As announced on the 24th May, the Ben-my-Chree is required to go into dry dock to have a damaged bow thruster removed for repair. Due to availability of dry dock slots and specialist contractors, as well as wishing to minimise inconvenience to passengers and customers, this work will now take place between the 18th and the 20th of June. As a result a number of schedule changes have been made. On Saturday 18th June the 0845 to Heysham has been replaced with a Ben-my-Chree sailing at 0700 to Birkenhead 12 Quays. The 1415 from Heysham has been cancelled. All services to Liverpool on Manannan remain unaltered. The Ben-my-Chree Round the Island Trip has been postponed until Saturday 2nd July. On Sunday 19th June the 0845, 1415 and 1945 Ben-my-Chree sailings have been cancelled. Manannan will operate all Liverpool and Belfast services and an additional service to Heysham at 2345. On Monday 20th June the 0215 service from Heysham will now depart at 0300 with Manannan. The 0845 service to Heysham has been cancelled. The 1415 service from Heysham has been replaced with a Ben-my -Chree sailing at 1515 from Birkenhead 12 Quays. All Liverpool services on Manannan remain unaltered. The 1945 service to Heysham will now depart at 2030. Passengers on the sailings affected are being contacted to make alternative arrangements. Manannan will be able to accommodate all bookings if required. Passengers who no longer wish to travel will receive a full refund. A freighter has been chartered to assist with freight services. Chief Executive Mark Woodward said: “I would like to apologise to passengers for the inconvenience these changes to the schedule may cause. As we announced earlier, the Ben-my-Chree has suffered damage to one of her bow thrusters as a result of ingesting some debris during the normal course of operations and needs to go to dry dock. Incidents such as this are difficult to avoid but fortunately are rare. The work planned is to remove the bow thruster to effect a repair following which the thruster will be reinstalled later in the year after the busy summer period. In the meantime, we will be operating the planned schedule and will employ the services of a tug for berthing should the weather conditions require.” Ends