Anybody know what's happening with IF website as not able to book ferry travel from Britain to Ireland after the end of January

I.F. seem to be totally immobilised by Brexit. The rest of us are flummoxed, but I.F. seem to be a bit more paralysed than most. 

Irish Ferries are working on a post brexit solution.

They will release plans in the coming days.

I understand the below situation and I quote:

"the European Parliament issued a three-day ultimatum to negotiators to strike a trade deal if it's to be in a position to ratify an agreement this year. European lawmakers said they will need to have the terms of any deal in front of them by late Sunday if they are to organize a special gathering before the end of the year.

If a deal comes later, it could only be ratified in 2021, as the parliament wouldn?t have enough time to debate the agreement before that."

Above quotes contained in an article sourced from the Associated Press (AP) PUBLISHED 4:10 PM ET DEC. 17, 2020 (USA)
https://www.baynews9.com/fl/tampa/ap-top-news/2020/12/17/eu-parliament-issues-3-day-ultimatum-for-post-brexit-deal

I would not be at all surprised if ICG's Irish Ferries have deliberately chosen to hold off from making public announcements until they know what will be happening from 1st January going forward. Not sure if this is the right strategy given that competitors like Stena Line, DFDS and Brittany Ferries have all revealed their intentions with regards to direct services between Ireland and European continent despite all operators being in the same predicament of not knowing how things will pan out once the Brexit transition period ends at 23:00hrs UK/IRL local time on 31st December 2020.

Could we see Irish Ferries operating any direct crossings in 2021 to/from the Continent
(1) ex-Rosslare - (I.F. had ceased Rosslare/France services not very long ago) or;
(2) Introduce additional capacity ex-Dublin Port or;
(3) Run new services out of the Port of Cork given it's a useful European gateway and may not suffer as much congestion & delays as anticipated at Dublin Port.

Other sources:
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/irish-concerns-over-delays-at-ports-if-it-is-bad-now-it-will-be-standstill-in-january-1.4438852

Looks like all services will be freight only shortly!

Epsilon and WB Yeats swapping round tomorrow. Yeats heads to Cherbourg Wednesday evening and Epsilon to Holyhead in the afternoon according to IF sailing updates but not according to the booking engine.

Any idea what is going on and when the refits are scheduled?

Epsilon and WB Yeats swapping round tomorrow. Yeats heads to Cherbourg Wednesday evening and Epsilon to Holyhead in the afternoon according to IF sailing updates but not according to the booking engine.

Any idea what is going on and when the refits are scheduled?

I had noticed that too ,but it appears to be for just one return crossing and then back to their normal routes , it could be that they need the bigger ship that day on Dublin /Cherbourg .

Further information from NI ferries site.

WBY is taking the Dublin-Cherbourg route in order to increase the number of cabins available to freight drivers and therefore increase the number of trucks that can go direct. She is running this route for around 3 weeks prior to returning to Dublin-Holyhead to allow Ulysses to depart for her annual dry docking. No word on when / if Isle of Inishmore is to go for her refit.

Given the current situation with GB route quite and Cherbourg busy it will be interesting to see how IF manage the dry docking season. Last year they hired a Freighter in Stena Foreteller. With the current timetable only set until the end of the month we will surly see some news soon. 

Could they do something drastic such as suspend Rosslare Pembroke for a month?

Given the current situation with GB route quite and Cherbourg busy it will be interesting to see how IF manage the dry docking season. Last year they hired a Freighter in Stena Foreteller. With the current timetable only set until the end of the month we will surly see some news soon. 

Could they do something drastic such as suspend Rosslare Pembroke for a month?

Would make perfect sense if they did, would save the cost of chartering another vessel and put their bookings on Stena Europe, Stena have done it several times before, similar to a code share with airlines, you book on IF website but your sailing would be on Europe. Would imagine both operators could make this work at a local level.

Inishmore is well overdue some attention soon, even if they postpone scrubbers and run on cleaner fuel, it will still require maintenance delayed from last year.

Irish Ferries have released a timetable up to 15/02/21. Services remain the same as now with Epsilon taking a weekend trip to Cherbourg.

IF normally do their refits in the post Christmas period. What plans do they have for 2021 refits? I recall Isle of Inishmore was supposed to be fitted with scrubbers last year and this was postponed. Will it happen this year? Will they retain a 2 ships service on the Holyhead -Dublin run and  how will they manage the demand for freight direct to France if all four ships have to take a couple of weeks off service?

Epsilon doing a Cherbourg run this afternoon WB tomorrow with return crossings on Saturday and Sunday with Epsilon available to take up the 14:30 Dublin to Holyhead on Sunday.

Isle of Inishmore crossings today cancelled for "operational reasons" ?

NIFERRY reporting that IF are to charter Mega Express 4 from Corsica ferries expected arrival by end of next week
https://www.niferry.co.uk/irish-ferries-to-charter-corsican-ferry/