Month: April 2015
PR: BCTQ Designs New Ferries For Northern Ireland Executive
Strangford Ferry moves towards build with Cammell Laird BCTQ has been working with the Department for Regional Development (DRD NI), part of the Northern Ireland Executive, on the design and development of two car and passenger ferries for the region. The first of these designs for the “Strangford” service has been completed and we are pleased to announce that the build contract has now been signed with Cammell Laird shipyard. Transport Minister Danny Kennedy said: “The new ferry will replace the existing MV Strangford with a new modern ferry that has been designed specifically for this service. The new ferry will be built over the next 18 months and, when it comes into operation, will provide a more reliable and efficient ferry service. “The Department for Regional Development currently operates a vehicle ferry service in Strangford Lough between Strangford and Portaferry with two vehicle ferries and a back-up passenger ferry. ... Read more
Former Belfast-Liverpool ferry prepares for a life in New Zealand
Former Irish Sea ro-pax Stena Feronia (ex Dublin Seaways, Dublin Viking, Mersey Viking) has been renamed STRAIT FERONIA and adopted the New Zealand flag. She is currently in dry dock at Landskrona being prepared for a new life in the Southern Hemisphere operating for New Zealand company Strait Shipping under their Blue Bridge brand. STRAIT FERONIA was of course built for the Belfast – Liverpool service as one of the two lead vessels of the Visentini ro-pax series, and was sold by owners Stena Line last in January to Strait Shipping. She is expected to enter service in July this year on the Cook Strait service, replacing current ship Santa Regina. In a twist of fate, the former Stena Feronia will be competing directly with former Irish Sea fleet mate Stena Alegra, which operated the Dublin to Liverpool service as Dawn Merchant for Merchant Ferries and Norse Merchant Ferries. She has been ... Read more
Stena Nordica arrives in Dunkerque
At approximately 9am on 30th March, Stena Nordica arrived at Dunkerque to start an 18 month charter with DFDS on the Dover to Calais route. She is currently moored at the French port whilst she is readied for dry docking – she will need modified in order to be compatible with her new ports, not least she will need to gain a ‘cow catcher’ for berthing at Calais. DFDS’ booking website currently indicates she will be in service for the 16th of April. It is expected that shortly after this, her running mate, Calais Seaways (ex Prins Filip) will herself proceed to dry dock for a refit and for a new engine to be fitted. Although not one of our regular vessels, Stena Nordica operated from Belfast as cover for Stena Superfast VII and VIII and also visited Harland & Wolff of her own maintenance. She is a part sister ... Read more
Site update, 1st April
Just a few changes have been made to the site over the past week. New “sailing updates” category added as a sub-category of news. This is to keep the sailing updates from cluttering up other local news such as dry dockings, permanent timetable changes, or fleet movements. New photographs added to Stena Mersey/Lagan page. All photographs across the site are in the process of being refreshed and updated, including the site headers. I have started the process of converting older pages to the newer format/layout (its a subtle change but makes the site a more uniform experience). Welcome page changed to direct new users to the sites accompanying Facebook group for the latest sailing updates (and also inform people of the NI Ferries and Shipping Facebook group). Netscripts SNAP (Social Network Auto Poster) plugin installed. This will automatically publish any new content to our Facebook page, meaning it is always kept ... Read more
Today’s sailing updates
Updates to the original text are in red. Stena Line have posted the following to their ferrycheck page “Please be advised that due to earlier adverse weather the next sailing from Belfast to Cairnryan today will be 1430 hrs instead of 1130 and 1530 hours- Please check in by 1330 hrs to ensure you get on this sailing – if you wish to change your booking please calll 08447 70 70 70 – Sorry for any inconvenience caused”. At present (18:00), Ferrycheck indicates that the remainder of todays sailings will operate as normal Tonights Birkenhead to Belfast sailing is delayed by up to 3 hours, whereas the Belfast-Birkenhead sailing is delayed by 60 90 minutes. This mornings 10:30 departure for Birkenhead was delayed by some 120 minutes according to ferrycheck. Stena Hibernia is currently on the berth at VT2, so I assume she is sailing for Birkenhead today. Stena Hibernia ... Read more