A new flagship ferry of the Isle of Man Steamship Company which is the biggest in the history of the operator is to make its maiden voyage next week.

The £76m newbuild Manxman is due to make its first passenger sailing from the Douglas to Heyham in Lancashire on 17 August, the Steam Packet have confirmed.

Since the South Korean built ferry arrived to the Isle of Man on 2 July, the 950 passenger and crew capacity newbuild has not been in service due to undertaking berthing trials and pre-passenger service checks and checking of emergency systems.

The 24,161 gross tonnage Manxman which has also carried out berthing trials in Belfast Harbour, is scheduled to make the maiden sailing with a departure from Douglas Harbour at 08:45 bound for Heysham. The corresponding return crossing from the English north-west port is at 14:15.

Manxman directly replaces the Isle of Man-England route serving ropax Ben-my-Chree, though initially the 12,747 gross tonnage 600 passenger ferry which entered service in 1998, will remain in service when operating overnight sailings for a month.

For more, BBC News reports on the 'time to bed-in' of the newbuild.

Irish Ferries' move into the competitive Dover-Calais route is where the operator now has tickets on sale, reports KentOnline, in addition pictures released to give a first glimpse as to what to expect.

The new service launches next Tuesday, June 29.

As Afloat reported, the Dublin-based firm announced in March it was to go head-to-head with the likes of existing ferry firms DFDS and P&O on the short cross-Channel route.

The firm will be operating the refurbished Isle of Inishmore ferry on the route - a vessel which had previously been used between Wales and Ireland.

Prices will start at £69 for a car and up to nine passengers - which is similar in price to the other ferries operating the route.

For further reading and pictorial of interior passenger facilities click here. 

Only last month, Afloat also highlighted that rival operators, P&O and DFDS joined forces in developing reduced freight waiting times in advance of Irish Ferries debut.  

In addition the announcement by ICG, parent company of Irish Ferries, to launch the service, has led to unions on either side of the Strait of Dover to claim that the new competitor is aggressively low-cost and this will seriously damage existing services.