THE Steam Packet has cancelled planned round the Island trips and altered the times of some of its sailings following the engine problems on Manannan and Snaefell.
The company has been carrying out a review of its operations following the technical issues on both its fast craft vessels.
The damaged crankshaft on Manannan has been removed from the vessel. It was originally intended that the new crankshaft would be installed prior to the start of the school holiday period.
In order to minimise the possibility of a similar situation arising with the new crankshaft, the Steam Packet said the engine concerned has been subjected to detailed examination to establish the cause of the crankshaft failure.
As a result there is a need for some additional preventative work and this must be completed before the new crankshaft is installed and the engine rebuilt.
Steam Packet technical staff will be working closely alongside specialist personnel from the engine manufacturer.
Manannan will continue to operate her planned sailing schedule on three engines beyond the start of the school holidays and into August.
Crossing times will continue to be around 30 minutes longer than scheduled.
Manannan is currently covering Snaefell’s Liverpool schedule to enable engineers to evaluate and plan repair work to her damaged engine.
Snaefell will continue to operate her scheduled sailings on the Belfast and Dublin routes and will operate some of her scheduled Liverpool sailings, with Manannan assisting where necessary.
As a result of increased crossing times changes are being made to some sailings on the Belfast and Dublin routes.
All sailings on these routes that are scheduled to depart at 2pm will now depart at 2.45pm until further notice.
All sailings on these routes that are scheduled to depart at 6.15pm will now depart at 6.30pm until further notice.
On Saturday (July 24) the Douglas to Belfast sailing at 7am will now depart at 6.30am and the Belfast to Peel sailing at 10.30am will now leave at 10.45am. All other sailing times remain as scheduled.
The Steam Packet will be contacting passengers affected by changes to the schedule. The company asks that all passengers ensure that they have left mobile phone or other contact details.
In order to maintain continuity of regular scheduled services the company feels that it is prudent not to operate sailings that are not part of the main schedule.
As a result the Manannan round-the-Island trips on July 28 and August 18 will not be going ahead. Any passengers booked on these sailings will be contacted to arrange a refund of their fare.
Chief Executive Mark Woodward said: "Following the highly unusual development of having similar technical issues on both Manannan and Snaefell, we have been reviewing progress on repair work and how we can best meet passenger requirements.
"While we could have fitted a new crankshaft in Manannan prior to the school holidays, I feel we have made the right decision to establish the reasons for the failure and carry out remedial work.
"This will better ensure future reliability by minimising the chances of similar failures. We will provide a further update on Manannan’s progress once we have held further discussions with the engine manufacturers.
"In the meantime, Manannan will operate her scheduled services on three engines while the necessary repairs are carried out.
"Snaefell has been taken out of service on Tuesday (July 20) and Wednesday (July 21) to enable engineers to undertake a more detailed assessment. A further update on Snaefell will be issued once that inspection work is completed and a repair schedule has been arranged.
"I would like to apologise again to passengers for the longer than normal crossing times, but feel that this approach to the repairs causes less inconvenience to passengers than taking the vessels out of service for repairs, which would result in the cancellation of some services at this busy time.
"I would also like to apologise for the cancellation of our round-the-Island trips. I know many people enjoy these trips, but our priority at this challenging time needs to be the maintenance of the regular scheduled service."
