End of waiting: TESO flagship Texelstroom back on October 10

The TESO shareholders’ meeting had a special character, because director Cees de Waal was absent. “Due to physical health problems, he cannot be there tonight,” says Van den Broeck. “And I can assure you that he deeply regrets that.”

This resulted in a reaction from shareholder Joost Broekman from the audience. “This shows no decisiveness. Why is there no replacement?” Van den Broeck replied that the knowledge of the ferry service was sufficiently secured by the Supervisory Board.

“Something that doesn’t sit well with us – and frankly, it’s really annoying – is that our flagship Texelstroom has been at the maintenance quay since September 17.” According to the chairman of the supervisory board, the challenge was great for TESO, because the problem was not easy to solve.

“We consider ourselves fortunate that our own technical service is of a high class and that we can count on our regular suppliers. After a long search, they have found the cause of the very complicated technical problem.” The TESO spokesperson assured shareholders that this problem will not recur after repair.

The malfunction can be solved by modifying various parts. “The repair is going to take longer than we would like. We are dealing with long delivery times for the necessary parts. And then a complex upgrade has to take place.” Without this special repair, there is a good chance that the Texelstroom will have to deal with a malfunction again. “The risk of that is unacceptable.”

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This means that the Texelstroom cannot be used for travelers for the time being. Longer waiting times are also expected in the coming period, both on Texel and in Den Helder. The Texelstroom is expected to be operational again in just over a week.

The TESO also has to deal with inflation and higher costs. “The world is currently facing several crises. These developments do not go unnoticed by TESO.” According to Van den Broeck, fuel prices are skyrocketing. Fuel costs for TESO rose by more than half a million euros in the past financial year. And this increase will continue in the current financial year.

gas oil

Engine problems mean that the ferries have been running on gas oil for a long time instead of CNG (gas). “In a financial sense, that is not disadvantageous now,” said the TESO spokesperson. “Because gas prices have risen even more than the price of gas oil.”

This does not alter the fact that TESO prefers to sail on gas, because this is the least polluting fossil fuel. “Not being able to sail on gas is of course not in line with our core values. That doesn’t feel right, but unfortunately the situation forces us to. In any case, a solution to the gas problem has been found and we expect to sail on gas again in May next year. .”