For the second time, Stena Line is to charter the Isle of Man Steam Packet’s relief ferry on two Irish Sea routes for five weeks starting next month, writes Jehan Ashmore.
The former flagship Ben-my-Chree had last winter served Stena’s temporary, albeit freight-only, Dublin-Heysham route following ferry incidents; damaged infrastructure at Holyhead led to closure. The contingency Ireland-England route for hauliers ceased in January of this year when the North Wales port partially reopened.
On this occasion, the reserve ropax is to operate on Stena Line routes of Dublin-Holyhead and Rosslare-Fishguard depending on operational needs. The charter period is between 4th November and 10th December.
During the charter a crew from the Douglas-based Isle of Man Steam Packet Co. (IOMPSC) will also be working on the 650-passenger, 275-car, and 90-freight-trailer-capacity ferry.
The charter is to facilitate ferries from Stena and Irish Ferries to go for routine winter dry-docking in addition to permitting maintenance works to be carried out at Fishguard. This arrangement, which forms part of the space capacity charter agreement between the main Irish Sea rivals, has also been put in place to allow customers to travel on each other ferries, making it more convenient for passengers and freight alike.
On completing the charter to Stena, Ben-my-Chree is itself to be dry-docked for scheduled maintenance ahead of returning to the Isle of Man to provide cover during the Christmas and New Year periods.
As for the charter from the IOMSPC, they have the option to recall the backup ferry to the Isle of Man if necessary. The company has a Sea Services Agreement with the Manx government for the provision to allow it at any time, if required, to support Isle of Man services.
Ben-my-Chree, as such, can provide backup for its successor flagship, Manxman, with its winter schedule of continuing to operate Douglas-Heysham in Lancashire. The Steam Packet’s High Speed Craft (HSC) Manannan, which operates summer services to Liverpool, is to finish its season this Sunday, 26 October; however, the Manxman will run weekend trips on the link with Merseyside.
Manannan will then proceed for maintenance prior to its winter layup, with the HSC re-entering service with sailings of 2026 due to take place on 27th March.
Another provision of the Sea Services Agreement sees the reserve ropax carry out additional freight services to catch up on sailings affected by disruptive weather. Currently, its backup fleetmate, the freight ferry Arrow, remains on charter to Danish operator DFDS, calling to Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands, until March next year.
