Off England’s southwest coast is where a ferry war between operators, one running and the other hoping to run passenger and freight services between Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly has been heating up in the run-up to Christmas.
The incumbent operator, the Isles of Scilly Steamship Group (ISSG) which has operated the historic ferry and freight service to the islands since 1920, had ran into trouble with its cargo-ship on Friday, December 22. The 538 deadweight tonnes (dwt) capacity freight ship, Gry Maritha has got into difficulties having suffered an engine failure some 20 minutes having departed Penzance Harbour.
The former Norwegian flagged coastal cargo ship built in 1981 (see: newbuilds story) and was forced to return to its harbour base with only one engine working.
At the time of the incident, the ISSG which also operates airplane services between Land's End airport and St Mary's, the main island, said the fault had been identified. The operator added that a repair would be required as the failed engine would have to be removed from the 37m long vessel and swapped with a replacement.
ISSG had said the engine failure led to the day's freight service cancelled with the operator (which runs a passenger ferry, albeit Spring-Autumn) insisting it was "exploring options for transporting the urgent chilled foods across over the weekend". The next shipment, had warned the Scilly operator, might have to take place on Boxing Day or even today (27 December).
The operator issued a statement at the time which the following: "Please accept our apologies for the obvious inconvenience that this has caused, and be assured we are doing all that we can to minimise further disruption to the freight service."
To read more, Cornwall Live reports and of Afloat's coverage of this year’s plan by Belfast based Harland & Wolff attempt to muscle in on the ISSG's monopoly, (see: latest withdrawn bid) was able to offer the Scillies with a temporary life-line freight service this Christmas.
This involved Harland & Wolff, utilising the KMS vessel, Terramar to provide an emergency freight service on a free basis to St Mary’s for any emergency items and food required over the festive period.
Next Spring, H&W’s ferry division, Scilly Ferries is to launch a new passenger service in competition with ISSG on the same Penzance-St. Mary’s route.