# Pride Of Calais



## ian234 (Mar 27, 2009)

PRIDE OF CALAIS was Re-named today 18/12/12 as the OSTEND SPIRIT and will be Sailing between Ramsgate and Ostend after she has a new repaint and refit for Transeuropa Ferries


Wednesday, December 19, 2012 at 3:01 p.m.
Ostend - The company Transeuropa Ferries has an agreement with the British company P & O ferry Pride of Calais to rent for a period of three years.
The ferry was at midnight the port of Ostend entry under the name Ostend Spirit. That's the name of the former ferry RMT-Prince Flip in 2010 briefly returned to Ostend. The company Transeuropa Ferries sister ship Pride of Dover purchased and will feature new engines in Turkey. Who gets the name Ramsgate Spirit given with home port of Ostend. INFO FROM WEB LINK FLANDERS NEWSPAPER


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## dondoncarp (Feb 26, 2006)

A fine Vessel that i had the pleasure of working on,brilliant for dover/calais...wiil be interesting to see how she does on that run


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## mikecambrai (Dec 19, 2012)

*pride of calais*

Watching the AIS plot this afternoon, I noticed that the old ferry Gardenia was hovering off Broadstairs and the Pride of Calais was in Ramsgate harbour. Being interested I set off for the harbour and found that the ship in question was named the Ostend Spirit although the AIS was still recording her as the Pride of Calais.
Around 1900 hours she set sail and the Gardenia, which had been waiting now outside for a couple of hours entered the port.
Gardenia is an ex TT ferry from the 70's and is a grand old lady. Whether she now stops working I do not know. She is the smallest ferry working the channel I would think.
The PC or OS is now heading towards Ostende although I don't know if she will put in there yet.
Vehicle traffic out of Ramsgate seems to be limited and the other ferry, Larkspur, was laid up in Ramsgate recently as presumably there was limited traffic.
I don't understand the commerciality of LD or Transeuro ferries what ever they trade as.
Ramsgate to Ostend is over 4 hours and the existing ferries travel at around 14 knots, so the journey is quite slow. They carry cars but not foot passengers. The rail connection for foot passengers at Ostend is really good.
Ramsgate to Dunkirk is a good run at 2.5 hours and used to be popular in the 80's. The idea of going from Ramsgate to Boulogne does not seem to me to have any merit. Folkestone to Boulogne would be a good choice.
There have been plans for some time now to run a high speed craft Ramsgate/Boulogne. These large cats look to be difficult to manoevre in such small ports as Ramsgate and Boulogne.


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