MANANNAN is sailing on full power again after repair work to its gearbox was carried out ahead of schedule.

In July a fault was identified in one of the ship's four gearboxes which meant it had to sail on reduced power until it could be repaired.

This added around 30 minutes extra onto each journey it made with crossings typically taking three hours as opposed to two hours 30 minutes. 

However thanks to the bad weather at the start of the week, which led to two days of cancellations, engineers were able to fix the faulty gearbox slightly ahead of schedule.

Mark Woodward, chief executive of the Steam Packet Company, said: "I can confirm that Manannan is now sailing on full power, using all four engines, after repairs to its gearbox were completed on Wednesday. Therefore journey times for Manannan will revert to those advertised in our brochure and on www.steam-packet.com."