New car ferry service connecting Chonburi with Prachuap to operate 180km south of Hua Hin

[josephbloggs]

7 minutes ago, Susco said:

 

Doesn't look very Thai to me, and can't be bothered checking your other drivel.

 

 

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/5/12/jail-sentence-upheld-for-costa-concordia-captain

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesco_Schettino

 

Francesco Schettino (Italian pronunciation: [franˈtʃesko sketˈtiːno]; born 14 November 1960)^[1] is an Italian former sea captain who commanded the cruise ship Costa Concordia when it struck an underwater rock and capsized with the deaths of 32 passengers and crew off the Italian island of Giglio on 13 January 2012.^[2][3] In 2015, he was sentenced to sixteen years in prison for his role in the incident.^[4]

Oh dear, you obviously didn't recognise the obvious irony that was dripping from my post.

 

Similar to how you pointed out the Titanic wasn't captained by a Thai I was illustrating how Western countries have appalling maritime accidents (American vessels captained by Americans, the Costa Concordia a Western vessel captained recklessly by an Italian) and the pathetic comment from someone about not trusting this because it has a Thai captain and is a Thai company is just racist, ignorant, and sad.  Perhaps read it again and try and take it in, I'll let you have another chance.

[Usual Suspect]

The headline labels the MV as a car ferry... Then scroll down the report to read it's capacity for 100 x 10 wheel trucks...

...In true Thai style most of these trucks may well be overloaded... Do you think the ferry Co employees will

 be worried/bothered about how the weight of these trucks will affect the boat's stability when they are parking them inside..?

 Nah.. neither do I..!!

  Tragedy waiting to happen..TiT.

[richard_smith237]

1 hour ago, josephbloggs said:

1 hour ago, Susco said:

 

Doesn't look very Thai to me, and can't be bothered checking your other drivel.

 

 

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/5/12/jail-sentence-upheld-for-costa-concordia-captain

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesco_Schettino

 

Francesco Schettino (Italian pronunciation: [franˈtʃesko sketˈtiːno]; born 14 November 1960)^[1] is an Italian former sea captain who commanded the cruise ship Costa Concordia when it struck an underwater rock and capsized with the deaths of 32 passengers and crew off the Italian island of Giglio on 13 January 2012.^[2][3] In 2015, he was sentenced to sixteen years in prison for his role in the incident.^[4]

Expand  

Oh dear, you obviously didn't recognise the obvious irony that was dripping from my post.

 

 

I don’t know how anyone could have missed that. The point you made which was extremely Valid. 

 

That said - the west has a better history of learning from its mistakes, there is better degree of accountability.

That doesn’t make ‘everything’ in the West safe, but for obvious reason people have a greater degree of trust in the standards of operations in those countries where people are jailed for negligence. 

 

Each year we read news of ferries sinking in the Philippines. The concern is understandable when comparing the similar attitudes towards safety in Thailand.

 

The distrust of the safety of such an endeavour is wholly understandable considering the overwhelming degree of corruption through every facet of society such that the expectation could be that safety inspectors are paid-off, captains are under-qualified, ferries get overloaded etc etc..  concern and cynicism is understandable. 

 

 

 

[Andy from Kent]

On 2/20/2021 at 10:58 AM, rooster59 said:

No foot passengers, only vehicles would be allowed initially.

 

 

555

 

Who drives off the vehicle at the destination point?

 

[spidermike007]

3 hours ago, josephbloggs said:

So easy to be cynical isn't it, however a simple Google search would have prevented you looking stupid.  Plenty of accommodation choices including state rooms with jacuzzis.

 

 

 

Now that is what I am talking about. Nice. Pleasant journey. Looking out at the sea, getting a good nights sleep and catching up on some reading beats spending many hours on these roads, without even taking into account the potential dangers of being on a Thai highway! Book me. Where do I sign up?

[herfiehandbag]

Ro-Ro ferries have known safety issues which have to be addressed using rigourous safety procedures...

[treetops]

4 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

If they had nice staterooms, it would be a pleasant cruise. 

 

These are the options on the booking form.

[realfunster]

7 hours ago, Susco said:

 

Doesn't look very Thai to me, and can't be bothered checking your other drivel.

 

 

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/5/12/jail-sentence-upheld-for-costa-concordia-captain

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesco_Schettino

 

Francesco Schettino (Italian pronunciation: [franˈtʃesko sketˈtiːno]; born 14 November 1960)^[1] is an Italian former sea captain who commanded the cruise ship Costa Concordia when it struck an underwater rock and capsized with the deaths of 32 passengers and crew off the Italian island of Giglio on 13 January 2012.^[2][3] In 2015, he was sentenced to sixteen years in prison for his role in the incident.^[4]

 

[SupermarineS6B]

It is also worth noting that the waters around Hua  Hin, or specifically in Khao Takiab, which is the location of the pier where the Royal Passenger Co. Ltd. service operated, are not deep enough for a large car ferry.  ( Ooops, slight oversight there )

 

And not deep enough for submarines....... Maybe try NW into the Andaman then into the Indian ocean..... Glug glug, deep.... mind you don't bump into that 777 down there.....  I can't think of anything more scary than taking a Chinese boat out and taking it under.......  Good bye !   I think i'd rather just shoot myself on the dock....... 

[SupermarineS6B]

6 hours ago, Usual Suspect said:

The headline labels the MV as a car ferry... Then scroll down the report to read it's capacity for 100 x 10 wheel trucks...

...In true Thai style most of these trucks may well be overloaded... Do you think the ferry Co employees will

 be worried/bothered about how the weight of these trucks will affect the boat's stability when they are parking them inside..?

 Nah.. neither do I..!!

  Tragedy waiting to happen..TiT.

There's such a thing as a Plimsoll line.. ( Another farang invention ) but the Thai's will probably hang their plimmies on it and load it up to the gills....... Hey imagine one of Koh Changs best getting hold of one of these full of cars and people....  Ooooh yes, Poseidon adventure 2 .....  Or maybe the train driver who managed to roll a locomotive over near Hua Hin while blathered might be just the skipper for the job, mind you, looking on the brightside it'll make a hell of a reef for the wildlife...

[SupermarineS6B]

8 hours ago, josephbloggs said:

Oh dear, you obviously didn't recognise the obvious irony that was dripping from my post.

 

Similar to how you pointed out the Titanic wasn't captained by a Thai I was illustrating how Western countries have appalling maritime accidents (American vessels captained by Americans, the Costa Concordia a Western vessel captained recklessly by an Italian) and the pathetic comment from someone about not trusting this because it has a Thai captain and is a Thai company is just racist, ignorant, and sad.  Perhaps read it again and try and take it in, I'll let you have another chance.

People who work offshore know exactly who they trust, and believe me, there's not many Thai skippers on the big stuff.... Infact a little browse through Thai history and you'll find that most of the old Thai Navy was skippered by westerners......  The Chumphon, Thailands most famous battle wagon was skippered by a Scotsman....   The only reason there's been a lot of westerners associated with maritime instances is because most mariners at that level are westerners....        I thought that word racist was worn out by now ?     

[Kerryd]

"No Foot Passengers" means no "walk on" passengers. It's really NOT that hard to figure out. They (apparently) are only going to allow vehicles and their drivers, at least initially. 

So poor old Mr & Mrs Somchai who get off the public bus and walk up to the ferry hoping to get a cheap ride to the other side of the Gulf will be turned away.

There are a number of reasons they might not want ordinary passengers on a ship that has the capacity to handle over 500 of them. Perhaps they feel like having fewer people in the beginning will let them iron out the wrinkles in their procedures. Maybe they simply aren't ready (despite the various articles and photos) to carry larger amounts of passengers. Perhaps it has something to do with the current covid issues.

Of course, the fact that passengers can't even check a sailing schedule, make a reservation, look that price of the trip or even know where the **** this thing will be sailing to (besides Sattahip which is the only terminal that hasn't changed - yet) may mean they don't think there's enough "walk on" traffic to make it worth the effort to sell tickets and hire all the extra staff that would be needed to deal with them.
No passengers also means fewer life jackets needed, fewer lifeboats, fewer crew. More of those nice cabins available for the crew instead of being used by stinky (paying) passengers.
Pretty sure the drivers of those "100 ten wheeled trucks" won't be shelling out for the premium suites and cabins onboard. 

Sheesh - if they are only sailing to Prachuap, that's almost 600 kms north of Songkla. And just over 500 kms from Sattahip. Not sure if cutting off less than half the distance would make it worthwhile for most of their customers.

Would not surprise me if the next news to come out is an announcement that they are changing Sattahip to Laem Chabang, especially if they are mainly going to be dealing with (mostly) commercial truck traffic. 

And where is the terminal in Sattahip ? "Juk Samet" ? (Or "Chuk Samet" according to Google Maps.)
Right in the middle of the Navy base.

I was just there yesterday.
None of the roads in that area are suitable for that many big trucks every day (or every other day). They are doing a lot of roadwork down there, but that is mostly on the #3 and 331. No roadworks going on in the Navy base.

And of course, you need a large parking area for all those trucks to sit while waiting for the ferry. I have no idea where they plan on doing that in Sattahip. Not to mention the disruption that will cause in the area. I was quite surprised at how easy it was to enter the base and how many civilians live there (not connected to the military). The streets we rode on (from the East side around the waterfront and out the West side) were no different than most every smallish city. (i.e. 2 narrow lanes with all manner of vehicles and carts and whatnot on each side). 

Not the kind of area you are going to put a hundred big trucks through on a regular basis.

Laem Chabang would make more sense as it is already set up to handle large amounts of big truck traffic. Plenty of parking and good highway access from there to the whole EEC.

My enthusiasm for this is waning quickly. Depending on price, schedule and length of voyage, it may still be an alternative to riding from Pattaya to Prachuap (or visa-versa). Assuming they aren't restricting passage to large commercial vehicles that is.

[HammerMan]

As always interesting to read the various comments, some of which are accurate and some simply stupid or vindictive. To explain some of queries, The vessel has two main garage decks capable of carrying around 60 trucks depending on the type of trucks, but maximum safe height is 4.2 meters. there's a smaller lower garage deck which can handle about 25 cars, safe height 2.4 meters. Additionally there is an area dedicated to for motorcycles. In reality, as anyone knows from travelling on ferries, each day the mix of vessels constantly changes. As someone kindly clarified, Prachuap is the only port that is deep enough to operate a commercial ferry. Before posting ridiculous comments people should do a little research. Finally, under Thai law all domestic vessels must fly under Thai Flag and thus automatically use Thai crews. The company whilst being a Thai company does have foreign management/shareholders working in tandem with Thai colleagues, all of which have maritime backgrounds having worked/sailed all over the world primarily on non Thai flag vessels, none of which have ever sunk or hit icebergs.. This project has been over 4 years in the making and is not some fly by night, mickey mouse operation.

[MarcelV]

23 hours ago, Usual Suspect said:

The headline labels the MV as a car ferry... Then scroll down the report to read it's capacity for 100 x 10 wheel trucks...

...In true Thai style most of these trucks may well be overloaded... Do you think the ferry Co employees will

 be worried/bothered about how the weight of these trucks will affect the boat's stability when they are parking them inside..?

 Nah.. neither do I..!!

  Tragedy waiting to happen..TiT.

Why yall folks here actin like the Thais are a bunch o' fruitcakes that don't know nuthin bout nuthin?

Relax coz, Im sure they thought this thru well enuff. It is what it is man

[poohy]

Hmmm

Hardly overly convenient

The Prachuap port is in or around Bangsapan about 80km from PKK and aprox180 from Hua Hin 

Maybe ok for trucks and folks travelling   going south i guess

IMHO not a viable passenger service

[HanSRT10]

On 2/21/2021 at 5:18 AM, simon43 said:

[quote]

...The ferry has capacity in a 916 meter area for 100 10 wheel trucks. ...

[/quote]

 

A simple maths calculation shows this claim of 100 trucks to be absolute rubbish.  I calculated maybe 15 trucks.

Let me enlighten you and perhaps you will understand why your comment is more rubbish than the article:

916 meter = 916 lane meters of 2.5 meters width

a 10-wheeler is approx 7.20 meters long

 

916 : 7.20 = 127 trucks but of course that is without taking in to consideration space you lose here or there.

 

100 trucks is a fair estimate and much closer to the ship's actual intake than your 15 trucks, which is in fact absolute rubbish....

[HanSRT10]

On 2/21/2021 at 12:59 PM, ExpatOilWorker said:

What is the origin of the ferry?

Is that Chinese or Japanese writing on the side of it?

Japanese