A Ferry Good Relationship for MSC

With regular maintenance work scheduled on P & O Ferries’ fleet each year, MSC are currently in the midst of a six month refurbishment and refit contract, based at Falmouth in Cornwall.

Five ferries are scheduled for dry dock work including the ‘Pride of Bilbao’, which operates P&O’s Portsmouth to Bilbao route, and ‘Pride of Calais’, ‘Pride of Canterbury’, ‘Pride of Dover’ and ‘Pride of Kent’ which all operate on the busy Dover to Calais route with up to 25 sailings per day.

The specification includes extensive work on the public bars on board. Previously known as ‘Silverstones Bar’, P&O Ferries have rebranded these as ‘The BAR’, with a consistent look and style across each vessel. Using their in-house team, MSC have created new bars and backbars plus the installation of carpeting, flooring, upholstery, wall coverings and lighting, together with new air conditioning. The family areas and food courts also received significant refurbishment with new wall coverings, flooring, furniture and upholstery. Alongside work to the public areas on board, P&O Ferries are keen to address their important freight customers. MSC are involved in the creation of a brand new Routemaster’s drivers’ area on each vessel, for the exclusive use of international freight drivers needing to travel to and from the European mainland. MSC’s project specification involves ripping out an original pantry area, stripping it of catering equipment and creating a bespoke and comfortable lounge space including seating, tables, Sky TV installation plus a 42 inch plasma screen. In total, a team of 30 MSC in-house specialists such as engineers, plumbers, welders, joiners and decorators are assigned to each vessel on the project.

Commenting on the contract, P&O technical manager Neil Farquhar said, ‘We use MSC Europe for our refit work as they’ve consistently provided an efficient service, with the ability to multi-task across a range of refurb and refit requirements. With our ferries in constant operation throughout the year, it’s paramount that MSC work to tight timescales in terms of work, so we can get the ferries back in operation. We have always been able to rely on them to manage projects to deadline and this is one of the key reasons behind the success of our long standing relationship’.