Following Storm Chandra’s Irish Sea Disruption Cancellations Continue on Continental Routes

29th January 2026

Jehan Ashmore

Both central Irish Sea operators, Stena Line and Irish Ferries, faced disruption and cancellations during Storm Chandra. Further travel will affect services notably on continental routes to and from France and Spain, which includes those served by Brittany Ferries. Credit: Jehan Ashmore

Due to the continuing adverse weather, Stena Line was forced to cancel the debut of its second owned freight ferry on the Dublin-Birkenhead (Liverpool) route, writes Jehan Ashmore.

Originally the introduction of Stena Scotia was to take place on Tuesday night, during Storm Chandra; however, the 114-trailer-unit-capacity freight ferry finally departed with Wednesday morning’s scheduled sailing, which saw the arrival on Merseyside in the early afternoon.

The return 1700 sailing, however, was slightly delayed by almost half an hour, with the Stena Scotia setting off from the Twelve Quays Terminal and making its arrival to the Irish capital in the early hours of today (29 Jan) at around 0130. The subsequent sailing this morning commenced on time.

Downriver of its Terminal 5 berth was a fleetmate, Stena Nordica, albeit serving temporarily on the Dublin-Holyhead route (to cover the absence of Stena Estrid), which also yesterday had to cancel its 1630 sailing, as the company cited technical issues. This caused the Rosslare-Fishguard ferry (see Manx-related story) to have to shift berths at Dublin, from Terminal 2 and upriver to Ocean Pier, Alexandra Basin (East); however, the ropax was able to resume scheduled service this morning.

This same berth on Ocean Pier is where Stena Scotia had occupied, following a repositioning passage from Belfast and before entering service on the central Irish Sea route. Its twin, Stena Hibernia, operates the route, which opened almost two years ago, but with other tonnage, among them the most recent, the chartered Bore Song, which was replaced by the former Belfast-Heysham freight ferry due to the ageing freighters replaced by new twin tonnage.

Also on the Liffey, competitor Irish Ferries was forced to occupy a berth at Ocean Pier but on the pier's Alexandra Basin side, which involved their W.B. Yeats, so as not to block Holyhead-related ferries at Terminal 1. The cruise-ferry had to cancel a sailing during Storm Chandra, as the Ireland-France ferry serving Dublin-Cherbourg remained in port before resuming service yesterday afternoon, and its arrival to Normandy is scheduled today at 1230.

However, the corresponding W.B. Yeats sailing at 1630 remains in doubt due to the company citing adverse weather conditions. (At the time of writing), Irish Ferries has since confirmed the cancellation of the overnight crossing to Dublin. Instead, passengers have been advised that they can be accommodated on the cruise ferry's next sailing on Sunday (31 Jan) with the 14.30 crossing to the capital.

Another cruise ferry, James Joyce, is set to make a reappearance in Dublin on the preceding Saturday, following completion of annual dry-docking maintenance at Harland & Wolff, Belfast. This week the iconic shipyard marked its first-year anniversary since its acquisition by Navantia UK, along with smaller yards and engineering sites in Scotland and England.

The only other continental rival, Brittany Ferries, is today operating a normal service on the Rosslare-Cherbourg route, though tomorrow's (30 Jan) sailing will be late on arrival by almost two hours. In addition, on the Rosslare-Bilbao route, the sailing has been cancelled.

As for the main Ireland-Wales route, all other ferries of both companies are operating as scheduled, with Irish Ferries Isle of Inisheer (normally on the France route) as the temporary replacement for the aforementioned James Joyce. The larger Ulysses, also fresh from dry-docking at H&W, is maintaining passenger and freight service across the main route on the central Irish Sea.

In addition, Stena Adventurer is operating routinely for the rival operator as their largest ferry on the Holyhead route using Terminal 2. Whilst Stena Estrid has yet to return to service, as it remains running on a winter role between Belfast and Birkenhead. This is due to the same E-Flexer class fleetmates; the Stena Embla and the Stena Edda are taking turns in dry dock as planned at the neigbouring APCL Cammel Laird shipbuilder and repairer facility.

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Jehan Ashmore

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Jehan Ashmore is a marine correspondent, researcher and photographer, specialising in Irish ports, shipping and the ferry sector serving the UK and directly to mainland Europe. Jehan also occasionally writes a column, 'Maritime' Dalkey for the (Dalkey Community Council Newsletter) in addition to contributing to UK marine periodicals.

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Irish Sea Ferry Routes

Irrespective of the type of vessel deployed on Irish Sea routes (between 2-9 hours), it is the ferry companies that keep the wheels of industry moving as freight vehicles literally (roll-on and roll-off) ships coupled with motoring tourists and the humble 'foot' passenger transported 363 days a year.

As such the exclusive freight-only operators provide important trading routes between Ireland and the UK, where the freight haulage customer is 'king' to generating year-round revenue to the ferry operator. However, custom built tonnage entering service in recent years has exceeded the level of capacity of the Irish Sea in certain quarters of the freight market.

A prime example of the necessity for trade in which we consumers often expect daily, though arguably question how it reached our shores, is the delivery of just in time perishable products to fill our supermarket shelves.

A visual manifestation of this is the arrival every morning and evening into our main ports, where a combination of ferries, ro-pax vessels and fast-craft all descend at the same time. In essence this a marine version to our road-based rush hour traffic going in and out along the commuter belts.

Across the Celtic Sea, the ferry scene coverage is also about those overnight direct ferry routes from Ireland connecting the north-western French ports in Brittany and Normandy.

Due to the seasonality of these routes to Europe, the ferry scene may be in the majority running between February to November, however by no means does this lessen operator competition.

Noting there have been plans over the years to run a direct Irish –Iberian ferry service, which would open up existing and develop new freight markets. Should a direct service open, it would bring new opportunities also for holidaymakers, where Spain is the most visited country in the EU visited by Irish holidaymakers ... heading for the sun!