Epsilon is covering Ulysses Schedule.

Swift did not travel to Holyhead tonight so Epsilons load must be manageable.

I wonder if there is any spare freight tonnage in North sea or Baltic due to summer industry closures.

Freight loads are low over the weekend so they can clear any backlog (and the IS a backlog I hear at Holyhead).  By they I mean both operators.  Freight will always find a way.  Problem for IF is when it comes to renewal time, how long are their memories!?  They’ve built their reputation on having the “most reliable ferry in the world” but this year that’s been far from the truth.

Only reason to deploy swift realistically is pax.  Her freight capacity isn’t zero, but it isn’t significant either in the grand scheme of things.  Of course the further in to summer we get the more pax demand there will be.

Deploying Swift frees up freight space for Epsilon and takes pressure off Stena. I wonder if the pressure really came on would Seatruck be leased to take unaccompanied freight to and from Holyhead.

Anyone know is the 17th July now the earliest possible completion date for Ulysses or is this just a rumour?

I wonder if they have balance problems with new propeller shaft requiring it to be re-balanced in the machine workshop or did the problem with the Rudder re-materialise.

The booking engine is now taking bookings for Ulysses at 0240 AM Tuesday morning with no bookings being taken for 0805 or 1410 sailings Tuesday to and from Holyhead presumably cancelled to get her shipshape again.

WB Yeats is looking pretty in Flemsberg with little or know activity on her with plastic sheeting blowing in the breeze below her bridge deck, the next launch looks about two weeks away so i guess WB Yeats will be moved to the Quayside in Flemsburg town until her missing parts arrive.

This is the date now given by Belfast Harbour for her departure so it must be based on more than a rumour...

Anyone know is the 17th July now the earliest possible completion date for Ulysses or is this just a rumour?

I wonder if they have balance problems with new propeller shaft requiring it to be re-balanced in the machine workshop or did the problem with the Rudder re-materialise.

The booking engine is now taking bookings for Ulysses at 0240 AM Tuesday morning with no bookings being taken for 0805 or 1410 sailings Tuesday to and from Holyhead presumably cancelled to get her shipshape again.

WB Yeats is looking pretty in Flemsberg with little or know activity on her with plastic sheeting blowing in the breeze below her bridge deck, the next launch looks about two weeks away so i guess WB Yeats will be moved to the Quayside in Flemsburg town until her missing parts arrive.

To be blunt they need more than 16 trucks per sailing, and running her wouldn't pay.  If Irish Ferries are that quiet that a 16 unit fast craft can substitute for Ulysses I would be very concerned if I was a shareholder given what they have on order! 

The 17th was posted publicly by someone who would have no problem accessing the Belfast ship movements listing to know.  I would take the Irish Ferries booking system with a large pinch of salt tbh - we've already seen what happens when they cancel a couple of weeks sailings at once!  That was for a vessel making one round trip every 2 days as well...

Then the situation is very serious and IOI will have to move north early next week

Then the situation is very serious and IOI will have to move north early next week

Problem is, what do you do with IOI's pax?  Especially with Irish Ferries already getting it in the press with regard to Yeats and this latest technical problem with Ulysses.  People have also realised now Rosslare to France is going seasonal (they took their time), so would IF be prepared to piss off another group of people?  Its hardly going to do their reputation any good is it?   Inishmore is not taking huge amounts of freight (certainly not what she would if she moved to Dublin - remember she's only half the freight capacity of Ulysses and a good bit less than Epsilon), but can Europe hold the central corridor on her own at this time of year?  If so then thats very concerning for Rosslare I'd say.  If it was winter then it would not be such an issue given the differences in seasonal demand, and they could juggle Oscar about a bit perhaps to release Inishmore (or use her as a super sub if it had been when she's gone seasonal), but its summer holiday time.

The only possible partial solution I can think of is if they can get a ro-ro from somewhere at short notice on a short-term charter to move freight (Arrow might have been an option, albeit not a very big one, was she not already sub-chartered out to condor).  That will only move drops of course but its better than nothing and might free up a bit of space.  The chances of finding a suitable passenger vessel at this time are very slim I would have thought.  Stena are taking everything they can and to be frank the other central corridor operators are busy with their own routes and taking the overspill were thats an option.

My point about the use of the swift was it was freeing up freight space on espsilon by taking the eurolines coaches, vans cars and passengers. I agree they are down 1300 lane meters on the ulysses sailings alone plus what ever epsilon was carrying on her own roster. As you say there are not many passenger ferries out there available that can carry in excess of 2800 lane metres. 

My point about the use of the swift was it was freeing up freight space on espsilon by taking the eurolines coaches, vans cars and passengers. I agree they are down 1300 lane meters on the ulysses sailings alone plus what ever epsilon was carrying on her own roster. As you say there are not many passenger ferries out there available that can carry in excess of 2800 lane metres.

Again, passenger demand is low at night.  If it wasn’t then there would always be a swift sailing then. Dublin Swift is an expensive craft to operate, even more so if there isn’t much in the way of passengers.  Does Epsilon not have a lower hold for cars?  The Visentini series generally do for around 70 cars up to around 1.8m high but I’m not too familiar with Epsilon’s unique layout if I’m honest (Stena superfast X also has a car hold of course).  There’s also the crew and other operational considerations to think about as well - if they aren’t getting in to Dublin until almost 2am can they be expected to sail out again at 8:30 for another full days schedule?  Operating the odd extra sailing isn’t the same as doing it for a few weeks.

In any case there is a backlog of freight so obviously they are not coping!  Swift and the two Stena ships will be taking the bulk of the passenger traffic of course.  At the end of the day freight carriers using Irish Ferries have their arrangement with Irish Ferries, so who could blame Stena for prioritising their own customers?  If Irish Ferries want to shift more freight then they need another ship, not just a few transfers to an extra (expensive to operate) Dublin Swift sailing.  Of course it won’t just be Stena taking more traffic either, P&O and Seatruck should be busier than usual as well.

It’s official, Ulysses is out for up to a further 2 weeks.  Swift to do extra sailings but no detail of when or how often (this is a stock market announcement btw).

Irish Continental Group Plc (ICG)

Disruption to the vessel Ulysses

ICG announces that the Ulysses, operated by ICG’s subsidiary Irish Ferries on the Dublin / Holyhead route, reported technical difficulties with its Starboard Controllable Pitch Propeller on the 24th June.  The vessel entered drydock in Belfast on the 28th June. The investigation and repairs to the vessel were expected to take no longer than 5 days allowing her to resume service on the 4th July. We have now been informed by service engineers that the issue is more serious than originally anticipated and they expect the vessel will be out of service for a further period of 1 to 2 weeks.

In advance of her return to service, we will adjust the schedules of our other vessels to minimise the disruption to our customers as much as possible. The Dublin / Holyhead route will operate with the Epsilon on the Ulysses schedule alongside the Dublin Swift which will operate additional evening sailings.

Irish Ferries would like to apologise to all our passenger and freight customers for this technical disruption. Despite our best efforts we can find no replacement tonnage in what is now the peak tourism season. It is the first major disruption on the Ulysses since her deployment on the Dublin Holyhead service in 2001.
https://globenewswire.com/news-release/2018/07/09/1534379/0/en/Disruption-to-the-vessel-Ulysses.html

My point about the use of the swift was it was freeing up freight space on espsilon by taking the eurolines coaches, vans cars and passengers. I agree they are down 1300 lane meters on the ulysses sailings alone plus what ever epsilon was carrying on her own roster. As you say there are not many passenger ferries out there available that can carry in excess of 2800 lane metres.

Again, passenger demand is low at night.  If it wasn’t then there would always be a swift sailing then. Dublin Swift is an expensive craft to operate, even more so if there isn’t much in the way of passengers.  Does Epsilon not have a lower hold for cars?  The Visentini series generally do for around 70 cars up to around 1.8m high but I’m not too familiar with Epsilon’s unique layout if I’m honest (Stena superfast X also has a car hold of course).  There’s also the crew and other operational considerations to think about as well - if they aren’t getting in to Dublin until almost 2am can they be expected to sail out again at 8:30 for another full days schedule?  Operating the odd extra sailing isn’t the same as doing it for a few weeks.

In any case there is a backlog of freight so obviously they are not coping!  Swift and the two Stena ships will be taking the bulk of the passenger traffic of course.  At the end of the day freight carriers using Irish Ferries have their arrangement with Irish Ferries, so who could blame Stena for prioritising their own customers?  If Irish Ferries want to shift more freight then they need another ship, not just a few transfers to an extra (expensive to operate) Dublin Swift sailing.  Of course it won’t just be Stena taking more traffic either, P&O and Seatruck should be busier than usual as well.

I understand Epsilon has two lower car decks which it uses to carry new cars from France.

Given the announcement this morning, they obviously decided they needed to keep IOI where she is. No doubt freight is being encouraged to use Rosslare - Pembroke to keep disruption to a minimum.

I bet the top brass in IF are praying to the weather gods to keep the winds slack. Swapping  IOI with Epsilon would be pointless as Epsilon has about 260 more lane metres. Car and foot pax will be easier to deal with the extra Swift sailing can cater for over  800 passengers and 250 cars which is probably more than the Ulysses would of carried on the night time return crossing. 

Irish Sea Service


Ulysses update 09-07-2018


Owing to technical difficulties Ulysses will be out of service for a further period of 1 to 2 weeks
Irish Ferries Freight Notice update

Epsilon will continue to operate on Ulysses schedule


Depart Dublin 08.05 hours and 20.55 hours daily

Depart Holyhead 02.40 hours and 14.10 hours daily


Isle of Inishmore


The Isle of Inishmore is fully operational on the Rosslare/Pembroke/Rosslare route


Depart Rosslare 08.45 hours and 20.45 hours

Depart Pembroke 02.45 hours and 14.45 hours

I bet the top brass in IF are praying to the weather gods to keep the winds slack. Swapping  IOI with Epsilon would be pointless as Epsilon has about 260 more lane metres. Car and foot pax will be easier to deal with the extra Swift sailing can cater for over  800 passengers and 250 cars which is probably more than the Ulysses would of carried on the night time return crossing.

We are lucky the weather is holding at least to next weekend, I bet Irish Ferries management are using the opportunity to apply more pressure on FSG. IOI freight space is been utilised as well from Rosslare - Pembroke.

A busy Epsilon would not be pleasant to travel on.

Something we haven’t touched on is that we now have a situation were already inconvenienced passengers which transferred to EPSILON’s France sailing are now being cancelled at quite short notice.  Those opting for the land bridge instead are also potentially affected as well of course.

While there may be space at Rosslare, it’s still a lot of inconvenience for those affected to have to travel to Rosslare, especially those who are travelling to Wales who find themselves literally the other side of Wales to where they intended to be!  It also strikes me that if people are still simply able to be switched to Rosslare to France then the future doesn’t look great for that route if there is so much space available in mid-July!!  After all, Oscar is now taking the traffic from the cancelled sailings of two other vessels!  Of course we don’t know that they are being simply switched to Oscar, but if they aren’t then IF’s competitors are getting a great opportunity to poach their future repeat custom.  One cancellation is one thing, having it done twice (or in the case of some, more) is quite another.  At the end of the day people want to get to their destination when planned first and foremost.