Ongoing bad weather threatens sailings
5th December, 2011
After a week of almost constant gales and with the Isle of Man Steam Vessel suffering with a damaged bow thruster leading to numerous cancellations, a considerable backlog of trailers has built up at Heysham Port. Trailer shipments throughout the week have been sporadic with sailings cancelled on a daily basis. Whilst the vessel Ben My Chree remains seaworthy, the bow thruster problem means maneouvrability withinthe confines of the harbours is compromised in high winds and a recent incident when the vessel made contact with a harbour installation has done nothing for confidence.
Over the past weekend a fair amount of freight was shipped and our staff worked both Saturday and Sunday unloading and delivering trailers. We are making every effort to get goods to customers as soon as possible but obviously we cannot satisfy every customer at once.
The current situation is that the Ben My Chree has sailed as normal today, Monday 5th December but gale force winds are forecast this evening. Tuesday 6th December appears relatively calm but with gales to Force 9 (54mph) returning in the daytime on Wednesday 7th December. Thursday 8th is still windy with the gales finally subsiding on Friday and Saturday.
During this abnormal situation we would ask our customers to be patient, we are working our way through the backlogged freight in date order but will be pleased to assist in the event of an emergency situation.
