Thread: Pattaya-Hua Hin ferry service to begin January 1 next year

This ferry has got to be a lot safer than going by mini bus.

Originally Posted by Scottish Gary

Im surprised they let a little thing like rough seas spoil the big day. When have the Thais ever giving a flying fuck about health and safety?

I reckon if they was paying passengers it would have set sail..............can't be giving a refund can we !!

Originally Posted by thaimeme

Originally Posted by aging one

Originally Posted by seagypsy

In the '90s before the Samui airport was built, an Australian group formed Royal Jet Ferries as they had identified the Surat Thani/Samui route as one of the world's most promising and proposed 45 knot 350 passenger monohulls for the venture. These vessels were already running successfully in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia and could easily handle 4m. waves.

and your point is? As the service was never initiated or I dont think even discussed.

Perhaps a noted point is that such regular gulf ferry service is not a new venture.....goes way back to the 1960s/1970s - some survived, some didn't. Yet, there were a score of private/govt ferry and shipping companies.

Largely petered out with competing air and coach service.

They petered out due to 1. Foreign partners are restricted to 40% ownership only, 2. All fares for bus, train or ferry transportation are set by the Communications Ministry, 3. Imported vessels must have Thai registration thereby making it impossible for the foreign partner to retrieve them should the Thai partner cheat on the signed agreement (this actually happened to a Japanese/Thai joint venture by the Thai partner who held the license for the Surat Thani/Koh Samui route and continued running by themselves and failed due to lack of maintenance and spare parts). Som num nah!

so thats a no no then. FAIL.

it made the journey today, accompanied by a thai navy vessel and an airforce helicopter to ensure the safety of the passengers in the slightly rough seas.

took nearly 3 hours.

^ was that sailing full of fare paying passengers, not the freebie passengers.

3 hours, that's because the Navy couldn't keep up so it slowed the knots.

Originally Posted by wasabi

This ferry has got to be a lot safer

In principle maybe, until there is a leak