Stena Line Services Resume from Holyhead With 'Revised' Sailing Schedule

16th January 2025

Jehan Ashmore

Holyhead partial reopening: Passengers and freight services on Stena Line’s Dublin-Holyhead route have resumed from today (16 Jan) and will be based on a ‘revised’ timetable. Above the forward-facing Hygge lounge of Stena Adventurer (as taken by Afloat yesterday, during its final sailing on the Dublin-Fishguard route when 'inbound' to the Irish capital). During the closure, the Holyhead ferry was redeployed onto the temporary route as part of efforts to ensure continuity of services between Ireland and Britain. Credit: Jehan Ashmore

Operator on the Dublin-Holyhead route, Stena Line, has issued an update today on the resumption of services this morning following the closure of the ferry berths at the Welsh port in early December.

From today, Stena Line will operate its normal sailing schedule of four sailings from Dublin to Holyhead with the 'revised' timetable of 04:30 hrs, 10:15 hrs, 16:30 hrs, and 22:30 hrs. In addition to sailings from Holyhead at 04:00 hrs, 10:00 hrs, 16:00 hrs, and 22:15 hrs.

Johan Edelman, Stena Line Trade Director (Irish Sea South), said: “The last few weeks have been an extremely challenging time for our customers and staff. The extended closure of the ferry berths at Holyhead Port at one of the busiest times of the year was unprecedented, and I would like to thank our customers and staff for their patience and resilience.

“Now that the berth has been cleared to be safely reopened, we moved quickly to put the resources in place to ensure that we could provide a fully operational service on our Holyhead-Dublin route from today onwards.”

During the closure, Stena Line ensured continuity of connectivity between Ireland and the UK with new 'temporary' services from Dublin to both Birkenhead (Liverpool) and Fishguard, redeploying Stena Estrid and Stena Adventurer from the Dublin-Holyhead route. The company also chartered the Ben-My-Chree to operate a freight-only service between Dublin and Heysham, also on a temporary basis.

Both the Stena Adventurer and the route's second ship, Stena Estrid (as Afloat reported earlier today), have returned to service on the Ireland-Wales route.

On Tuesday, Afloat tracked the Stena Vision carrying out berthing trials at Holyhead’s terminal 5 berth, which is shared with Irish Ferries, as their adjacent berth was damaged in an incident during Storm Darragh last month.

The cruise ferry, which had been in layover mode at Belfast Harbour, sailed to the North Wales port to conduct berthing trials, and subject to successful operations, led to today’s partial reopening of the UK’s second busiest ferry port.

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About The Author

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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