The latest addition to the Steam Packet's fleet is expected in Douglas at lunchtime today.
The fastcraft Manannan has sailed overnight from Portsmouth, after undergoing the biggest conversion to an aluminium vessel anywhere in the world.
The former naval vessel can carry more than 800 passengers and has a maximum speed of 35 knots.
Former Steam Packet skipper Captain Andrew Douglas says the company has made a good choice:
"I think they needed something a little bit bigger than the smaller SeaCat and the SuperSeaCat and this happened to become available.
"I know they probably searched the world for maybe a year or two before they got the right ship, but this has come along and presumably at the right price as well.
"I think we are into the next phase of sea passenger carryings [and] it's just tremendous, the change that's happened in the last couple of decades really."
Expected time of arrival for Manannan in Douglas: 12 noon.
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