Stena Line's new Dublin-Fishguard ‘freight’ route, which began operating before the weekend following Storm Darragh’s damage to Holyhead Port, is now offering all services on the temporary connection, writes Jehan Ashmore.
The Stena Adventurer (above) rerouted from the Dublin-Holyhead route as Afloat previously highlighted onto the alternative Irish Sea route to alleviate the impact of freight congestion caught up at the closed port of Holyhead on the major Ireland-UK transport link. The damage to Holyhead’s ferry jetty with its resultant closure is unprecedented given its continued duration and widespread knock-on effects across the Irish Sea.
For the first time since the incident took place, a full-service between the Irish capital and Wales, albeit via Fishguard, is now also open for motorist passengers and foot passengers. Noting the train-connected port is where Stena has its route to Rosslare run by ropax Stena Nordica, providing a shorter sea route option.
The sailing schedule on the new Ireland-Wales link sees Stena Adventurer depart Dublin with an overnight sailing at 22:00 and arrive in Fishguard at 05:30, a passage time of 7 hours 30 minutes. In the reverse direction, daylight sailings depart Fishguard at 09:00 and arrive to Dublin at 15:30, which is one hour less sailing time.
In an update on the Stena website, the new route between Dublin and Fishguard is now on sale and can be booked online or through their Contact Centre (as detailed also below). The company sincerely apologise for the inconvenience since the storm took place more than a week ago.
Stena also stated that due to the closure of Holyhead Port, it has cancelled all ferry services between Dublin and Holyhead until Friday 20th December. However, Taoiseach Simon Harris stated in Dun Laoghaire today that it is "highly unlikely" that Holyhead port will be functional this side of Christmas, as reported by The Journal, and the “seriousness” of the damage was becoming “more apparent as the days go by”.
With the Taoiseach’s visit to Dun Laoghaire, Afloat highlights historically a former operator, Sealink/British Rail, which in 1978 opened a new seasonal route between the south Dublin Bay harbour and Fishguard, which the Lord Warden repeated the following year.
As for the present, Stena Line are in the process of contacting all affected Dublin-Holyhead customers and that travel customers can amend their bookings online free of charge or through the Contact Centre on 0344 770 7070 (UK) / 00 353 1 907 5555 (ROI). For further information and routes, including Dublin-Liverpool, click Stena Line website.
When the Stena Adventurer departs Dublin Bay, it has been observed taking the same course set as if bound for Holyhead, involving it passing the North Burford buoy off Howth Peninsula; however, when it reaches the Kish Bank Lighthouse, the heading deviates in a south-easterly direction for Fishguard.
The deployment of Stena Adventurer on the route is the largest ever ferry to berth at the South Wales port.
Also operating out of Pembrokeshire is Irish Ferries service from Pembroke Dock, which at the weekend saw the James Joyce deployed from Dublin-Holyhead (also cancelled) boosting capacity by 50% however, the route’s routine ferry went off service.
Afloat noted this led to the Isle of Innisfree taking anchorage off Rosslare but returned to the port yesterday. As of this afternoon, the ferry headed out again to anchor. According to the Irish Ferries website, is to resume its role with sailings from this Thursday, 18 December.
Further developments on James Joyce's southern route role will be made known.
