Supervisor of operations of L’Express Des Isles, Hans Victor, has said the ferry service has so far transported up to 15 million people throughout the islands where it operates.
The ferry service celebrated its 25th anniversary on December 12 and Victor said customers have played a big role in its operation.
“Had it not been for the customers who continue to patronise L’Express Des Isles we would not have been here for 25 years,” he said.
Victor pointed out that throughout its 25 years L’Express Des Isles has had a very good impact on the islands thus far. “Up to 15 million people have been transported throughout the islands up to 2012 which has been beneficial to Dominica in various ways,” he said.
He noted however that open ports in Dominica pose a major challenge to the ferry service.
“The ferry service is always affected when we are in the hurricane season and there are swells affecting our shores. The ferries are not able to come in to dock and as a result cannot continue their daily operations,” he noted.
He explained that customers become irate when they have to remain in Dominica for a few extra days because of sea swells.
“We end up in situations where persons who come in for a weekend are stuck in Dominica for about two or three days and this creates a negative feedback for Dominica since that means extra cost to the customers who usually come in on a budget,” Victor stated.
Rising cost of fuel and an increase in taxes were also two challenges mentioned by the supervisor.
Meanwhile, Victor encouraged the Dominican public to continue using the ferry services since the company depends on the demands of the customers to expand.
L’Express Des Isles provides travelling services among the islands of Guadeloupe, Martinique, Dominica, the Saints and Marie Galante.
this would help those who just want to go shopping for the day.
how nice would that be)
you all really need to help us with the st.maarteen route.twice a week would be fine.it would save us from liat’s high fare.please.waiting patiently for that announcement.also,an early departure and late reture for the guadeloupe route would do us fine
Cool we need more ferry services like L’Express Des through out the caribbean.
@ Mr. Francisco Telemaque-
Sir, we think you deserve a little respect, so please do us a favor and fire yourself from spewing your diarrhea on DNO.
Can you tell us why you are so upset about the comments made by Mr. Hans Victor or all the other people or groups you vehemently criticize?
Constructive objective criticism is always welcome, but you seem to be on a constant mission to publicly bash people on DNO and it’s getting old.
I would suggest you contact Mr Victor directly and I am certain he would provide you with more information. I did some research, and his public email address is [email protected]
You seem to be acquiring the taste for sour grapes. It’s not too late. Spread love, not war.
Why is it each time someone exposes some sort of garbage, you people always get irate and spew your venom!
Why should I be upset over whoever he is comments, of what interest is that to me. This man has nothing that I want, he has nothing if I wants it I cannot buy, as I said I owned a ship before, it is unbelievably, check with Lloyds Insurance of London, and find out if they ever insured a Ship called the Felskove!
Further more perhaps H. H V Whitchurch in Dominica may still have records that they were the agent of the Felskove when it sailed the Caribbean, and indeed we sailed the Caribbean from Guyana in the South to Jamaica in the North, prior to that we Sailed throughout Europe, bought in Denmark, and was based in Germany.
You all do not have anything to tell me, that is why I know for a fact the claims that man made is flawed!
Been there done that!
Pleas DNO when people are under attacked it might be fair to all them to defend themselves, especially when they are unintellighnt little uneducated worms who do not have a clue or understanding of what they read, or the nonsense they are talking.
I know it is impossible for him to have transported fifteen million people in twenty-five years: Note someone corrected me by stating that there are 15.9 million people in the Caribbean, that is the only sensible comment I read thus far: in order for him to be accurate he would have to transport every person in the Caribbean; less that nine hundred thousand people, which are not yet born, and for that to happen he would have to be the only carrier in the Caribbean, LIAT, and all the other airlines would have to be out of business, and no other ship, or canoe would be sailing the Caribbean sea.
It does not make any sort of sense
That is my firm opinion, if the weasels do not understand my point; oh well!
And by the way doh call me no Sir, and Mr. this and that, me mother name me Francisco they end up calling me Son in Wesley, I doh want no Sir, or Mr. I leaving dat to dem Domnican who crave honor oui, I doh want none!
Francisco Etienne-Dods Telemaque
Are we going to get a response from you on this?
Wesley man on firearm charges
Dominica News Online – Wednesday, December 19th, 2012 at 10:33 AM
Weekes pointed out that Telemacque is a potential flight risks as he is a boat owner and it is alleged that he ferries persons to the neighboring French islands.
Instead of the occasional one day specials. It would be nice to have a regular ferry service to Guadeloupe/or Martinique where you could leave Dominica on the early morning ferry do a bit of shopping and come back on a late ferry. I think this would generate increased passenger numbers as we wouldn’t have the added expense of overnighting in the French islands, which is costly.
I wonder if this lady really owned a ship? if so she would have known that every repeat traveller becomes a new passanger.each timeyou book a trip you becomes a new passanger. not only by sea but also by air.i BELIEVE his figures are more than is stated.
mr victor might just be right take that because all you dominican, dont travel does not mean that other people dont and secondly the man must have a manifest to come with with that number he said dominica , guadeloupe, martinique, saint, mari galant and there is also st lucia it is possible
I dont know why Francisco dont shut his who needs u to analyse anything here man bug off….
Don’t be so harsh – I’m pretty sure that like most companies in the transport business, he is totalling up all of the tickets sold over the years to come up with his figure. Many, many of those would be repeat travellers but each time they travel, they are counted as a passenger.
Second thing – there are WAY more than 15 million people in the Caribbean. The CARICOM states alone are 15.9m – if you add up the whole Caribbean – English, French, Spanish and Dutch – you’re looking at about 40 million people!
Okay, you have even made it worst: if there are 15.9 million people in the Caribbean, one hundred thousand less 16 million, for him to have transported so many people, he would have to ferry everybody in the Caribbean less the one hundred none existing people.
As I said, only a passenger manifest could verify his accuracy!
Be reminded, even if sixty percent of his passengers are returning, it still poses a problem, how many days does it take a ship or boat such as he has to travel from one destination, assuming the sail between Guyana in the South to Jamaica, in the North, and every island in between including our Dominica.
I see more impossibilities, than probabilities here: You see I once owned a Ship, I know about sailing ships, and the sea, and whereas you may be thinking in terms of a twenty-five year of operation, in the Caribbean it is not that easy to transport people in such large volume.
For him to accomplish that everybody would have to traveling by air, and decide to sail on his boat, ship or whatever he has.
If he is correct, perhaps that is why LIAT is operating without making a profit for more than twenty-five years.
It is all a matter of deductive reasoning!
Francisco Etienne-Dods Telemaque
For him to accomplish that everybody would have to traveling by air, and decide to sail on his boat, ship or whatever he has.
For him to accomplish that everybody would have to traveling by air, and decide to sail on his boat, ship or whatever he has.
That should read ” everybody traveling by air would have to decide to sail on his boat, or ship. I see another error, spilt milk so to speak. And to the person who believe I have too much time to play with, they are correct, you see I work for myself, my office is in my home, Real Estate is my business you see; I supervise me.
Therefore I may have to fire me sooner or later, if I do not get my chores done.
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
Have a nice day I refuse to toil very hard; so I advise you not to work too hard, just work smart, you will accomplish more by working smart.
Francisco Etienne-Dods Telemaque
His vessel takes at most 2 hrs to get from one destination to another. Again please do your research before you comment
Just think before you go off on tirade. Most Europeans traveling between Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, Les Saintes and Marie Galante take the ferry…so it is not limited to caribbean travellers, these numbers in addition to inter-regional travel between the above stated countries and St. Lucia as well makes this more than possible….
You are making yourself look stupid by degrading the validity of the company’s report
I don’t live in the Caribbean but I have travelled on this service between St Lucia and Martinique. Most of the others travelling were tourists. I also know some Dominicans use this service when travelling to Dominica from England specifically to avoid LIAT. And I know many St Lucians travel on this service frequently to Martinique.
obviously the operators keep account of the number of fares/passengers. Whether or not they are returning customers is less of an issue as long as the numbers are there.
please read with understanding. the gentleman clearlt stated
the vessel operates within the french territories and Dominica. G/loupe, martinique, marie galante, the saints and as much as Dominica is sandwiched between them she had to e trrown in the midst. so where did you all get the jamaica and the Dutch and Guyana from? he did not say any thing about THE CARIBBEAN STATES, PLEASE READ AGAIN.
pls 24 years i m taking the express des iles time to have special package for ppls who support the express for years ..i bring more than 10 ooo ppls in Dominica
if the MANAGER WANT TO SPEAK TO ME I M OPEN FOR DISCUSSION … THANKS A LOT ……..
Such claims are hard to believe: first of all there are less than fifteen million people in the Caribbean; so in order for that claim to be substantiated, it means that the Airlines operating across the Caribbean would all have stopped transporting people.
Again in order for them to accomplish that they would have to transport six (600,000) thousand people per year for twenty-five years, that would break down to transporting fifty (50,000) thousand people per year, and that would mean they would have to transport twelve (12,500) thousand five hundred people per month, hence they would have transported one (1,785.714) thousand seven hundred point seven-one four people per week to accomplish that.
We know that the population of the Caribbean might be less than fifteen million people, and even if I am incorrect, I am still suspicious about the account; I would have to see his passenger manifest for the past twenty-five years in order to verify and authenticate that.
The final figure here ” 1,785.714″ is an indication that he has pulled his figures out of thin air, you do not get a figure such as .714 when talking about people in the context he is talking unless he is talking in terms of an average.
Give me a hole number, that may make it more believeable!
Francisco Etienne-Dods Telemaque
Francisco, you have toooo much time on your hands.
Please get your facts before you comment…. From the comments you’ve posted i can tell that you have no information about this service. And for someone who appears know so much about Dominica and is so concerned i am amazed that you would even talk about the ferry traveling to Guyana and other places. Do some research then comment please.
transporting 15million passengers does not relate to population it means that number of heads on each journey of the ferry over the years, the ferry holds up to 400 people andd if they sell at least half of these seats on each trip it is more than possible. Stop trying to put down everything positive with your know it all attitude.
You are splitting hairs with an ax.
For argument sake, the “accurate” figure you computed of 1,785.714 persons per week from an ESTIMATE of “Up to 15 million people have been transported throughout the islands up to 2012″ brings us to “exactly” 255.102 persons daily.
You claimed you “once owned a Ship” (your capitalization is baffling), but you failed to disclose the capacity of said ship or its sailing frequency.
Have you ever traveled via L’Express Des Isles? I have..more than once.
Do you know the capacity and sailing frequency? I do.
Gold Express can hold 446 and Perle Express can hold 360. That’s a total capacity of 446+360 = 806.
Notwithstanding the fact that these two ships travel between six destinations namely Dominica, Guadeloupe, Les Saintes, Marie Galante, Martinique, and Saint Lucia, even if they did not sail every day of the week, your insinuation that they are unable to transport 1786 (fyi it’s called rounding off) passengers per week is farcical.
THE FIGURE 714 IS SVEN HUNDRED AND FOURTEEN.what is wroung with that?
common DOMINICAN PEOPE we are smarter than that.
Praise god for L’Express Des ILES, my daughter went to school in Martinique I tell u it was not easy. If it had not been for the ferry I dont kw what I would do cuz to travel other wise its very expensive. Now its over I say thankyou L’Express Des Iles for yr service.