Sally Line

Sally Line

Industry	Passenger transportation
Founded	1981
Defunct	1998
Fate	Closure
Headquarters	Ramsgate, United Kingdom
Area served	English Channel
Parent	Rederi Ab Sally

Sally Line UK (sometimes referred to as Sally Ferries UK) was a British ferry operator on the English Channel and North Sea.

Whilst historically, the port of Ramsgate had boasted a ferry service to France, these had ceased in 1966.^[1] In December 1979 a new ferry route between Dunkerque and Ramsgate was announced.^[2] This was to be operated by Dunkerque Ramsgate Ferries (DRF) and was run by Olau Line-founder; Ole Lauritzen and funded by the sale of his remaining 50% share in Olau Line to TT-Line. The service had originally been expected to utilise the Olau Line vessel; Olau Kent (for which the new facilities at Ramsgate had been designed), but actually was served by the much older ship Nuits St Georges, which commenced sailings in May 1980.^[3][4]

By the beginning of September 1980 a series of problems and the arrest of Nuits St Georges saw the collapse of DRF, which left the terminal at Ramsgate having to be mothballed.^[4][3][1]

Later in 1980, discussions commenced about a replacement service for Dunkerque Ramsgate Ferries, capitalising on the £6.25 million invested by Thanet District Council to create the ferry facilities at Ramsgate. These discussions involved the Finnish shipping company Rederi Ab Sally, who were looking to expand their routes to the UK and had already discounted a North Sea route, and shipping consultant Michael Kingshott who had already assisted with development of new ferry facilities at Sheerness.^[1]

Sally Line was officially founded in April 1981^[5] and led by Michael Kingshott^[6] as a subsidiary of the Rederi Ab Sally,^[5] and initially marketed as Sally Viking Line, with a livery that was nearly identical with that of Viking Line, a Baltic Sea ferry consortium of which Sally was a member. The naming scheme of Sally's Viking Line ships was also carried over to the UK operations, with ships named either The Viking or Viking [number].^[7]

In 1987 Rederi Ab Sally, including the Sally Line UK operations, was sold to Effoa and Johnson Line,^[8] Sally's Baltic Sea rivals and owners of Silja Line. As a result of the change of ownership, a new Sally Line UK livery was adopted in 1988 and the company's ships were renamed with a Sally-prefix.^[7]

In 1989, Sally led a consortium with Globe Investment Trust, 3i and merchant bank; Tranwood Earl, who attempted a hostile takeover of The Southampton, Isle of Wight and South of England Royal Mail Steam Packet Co. Limited, trading as Red Funnel.^[9] The opening offer of 205p was swiftly rejected^[10] and despite threats by Sally of a competing cross-Solent service^[11], or a purchase of Sealink's Isle of Wight operations^[12], a revised offer of 236p per share was made.^[13] Associated British Ports Holdings emerged as a White Knight in battle, firstly taking a 1% stake in Red Funnel and then extending this to a 264p per share full takeover offer.^[14] Sally withdrew^[15] and ABP's takeover of Red Funnel was given the go ahead in October 1989.^[16]

In 1990, Sally's parent companies; Effoa and Johnson Line merged to form EffJohn.

From 1993, Regie voor Maritiem Transport (RMT) operated a pooling agreement with Sally Line UK. Belgian-government owned RMT had previously operated as part of Sealink until 1985, in conjunction with European Ferries under the Townsend Thoresen and P&O European Ferries branding (1985-1990), and then independently as Oostende Lines. The agreement with Sally saw their conventional ferry and Boeing Jetfoil services move their UK port from Dover to Ramsgate.

In 1995, the parent company; Effjohn changed their name to Silja Oy Ab (Silja Line). Three years later the name was changed again, this time to Neptun Maritime.^[17]

In September 1996, after a reported nine months of discussions^[18], and the announcement that RMT services were to cease; Sally announced a new joint venture with Holyman to be known as Holyman Sally Ferries. The joint venture, commencing in March 1997, was to deploy two of Holyman's 81-metre catamarans on the route to Belgium, and was two-thirds owned by Holyman and one-third owned by the Sally parent company, by now; Silja Line.^[19]

Throughout the 1990s, poor access to the Port of Ramsgate was a continual problem and with no progress being made on a proposed link road despite three public enquiries, this became a particular bone of contention between Sally and government at local and national levels.^[20] The link road would eventually open in 2000.^[21]

The Holyman Sally venture became no longer viable and Holyman became partners with Hoverspeed and moved the service to Dover.^{[citation needed]} In the mid-90s Sally Line adapted a new livery and a logo similar to that of Silja Line,^[7] but this proved short-lived as the company ceased operations in 1998.^[5]

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (August 2008)

• Ramsgate - Dunkerque 1981-1998^[28][1]
• Ramsgate - Ostend 1990-1998^[28][1]
• Ramsgate - Vlissingen 1994^[1]
• Dartford - Vlissingen 1994-1996^[28][29][30]

Services between Ramsgate and Ostend were taken up by TransEuropa Ferries, a subsidiary of TransEuropa Shipping Lines d.o.o. (TSL) of Koper, Slovenia on 21 November 1998, the day after closure of Sally Line services.^[31]

TransEuropa Ferries ceased operations on 18th April 2013 and filed for bankruptcy on 25 April 2013.^[32] Since 2013, there have been no ferry services from Ramsgate.^[33]

In October 2017, it was announced that Seaborne Freight would operate an Ostend - Ramsgate ro-ro freight ferry service from March using three ships, including the MS Nord Pas-de-Calais.^[34][35] On 22 December 2018, the company was awarded a £13.8 million contract to run ferry services between Ramsgate and Ostend to lessen the consequences of probable capacity constraints on the Dover - Calais route after 29 March 2019 in the case of a no-deal Brexit. The contract was cancelled by the Department for Transport on 9 February 2019 after Arklow Shipping, reported to be Seaborne's backer, pulled out.^[36][37][38]

Following the end the joint venture between Sally Line and Holyman in 1998, the Ramsgate - Ostend service was jointly operated by Holyman with Hoverspeed and relocated to Dover.^[39] This service ceased upon closure of Hoverspeed in 2005.^[40]

The Dartford - Vlissingen route was taken over by Jacobs Holdings subsidiary; Dart Line in January 1996.^[30] Jacobs was owned by former Sally Line executive; Michael Kingshott.^[41] Dart Line moved the service to Shell Haven in 2000.^[42]