COMPARATIVE FERRY SIZES - UPDATED

My how you've grown!

By Andy Gilbert

Here's an newly-updated composite photo, with sizes adjusted to the same scale, of Falaise, the first car ferry to run between Newhaven and Dieppe, Valencay, the second French car ferry to arrive here, the next British ferry on the route, Senlac, the French-flagged Stena Parisien and finally the Transmanche ferry Cote d'Albatre.

And, as per Bruce Macphee's wishes, I've added in Worthing!

Worthing was 93.27m long with a gross tonnage of 2288. Falaise was 94.7m long, with a gross tonnage of just 2,416. Valencay was 104.1m long with a gross tonnage of 3430. Senlac was 118.09m long, with a gross tonnage of 5,590. Stena Parisien was 130m long, with a gross tonnage of 15,093. Cote d'Albatre is 142.3m long, with a gross tonnage of 18,564. Quite a difference, I'm sure you'll agree!

If anyone has a pure sideways-on photo of the Stena Londoner or the relief ferry Dover, please let me know and I'll update the comparison once more.

Photo:Six ferries

Six ferries

1) Andy Gilbert 2) Paul Mackness 3) Andy Gilbert collection 4) Derek Longly 5) John Hendy 6) Roy Thornton collection

This page was added by Andy Gilbert on 23/10/2010.
Comments about this page

I used to live in Newhaven at the Old Coastguard station and rembember the Falaise, etc.

By Malcolm Marshall
On 06/11/2013

There is certainly a dramatic change in dimensions and I often wonder how small Worthing would now look, with us having got used to these modern vessels! However, gross registered tonnage (grt) figures can be very misleading and do not offer a direct comparison. The figure for grt has always been the volume of enclosed spaces (in cubic feet) divided by 100; the complication is that, over the years, there have been changes as to which enclosed spaces are measured! When Falaise was a passenger ship, her grt was 3,710, when she was converted to a car ferry, she became 2,416 grt. In 1982  an International Convention changed the way that all ships were measured. I don't know the exact details, but,for ferries and other passenger ships, the new figures were roughly 1.8 times those of the old. So, if Senlac had been built 10 years later, she would have been 10,000 grt, not 5,590. Confused? You should be!

By Bruce Macphee
On 02/02/2014
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