The reason for Patria Seaways delayed debut on Stena's Rosslare-Cherbourg route is down to the 18,355-ton ferry being detained by Port State Control, Paris MoU, which led to its late entry by almost a week, writes Jehan Ashmore.
The charter from DFD Ferry of the 242-passenger/114-freight-trailer capacity vessel was to commence its first 18-hour sailing from Rosslare Europort on 13 March, but the detention of the 1992 built-ferry led to cancelled crossings. The Paris MoU’s role is to eliminate the operation of sub-standard ships through a harmonised system of port state control.
Afloat sought a comment from DFDS Ferry, which said the vessel was detained on the 13th after failing the initial inspection by the local authorities. The scheduling of the reassessment was delayed due to the weekend and [St. Patrick's Day] public holiday, but the vessel passed inspections on the 18th with assistance from the DFDS crew and commenced its maiden voyage to Cherbourg.
The detention caused disruption to passengers and freight, including those missing out on travelling over the entire St. Patrick’s bank holiday weekend. As such, the 33-year-old ferry spent days in and out of port (see photo-berth story) until the detention was lifted, finally permitting Patria Seaways to enter onto the Ireland-France route on 18 March with a crossing to the mainland continental port in Normandy.
Since then, the 152 m ferry has been struggling to keep timekeeping, as sailings have been consistently delayed by hours. For example, instead of a scheduled arrival to Cherbourg on Sunday at 1300, it was delayed with a late arrival of around 4 hours.
Afloat noted a sailing on Monday from France was revised to a new schedule; by departing an hour earlier, it would seem Stena is addressing the matter.
As previously highlighted, Patria Seaways has a service speed of just 17 knots when compared to the route’s routine ropax, Stena Horizon, which is notably faster at 23.5 knots. Stena is no doubt keen to resolve the delays on the Ireland-France route where competitor Brittany Ferries operates, while the Irish Ferries route, albeit to Dublin, may be geographically out of place, but the crossing time is just 17 hours thanks to the 22.5-knot-capable W.B. Yeats along with those weekend trips by Isle of Inisheer.
Patria Seaways has 3 weeks more of its short-term charter that is to expire on 14 April; it replaces Stena Horizon from its routine French connection duties to cover the absence of the second ship on their Dublin-Holyhead route, the E-Flexer class Stena Estrid.
This has allowed the leadship of the E-Flexer class to provide cover on the North Channel’s Belfast-Cairnryan route during the dry-docking of Stena Superfast VII at Harland & Wolff, where it remains at the now Navantia-owned facility.
Partnering with the Stena Horizon on the Ireland-Wales route is the primary ferry, Stena Adventurer. It was on the Dublin-Holyhead route, which Stena inaugurated in 1995 (initially freight-only) and using the Stena Traveller is now with DFDS as their Patria Seaways.
The end of the charter in mid-April allows a short gap for Stena Horizon to settle back before the busier Easter period with the bank holiday Monday on 21 April.
