Operator Stena Line will cancel all sailings for a week from one Welsh port as a ferry moves to the Holyhead-Dublin route for a temporary period.

The routes between Wales and Ireland have been hit by reduced demand due to post-Brexit trade distortion and national lockdowns.

Now Stena will take the opportunity to undertake its dry-docking programme for annual maintenance.

This will result in a new session of musical ferries on the Irish Sea.

The Stena 'Superfast' VII (see: related story) is going into dry dock and Stena Edda moves to cover the Belfast – Cairnryan route.

Stena Horizon switches from Anglesey to cover Edda on the Birkenhead route and Europe heads from Fishguard to Holyhead to keep two ships on that route. 

It will mean sailings between Fishguard-Rosslare are cancelled for just over a week.

But it could mean extra dockers brought back from furlough at Holyhead. They had been placed back on the UK Government scheme due to the impact of Brexit and Covid lockdowns.

More on this reports NorthWalesLive here.

Afloat adds that competitor, Irish Ferries operates the Rosslare-Pembroke route, the second ferry port in south Wales connecting the Wexford port, whose general manager last week made a call for a consolidated ferry service using just one of the Pembrokeshire ports. This to encourage hauliers back into using the ports and the UK land bridge.

In the same week, a Welsh Affairs Committee also heard it would make logistical and economic sense for Pembrokeshire to operate a single ferry port, and possibly served by two companies linking Rosslare Europort which in recent months has seen an explosion in traffic given 'Brexit-Bypass' demand.

#NewTimetable - The launch of the new timetable on Stena Line’s Rosslare – Fishguard route has begun this week. The revised timetable now gives customers the chance to avail of three day sailings and one extended overnight crossing.

The operator have carried out extensive customer research and feedback. In addition to reviewing the previous schedule that has led to the introduction of a more customer friendly timetable which now comprises of three x 3 hour 15 minutes daytime crossings making the route the shortest and fastest crossing between Ireland and South Wales.

Ian Davies, Stena Line’s Trade Director, Irish Sea South commented: “We recently carried out a substantial investment in the Stena Europe vessel and to ensure we make the most of this service for our customers, we carried out extensive research with them to find out how we can provide an even more enjoyable travel experience.

“After analysing the results, we made the decision to amend the timetable on our Rosslare to Fishguard route and are now delighted to offer our customers three day sailings and an extended overnight crossing. This not only creates new opportunities which were not previously available on the market for our travel and freight customers, but also reduces the crossing times on some of our sailings by 15 minutes.”

Stena Line’s sailing schedule between Rosslare and Fishguard is now:

Departure Arrival Crossing Time
Rosslare 08:00 11:15 3hr15
Fishguard 13:10 16:25 3hr15
Rosslare 18:10 21:25 3hr15
Fishguard 23:45 04:00 4hr15*

*Overnight sailing time will increase by 15 minutes giving customers a little more time to rest particularly drivers before they disembark.

#Timetable - A revised timetable of Stena Line's Rosslare – Fishguard ferry service will see customers have a choice of three-day time sailings and one extended overnight crossing from 22nd May.

Following the evaluation of extensive customer research and feedback, Stena Line reviewed the existing schedule and has decided to introduce three, more customer friendly 3 hour 15-minute day time crossings, making Rosslare – Fishguard the shortest and fastest crossing between Ireland and South Wales.

From Monday 22nd May, Stena Line will operate the following revised sailing schedule between Rosslare and Fishguard:

Departure Arrival Crossing Time
Rosslare 08:00 11:15 3hr15
Fishguard 13:10 16:25 3hr15
Rosslare 18:10 21:25 3hr15
Fishguard 23:45 04:00 4hr15*

Ian Davies, Stena Line’s Trade Director, Irish Sea South commented: “The new timetable will reduce the crossing times on some of our sailings by 15 mins and provide a greater choice of convenient sailing times and better arrival times. The recent investment in the Stena Europe ship has further enhanced our service offering for 2017, providing new opportunities which currently do not exist in the market for our travel and freight customers.”

Ian added: “We have conducted a lot of research and spoken with many of our freight and travel customers, listening to what they had to say about our current sailing timetable and ways in which we might improve the service in the future. We believe we have now addressed the points raised and our staff are constantly engaging with customers to ensure a smooth transition. In fact, we have already received positive feedback and believe that the vast majority of our customers will welcome these changes.”

*Overnight sailing time will increase by 15 minutes giving customers a little more time to rest particularly drivers before they disembark.

#FerryREFITS – Stena Line's charter of Finnarrow, which as previously reported on Afloat.ie, entered service on the Dublin Port-Holyhead route allowed Stena Nordica to relief the Rosslare-Fishguard ferry, and not as previously indicated go straight to annual refit.

Instead Stena Nordica, has replaced the St. Georges Channel route ferry Stena Europe, which sailed northbound to dry-dock at Harland & Wolff, Belfast. She is sharing the dry-dock with P&O's fast-craft Express, which too is undergoing annual maintenance having shifted berths from Donegall Quay.

The Stena Nordica of 24,206grt, is no stranger to Rosslare, having made an en-route call on certain weekend's while running P&O's Dublin Port-Cherbourg route as the European Ambassador, until the route closed in 2004.

#FERRY NEWS - A commemoration plaque in memory to those who lost their lives when the Irish Sea passenger ferry S.S. Patrick (II) was attacked by a bomb from the Luftwaffe during WW2, is to be unveiled in Rosslare Europort next Wednesday.

The tragic attack in 1941 resulted in the 1,922 tonnes vessel sinking with the death of 30 people while the twin-screw steam turbine powered vessel was on passage off the Welsh coast. The ship built in 1930 was launched from the Alexander Stephen & Sons Glasgow (Yard No 525) Glasgow, and she commissioned to serve the St. Georges's channel route between Rosslare and Fishguard.

She had been targeted by a German machine gunner the previous year even though it was not a military vessel and the reasons for its attack have remained a mystery to this day.

Diane Poole OBE, Head of PR and Communications at Stena Line said, "The ship that sank was owned by the Fishguard and Rosslare Railways and Harbours Company (FRRHC), of whom Stena Line along with Irish Rail/Rosslare Europort are descendants.

She added: "Despite the deaths and the trauma attached to the event, the memory of the ship and those who went down with her has largely been lost. There has never been a true commemoration in Ireland of the disaster – until now."

For further information about the tragedy click HERE and a documentary recorded for RTE Radio On can be listened to by clicking this LINK.

The current ferry operating the route is the Stena Europe (1981/24,828grt) which has maintained the route for the last decade. Sailings on the summer schedule will not be boosted by the fast-ferry craft, Stena Lynx III which was sold last year to serve new South Korean owners.

Sunflower 2 is to make bunker calls on the repositioning voyage, firstly in Valletta, Malta before she transits the Suez Canal to the Red Sea port of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and Columbo, Sri Lanka. From there she transits the Strait of Malacca then through the South China Sea followed by the East China Sea before finally entering the Strait of Korea to her homeport of Busan.

Since 1999 she has served Stena Line's fast-ferry high-season Rosslare-Fishguard route sailings taking 1 hour 50 minutes in tandem with conventional ferry Stena Europe (1981/24,828grt) which currently maintains the year-round 3 hours 30 minutes route. It is believed that Stena Line will not be operating high-season fast-ferry services in 2012.

Prior to her Dun Laoghaire departure, her South Korean crew have been preparing the craft over the last three weeks. Notably there was the removal of all Stena Line corporate livery markings on the hull. Her new name and port of registry were painted at the stern though she retained her original name at the bow which included both symbols of an Irish shamrock aptly to starboard (green) and the Welsh dragon to port (red) to reflect her Irish Sea southern corridor route.

Stena Lynx III departing Dun Laoghaire last year, note her starboard 'Shamrock' at the bow.

In recent years on the St. Georges Channel route she was marketed as the Stena 'Express'. Her final sailing this year was 4 September and three days later she docked Dun Laoghaire at St. Michaels Pier. On the adjacent berth which is designed specifically for and only capable of accommodating the HSS 1500 class fast-ferries.

Stena Lynx III also ran several shoulder season stints on the Dun Laoghaire-Holyhead route with the HSS Stena Explorer (1996/19,638grt) only running during the busier summer months. During this summer all sailings were maintained by HSS Stena Explorer until the route became a seasonal-only service for the first time this year when the last sailing took place in mid-September. The HSS remains in layover for the winter in Holyhead at her dedicated berth. The route is due to re-open in April or May.

The 35 knot Stena Lynx III was launched from fast-ferry catamaran specialists InCAT Pty based in the Tasmanian capital of Hobart. Early in her career the 81m wave-piercing catamaran (WPC) craft served Dover-Calais followed by two seasons between Newhaven-Dieppe when renamed P&O Elite for joint operators P&O Stena Line.

Her predecessors the WPC InCat 74m Stena Sea Lynx, became the first car-carrying catamaran to operate Dun Laoghaire-Holyhead sailings in 1993. The pioneering water-jet propelled craft was replaced in subsequent years by the larger InCAT 78m Stena Lynx II.

She was replaced in 1996 when the revolutionary four gas-turbine engine water-jet propelled HSS Stena Explorer was introduced. A further two sisters of the HSS 1500 class (High-speed Sea Service) were completed by Finnyards in Rauma.

Prior to her arrival on the North Channel, Norcape had been laid-up in Liverpool since February 2010 after the former B+I Line vessel (MV Tipperary) was replaced by European Endeavour on the central corridor route to Dublin. As of this week the ro-pax freight vessel which has been running in a freight-only mode will now carry motorists likewise to her route fleetmates Norbank and Norbay.

With the departure of European Mariner from the Irish Sea, she follows a trio of former Stena Line freight-ferry sisters which were made redundant since the closure of the Belfast-Heysham route late last year. It is believed the sisters Stena Seafarer, Stena Leader and Stena Pioneer have been sold to Russian interests to serve in the Black Sea in connection to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

The sisters were renamed, Stena Pioneer became Ant 1, Stena Seafarer is the Ant 2 and Stena Leader is the Anna Marine. They departed Belfast Lough in mid-June to Sevastopol in the Ukraine under the Moldovan flag and with a port of registry in Giurgiulesti.

In addition to the 'Express' service the St. Georges Channel route is served by the year-round operated conventional ferry, Stena Europe (1981/24,828 grt). The 1,386 passenger / 564-vehicle ferry recently underwent a £2m refurbishment and takes a more leisurely passage time of 3 hours 30 minutes.

For information on both fast-ferry and conventional ferry sailing schedules click HERE.

In the meantime freight-only ferry Stena Seafarer is operating the St. Georges Channel route having arrived at Rosslare on a repositioning voyage from Belfast on 29th March.

Stena Seafarer (1975 / 10,957grt) was one of a trio of freight-ferry sisters that served the Larne-Fleetwood port route until its closure in December. Like her sisters Stena Leader (1975 / 12,879grt) and Stena Pioneer (1975 / 14,426grt) they were built at the West German shipyard of J.J. Sietas in Hamburg.

Stena Seafarer's sisters remain laid-up in Belfast and with each vessel over 35 years in service it would seem likely there are nearing the end of their careers, at least on the Irish Sea.  

To provide additional passenger capacity the Stena 'Express' fast-ferry service will return to the southern corridor route between 1 July-4 September. The high-season sailings as usual will be operated by the InCat built Stena Lynx III which is to operate a daily single round trip in tandem with Stena Europe.

Stena Line's HSS fast-ferry the Stena Explorer will be re-introduced on its Dun Laoghaire to Holyhead route this Friday, writes Jehan Ashmore.

The HSS (High Speed Service) operated 19,638 tonnes craft will run between 1 April to 13 September to cope with the additional demand over the summer period.

A single daily round trip is scheduled with a 10.00 hours sailing from Holyhead and a 13.15 hours sailing from Dun Laoghaire. Passage time is 120 minutes (2 hours).

The HSS can 350 vehicles and with 1500 passengers, the craft can handle higher volumes of seasonal summer foot passengers compared to the last route serving vessel, the 4,113 tonnes Stena Lynx III. The return of the HSS service links in with those intending to make onward journeys from Dun Laoghaire's DART commuter rail service to Dublin city centre and beyond on the national rail network.

Up to early January the route had been served by the Stena Lynx III which remains moored alongside Dun Laoghaire's St. Michaels Wharf. The craft which can take 627 passengers and 120 cars and marketed as the Stena 'Express' is to resume high season sailings starting in July between Rosslare-Fishguard.

In total the company carries over two million passengers on its four Irish Sea routes each year. An additional route between Belfast-Liverpool (Birkenhead) was taken over by the Swedish owned ferry company from DFDS Seaways late last year, is subject to regulatory clearance.

Until such clearance has been granted, this route will be operated separately from all other Stena Line routes. In the meantime the company advise until further notice to make bookings which will remain acceptable through the use of the DFDS website.