Stena Line’s chartered replacement ferry for its Fishguard-Rosslare route was forced to cancel a sailing bound for Ireland in the early hours of yesterday morning, writes Jehan Ashmore.
The Isle of Man Steam Packet ferry, the Ben-My-Chree, could not operate the 0130hrs (5 Nov.) sailing from South Wales, as Stena cited a technical issue. In addition, it had to cancel the morning’s 0815hrs sailing from Ireland until it finally departed Fishguard in the afternoon, having to catch up on lost sailings. Last night's scheduled 1930hrs sailing from Rosslare, at the time of writing, is on time according to the Stena Line sailing updates.
As part of a space-charter agreement, passengers have been automatically transferred to rival Irish Ferries sailing on the Pembroke run to Rosslare. When Fishguard port is closed for maintenance, passengers will also be accommodated with Irish Ferries. The agreement, which includes covering for planned dry-dockings, extends to the Dublin-Holyhead route, where both companies compete on the central Irish Sea connection.
Ben-My-Chree’s first commercial sailing, running for Stena on the Rosslare-Fishguard route, took place on Tuesday, having had to cancel the previous overnight round trip sailings due to adverse weather conditions. The delayed inaugural sailing from the Irish port finally departed in the morning, with a return trip from Pembrokeshire delayed by around two hours. This was followed by the night crossing back to Fishguard, and the subsequent sailing was cancelled due to the technical problem arising.
On another issue, the company website recently updated that the passenger lift is out of action on the replacement vessel, Ben My Chree, so we regret to advise that we are unable to accept passengers with restricted movement, as there is no other way to get them to the accommodation areas. The company added that the lift may be out of action for several days.
During the initial charter period up to 19 November and 4th-7th December, Ben-My-Chree’s facilities for passengers are much reduced compared to the route’s routine ferry, Stena Nordica. The former Manx flagship, which is now a reserve ropax on Isle of Man services, would normally be open with facilities including cabins, but on the southern Irish Sea, no such option is available, albeit the route is only 30 minutes longer on night crossings on the otherwise 3-hour-and-30-minute daytime sailings.
As Afloat previously reported, facilities are limited, consisting of just a pet-friendly lounge, a bar, and a duty-free shop, and freshly prepared meals and snacks are available for purchase onboard.
As alluded to, the Ben-My-Chree is currently this afternoon making its sailing on the St. Georges Channel, while Stena Nordica is running in a relief capacity, covering the dry-dockings of the Dublin-Holyhead route ships. This led to the Stena Estrid leaving the route and, in turn, taking up the same relief role on the longer north Irish Sea route of Belfast-Birkenhead (Liverpool), where its same-class E-Flexer twins will take it in turn to go for annual dry-dock maintenance periods.
First to go off service was the Stena Embla, which went to dry dock at Cammell Laird, also in Birkenhead, while its twin, the Stena Edda, runs in tandem with its stand-in E-Flexer from Wales.
At an adjoining dry dock is the Belfast-Heysham freight ferry Stena Hibernia, which followed its likewise twin, Stena Scotia, to the Merseyside shipyard, but is now back on the route running with newcomer Stena Futura of the 'NewMax 2800' class. Once again another twin newbuild, Stena Connecta, is due to enter service on the freight-only route from early 2026, with each vessel boosting capacity by 40%, and ultimately they will replace the ageing pair dating to 1996.
