extra-money from the state - what was not possible with the simple Visentini which was before on the route.
Hello Ropax, thanks to your knowledge about the ferriservices in the mediteranian see.

The modell with tenderings i a good way to go, espesially having the EU-system for support in public transport in mind. But also these systems have problems and need therfore to be good prepared and conditions communicated to the public and bidders.
 
Much better would be a "pay no tax anymore programm" as it was in the past for North-Norway if you move from there from Oslo.
So Tromsö, Bodö, Narvik etc. are today much bigger and more attractive than 50, 60, 70 years ago.
The lower tax was only for Finnmark and northern Troms. As far as I know, none of the cities mentioned are or were affected.
 
Balearia gets 40 Mio. from the Spanish state if they operate the best most modern ferry to Melilla in 2024 !
So they could pay the very high wished sales-price from Siem.

My speculation:
- Original-price between FSG and Brittany-Ferries in 2017 was 140-150 Mio.
- Then after the very expensive finishing of the ferry in Norway Siem has offered the ferry for 200 Mio. - but was much too expensive for all.
- With the annually help from state-money Balearia has first paid a charter-rate for 2023 - and now bought the ferry completely for 170 Mio. .

Honfleur / Rusadir is normally much too big for the route to Melilla, have just seen there some weeks ago daytime departing in Malaga very empty. So let`s hope that in a few years this ferry moves to a much bigger route to Canary Islands (always full-booked !) or Balearic Islands, the state-money is limited, f.ex. in 2024 the ferry is allowed a maximum age of only 5 years.
 
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