Sally Line

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

Sally Line

Industry	Passenger transportation
Founded	1981
Defunct	1997
Fate	Acquired by Holyman
Successor	Holyman Sally Ferries
Headquarters	Ramsgate, United Kingdom
Area served	English Channel
Parent	Rederi Ab Sally

History

Early Years

Sally Line was founded in 1981^[1] by Michael Kingshott^{[citation needed]} as a subsidiary of the Finland-based Rederi Ab Sally,^[1] 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].^[2]

Takeover and Expansion Attempts

In 1987 Rederi Ab Sally, including the Sally Line UK operations, was sold to Effoa and Johnson Line,^[3] 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.^[2]

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.^[4] The opening offer of 205p was swiftly rejected^[5] and despite threats by Sally of a competing cross-Solent service^[6], or a purchase of Sealink's Isle of Wight operations^[7], a revised offer of 236p per share was made.^[8] 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.^[9] Sally withdrew^[10] and ABP's takeover of Red Funnel was given the go ahead in October 1989.^[11]

Final Years

Sally Line UK operated the Holyman Sally Line service from Port of Ramsgate to Ostend from 1993 to 1998, but this became no longer viable 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,^[2] but this proved short-lived as the company ceased operations in 1998.^[1]

Fleet

Ship	Years in service	Tonnage	Notes	Status as of 2008
MS The Viking	1981–1983	5,286 GRT		Scrapped 2015 at Aliağa, Turkey.
MS Viking 6 MS Sun Express	1982, 1985–1986 1985	5,073 GRT	Chartered	Scrapped 2001 at Aliağa, Turkey.
MS The Viking MS Wasa Prince	1983–1989 1989–1990	4,655 GRT	Chartered.	Since 2000 MS Moby Lally for Moby Lines. Renamed in 2017 to Moby Baby Two.
MS Viking 3	1983–1984	4,299 GRT		Since 2016 MS ST. DAMIAN for Seamed Trading Shipping.
MS Viking 2 MS Sally Sky MS Eurotraveller	1986–1988 1988–1996 1997–1998	4,998 GRT (until 1990) 14,558 GRT (1990 onwards)	Chartered	Scrapped 2016 at Aliağa, Turkey.
MS Sally Star	1988–1997	9,120 GRT	Chartered	Since 2012 MS Wasa Express for Wasa Line.
MS Botnia Express	1989	4,152 GRT	Chartered	Scrapped at Alang, India in 2021
MS Bazias 3 MS Sally Euroroute	1991–1993 1993–1996	9,000 GRT	Chartered	Since 2012 MS Bursa N for Istanbul Lines.
MS Bazias 4 MS Sally Eurolink	1991–1993 1993–1997	9,082 GRT	Chartered	Since 2011 MS Adelta.
MS Sally Sun	1992–1995	6,643 GRT	Chartered	Since 1998 MS Gute for Rederi AB Gotland.
MS Sally Eurobridge	1994	6,041 GRT	Chartered	Grounded 2008 as MS Riverdance, subsequently scrapped.
MS Sally Euroway MS Euroway	1995–1997 1997–1998	9,079 GRT	Chartered	Since 2007 MS Ammari for Ustica Lines.

Routes

• Ramsgate - Dunkerque -1998^[12]
• Ramsgate - Ostend -1998^[12]
• Dartford - Vlissingen 1994-1996^[12][13][14]

Former Sally Line routes today

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.^[15]

TransEuropa Ferries ceased operations on 18th April 2013 and filed for bankruptcy on 25 April 2013.^[16] Since 2013, there have been no ferry services from Ramsgate.^[17]

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.^[18][19] 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.^[20][21][22]

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.^[23] This service ceased upon closure of Hoverspeed in 2005.^[24]

The Dartford - Vlissingen route was taken over by Jacobs Holdings subsidiary; Dart Line in January 1996.^[14] Jacobs was owned by former Sally Line executive; Michael Kingshott.^[25] Dart Line moved the service to Shell Haven in 2000.^[26]