Stena Line fleet movements

[warren12]

Hi .. My name is Caoimhin .. My dad is a Lorry driver and use stena/Irishferries alot to holyhead .. so im a lorry enthusiast and a ferry enthusiast ...

Anyway ..

Just saw the Hss Explorer Doin 40knots on a public crossing to holyhead ... Doesnt it usually not do 25knots on public crossings ??

Actually took a screen shot of this too before logging on to the forum.

Not like stena to run the HSS at 3/4 (30kn) speed never mind the full 40 knots.

Not unless they have to give the 4 engines a good spin every so often.

Dont think oil prices would have dropped would they?

[smallboatowner]

Stena Precision has been at anchor in Belfast Lough all weekend (Bangor Bay) and tug MCS Ailsa appears to be in attendance this evening, anyone know what's happening?

[giftgrub]

Not 100% confirmed but it is supposed to have got one of its anchors tangled up in a large chain !! they are attempting to cut the chain off before it is allowed into Belfast.

[bfm003]

Just saw the Hss Explorer Doin 40knots on a public crossing to holyhead ... Doesnt it usually not do 25knots on public crossings ??

You were lucky every time I see it she is only doing 26 knots.

[Robbie74656]

Just saw the Hss Explorer Doin 40knots on a public crossing to holyhead ... Doesnt it usually not do 25knots on public crossings ??

You were lucky every time I see it she is only doing 26 knots.

maybe the wind was favourable lol ? or maybe they had some fuel donated from the tanks of the voyager for a joyride.

[DublinPeter]

Good to see Explorer really put the boot down today! 

She left Holyhead two hours late because of the nasty weather but got to Dun Laoghaire by 1410 which is about 100 minutes by my calculations.  Got turned around in 45 minutes and back out by 1455, arriving back in Holyhead about 100 minutes later again.  Now that's impressive!

Conditions on the Irish Sea were far from ideal today but Nordica was missing for a lap today so there was quite a bit of traffic waiting at Holyhead - too much for Adventurer to take alone.  Explorers run tomorrow is cancelled - weather forecast is a strong Easterly again so she can rest and not use fuel for the day :).

Pete

[Caoimhin_McGuinnes]

I know .. was surprised seeing it do 40knots .. highest b4 ive just saw it do 30 .. i say it was doin 40knots cus of the weather .. if it did 25 it would of been bad to fight the weather ?

[giftgrub]

The Stena Precision has had the chain removed and is back in service

Images from Marinetraffic.com

[Caoimhin_McGuinnes]

Was there freight on the precision ?

[joeceltic67]

Was there freight on the precision ?

I think so yea, It was a routine run but the bad weather meant Belfast closed the port so it anchored until it was reopened. A few ships have lost their anchors in that anchorage, so perhaps she got her anchor entangled with one of them. Most freight on the Stena Precision is unaccompanied though!

[Caoimhin_McGuinnes]

Yeahh .. been on a seatruck boat before .. warrenpoint heysham .. thanks for the info

[Matt73]

I too enjoy travelling on the Stena Europe and will be sad to see her go though accept that she'll likely have to go sooner or later. A friend said to me possibly her engines could be upgraded to meet the new (sulphur emission?) requirements.

There are a few seats near some of the stairs which are a nice spot for a half an hour if one wants to get away from the mainstream areas (or if one wants to go out on deck/keep an eye out but doesn't want to stay out on deck continuously).

In recent weeks there has been work at Fishguard on both the foot passenger gangway and the side car ramp. Not sure if it's finished yet but us footies (foot passengers) were bussed off/on when I travelled a few weeks ago.

Sail and rail works well at Fishguard due to the terminal having the ship at one side and train the other. Plus train services required by franchise to actually connect! If the new berth is built I presume they'll have a covered indoor walkway linking the Harbour station to the berth - the distance probably would be very similar to that at Rosslare between the terminal and ship.

In my view an efficient port is one which can juggle competing user needs without making any one group of users feel unwanted/ a burden (i.e. freight/truckers; motorists and foot passengers). The new berth plan at Fishguard seems to tick all three boxes in a positive way.

Personally I would like to see Stena going for a revised sailing schedule in the medium term but ideally all needs to happen at once - new vessel, upgraded/new port facilities, new schedule. Not doubting that it wouldn't be a structured plan but very important that every last thing is done to maximise the investment and make it a real success including better rail connections at Rosslare.

Incidentally that survey about possible sailing schedule changes suggested two options:
the first:
Rosslare to Fishguard at 08.30 & 19.00.;
Fishguard to Rosslare at 13:45 & 00:00 (the midnight sailing would give passengers an option to stay in their cabin for six hours)
the other option was:
Rosslare to Fishguard at 02.30 and 16.00 (the 02.30 sailing would give passengers an option to stay in their cabin for six hours)
Fishguard to Rosslare: 10.45 & 21.00

Being able to get the guts of a normal night's sleep onboard will be appealing to truckers, motorists and sail and rail passengers.
First option looks best in my view. A 02.30 sailing ex Rosslare doesn't seem appealing, would require the port facilities to open at that time and would be unlikely to have any train or bus in the middle of the night.

By the way, does anyone know why:
* the 21.15 sailing ex Rosslare was advanced to 21.00 back in 2011?
* the 21.00 is shown as just taking 3 1/4 hrs as opposed to the 3 1/2 hrs for all the other sailings?
(Have no complaint or issue - just curious!)

It's good to see that my remarks have generated some debate about Fishguard and the future of the Stena Europe.

The discussion about the gangway really says it all!  That they have been using a crane to lift it in place in the year 2013 speaks volumes really.

As for the side loading ramp, that's another relic from the past.  Any future ship really needs a proper double deck linkspan.  Presumably the development plans allow for that. The existing one contains the original ramp from the early 1970s and I suspect that replacing it will be tax even the best engineers.  At Harwich, they simply built around the old one at berth two back in the early 1990s (where the Britannica and Hollandica now berth) but I doubt they would be able to do that at Fishguard.

It would be nice to think they would go for a new build to replace the Europe.  It's not so far-fetched an idea when you recall that Stena RO/RO designed the F-Max class for the now defunt Fleetwood-Larne service; it was never built as they decided to close the route. 

I have previously posted here that I had hoped the old Seafrance Molliere (can't remember what her new DFDS name is) might have been bought/chartered for Fishguard, but she is way to big and they would have to get rid of the disgusting cowcatcher that ruins her bow!  Especially as somebody posted recently that the Innishmore never sails to capacity...

I like the look of some of the proposed timetable options too.

Perhaps Stena could hire some of us on here to run Fishguard-Rosslare 2020: a seven year plan to transform the southern corridor. I reckon we'd make a pretty good fist of it!  Any takers?!

Matt   

[giftgrub]

Was there freight on the precision ?

I would think that with the Stena Precision sitting so high in the water and no sign of trailers on on the ship that if there was freight on the vessel there was very little, more than likely empty.

[Caoimhin_McGuinnes]

Not good for stena .. shes not earning then lol

[Caoimhin_McGuinnes]

Looks like stena hss explorer's highest speed to Dun loaghaire was 30.5knots today ! shes doin 28.5 back to holyhead at the minute .. !