The Harland & Wolff Group, parent company of Scilly Ferries, which for months has been beset with delays in starting its first season from Penzance Harbour, Cornwall, has announced ceasing operations, writes Jehan Ashmore.
In a statement issued today, the Belfast based shipbuilder group, which has financial difficulties following last week’s refusal of a £200m loan guarantee by the UK Government, said it regrets to announce that Scilly Ferries, including the Atlantic Wolff fast ferry, has ceased operations because of the need for the group to refocus on core business functions.
As the new board assesses all aspects of the group’s activity, the ferry operation was identified as being overly ambitious given the current circumstances. Therefore, we have made the difficult decision to withdraw support for this operation, believing it to be in the best interest of the group.
Harland & Wolff’s Interim Executive Chair, Russell Downs, said: “We understand that this will be difficult news for those affected immediately and for the community it was intended to support.
“It is important to note that this is an isolated and unique situation within the group, which continues to deliver its business as usual, serving its ship repair fabrication and ship building customers.”
The timing of the announcement, on the first day of August, follows a fourth attempt since May to re-start, the latest being the 20th of this month, as Afloat also highlights, notably that this was to have taken place very late into the peak-season of the summer, using the two passenger decks of the 400 capacity catamaran Atlantic Wolff.
The new operator was to offer customers a faster-ferry service of up to 1 hour 50 minutes (90 minutes) compared to the well-established rivals, the Isles of Scilly Steamship Company’s 2 hour 40 minute crossing time.
All customers of Harland & Wolff (Scilly Ferries) Ltd, with existing reservations on the Atlantic Wolff will be contacted directly, while all the staff of the affected new operator have been advised.
In addition, Afloat as previously reported noted of the much smaller fleetmate, Atlantic Express, a RIB based service that was advertised on the company’s social media, but sailings in late July were based on a limited, sporadic basis and weather permitting.
Scilly Ferries had set up an office in Hugh Town on St. Mary's, the largest of the five inhabited islands of the archipelago, but apparently no sailings by the new operator's fast ferry ever took place, according to local media in England’s south-west region.
As for the 42m aluminum Atlantic Wolff, the high-speed catamaran that was designed and built by Damen in 2018, it is to see the craft returned to the Dutch shipyard group.
Another subsidiary of the Belfast shipbuilder, Harland & Wolff Marine Services (formerly Kraken Marine Services), which provides carriage of freight between the mainland and the Isles of Scilly, will continue its operations unaffected. The subsidiary also provides workboats for projects in the UK and Europe.
The development in the UK domestic ferry scene, now leaves clear water, for The Isles of Scilly Steamship Company, established in 1920. In addition to the 'seasonal’ ferry Scillonian III, they provide the year-round operated freight ship, Gry Maritha, and inter-island boat service, as well as aviation links with the mainland through the ‘Skybus’ services.
