DFDS, which was awarded the Jersey contract to operate lifeline ferry services to the UK and France starting this month, has long-term chartered freight vessel Arrow from the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, writes Jehan Ashmore.
The announcement by the IOMSPC to charter the 84 unaccompanied freight trailer unit capacity Arrow to Danish operator DFDS completes their fourth vessel line-up set for Jersey service. As for the rest of the fleet, as Afloat reported, involves chartered ropax Stena Vinga and a pair of fast craft inherited by DFDS having acquired an operator on the Strait of Gibraltar linking Spain and Morocco in north Africa.
The charter is for 12 months, and when Arrow arrives, the sight of the vessel will be familiar, as the freighter has been sub-chartered several times to the incumbent operator, Condor, which is now majority owned by Brittany Ferries, but the French company will only serve the Guernsey contract following a rift between the Channel Islands in what was to be a joint-islands tendering process to award a contract for passenger and freight services.
The scenario, however, instead saw Brittany Ferries awarded as the preferred bidder for Guernsey’s contract of 15 years, while DFDS Jersey's role is of longer duration at 20 years.
Despite the setback, both of the new operators to the Channel Islands will start operations on 28 March, though Arrow’s charter arrangement will come into effect four days before, with the freighter to undertake port trials and pilotage training before entering regular service.
Arrow, which is the Steam Packet's reserve ro-ro freight ferry, had spent the winter at Larne, Co. Antrim, until last month’s return to Douglas. This was to facilitate former flagship Ben-my-Chree’s dry-dock period, which has since been completed on Merseyside at Cammell Laird, Birkenhead.
On Monday, Arrow departed for the North Sea, and at the time of writing, Afloat tracked to Teeside (where P&O's Norbay is from Larne) prior to its own dry-docking before commencing work with DFDS, which is expected to predominantly operate on the St. Helier-Portsmouth route.
The 122m Arrow, which had served Seatruck (now CLdN) service prior to its purchase by IOMSPC in 2022, was so to ensure that compliance with the Sea Services Agreement was met until the arrival of the new-build flagship Manxman in 2023.
As under the terms of the Sea Services Agreement, once the Manxman joined the fleet to chiefly serve Douglas-Heysham, the conventional ropax Ben-my-Chree became the designated fleet back-up. The fourth fleet member is the high-speed craft, Manannan, which is to resume its seasonally operated sailings next month on links to Liverpool, Belfast, and Dublin.
Commenting on the charter, Isle of Man Steam Packet Company Managing Director Brian Thomson said, ‘We’re pleased to have secured a long-term charter for Arrow with a renowned international operator such as DFDS. This gives us security while the future fleet strategy is agreed upon with our stakeholders.’
IOMSPC will continue to operate its usual timetabled services with Manxman and Manannan from March 28th to Heysham, Liverpool, Belfast, and Dublin. This leaves, therefore, the Ben-my-Chree to operate in a back-up capacity.
