I might regret this but here are my thoughts on the Ulysses issues, firstly I have never seen a ship in the last 30 years having such a catastrophic Failure as Ulysses has had. For example P&O Norbay and Norbank are on more or less the same Irish sea route a lot longer and to the best of my knowledge never missed a sailing through Mechanical issues or indeed  the Stena Adventurer (I must admit had some issues in her first or second year and missed a week) has being faultless ever since. Inishmore much the same story,  many other ships can be mentioned on Northern and southern crossings  but there are too to many to mention. .  for certain Ulysses has had a great reputation up until last year, SO WHATS GONE WRONG  ?. Can it be irish ferries have compromised on spending on her Maintenance and her upkeep ? can it be some failures on board on her Maintanaince ? . can it be the Quality of her build (very Unlikely) . There is something not right and I can only speculate  .

Sea .

Unfortunately any major mechanical items can break down, with the knowledge that IF have now, the U Might have been left in service at half speed and operated a different timetable while waiting for the required parts.

The timing could not have been worse and had this happened out of season, it would not have been as noticeable, other vessels could have been moved/chartered in.

this has been a horrible year for Irish Ferries after many good years of great results and reliable operations.

They are not the only ferry to be out of service with issues for a few weeks.

Tallinks Baltic Princess was out of service for several weeks this year with gearbox issues, also built in Finland.

Hi Steven. Have you heard any update on the Ulysses. Are they waiting delivery of parts now.

Enjoy your time off tomorrow.

Provisionally leaving DD on the 17th as earlier advised (told you the info was good 😉 ), but that is subject to change and she’ll most likely need trials before heading south (not to mention any corrective action).  I posted a bit of an update here but nothing really that hasn’t already been posted on here
https://www.niferry.co.uk/ulysses-possibly-leave-belfast-next-week/


Also, remember those extra swift sailings?  They aren’t happening.  Crewing issues?

I don’t get days off unfortunately 😂

I might regret this but here are my thoughts on the Ulysses issues, firstly I have never seen a ship in the last 30 years having such a catastrophic Failure as Ulysses has had. For example P&O Norbay and Norbank are on more or less the same Irish sea route a lot longer and to the best of my knowledge never missed a sailing through Mechanical issues or indeed  the Stena Adventurer (I must admit had some issues in her first or second year and missed a week) has being faultless ever since. Inishmore much the same story,  many other ships can be mentioned on Northern and southern crossings  but there are too to many to mention. .  for certain Ulysses has had a great reputation up until last year, SO WHATS GONE WRONG  ?. Can it be irish ferries have compromised on spending on her Maintenance and her upkeep ? can it be some failures on board on her Maintanaince ? . can it be the Quality of her build (very Unlikely) . There is something not right and I can only speculate  .

Sea .

Unfortunately any major mechanical items can break down, with the knowledge that IF have now, the U Might have been left in service at half speed and operated a different timetable while waiting for the required parts.

The timing could not have been worse and had this happened out of season, it would not have been as noticeable, other vessels could have been moved/chartered in.

this has been a horrible year for Irish Ferries after many good years of great results and reliable operations.

They are not the only ferry to be out of service with issues for a few weeks.

Tallinks Baltic Princess was out of service for several weeks this year with gearbox issues, also built in Finland.

The problem with BALTIC PRINCESS was related to the fact that her gearboxes were something of a prototype and not really supposed to be matched to her engines I believe.  That’s what was specified though.

That NORBAY and NORBANK are on a longer route actually reduces wear and tear believe it or not.  It’s the starting, stopping and manoeuvring that often causes components to fail as it places additional stress on them.  It’s one of the reasons cross-channel ferries get so much maintenance for example.

Of course the longer crossing means that more can be done alongside by missing a round trip.  As I said above though, for me the question is not that the shaft needed replaced (it happens) but why it needed replaced outside of the normal maintenance schedule?

All sorts of rumours as to what the additional holdup is - basically start at the propeller and work back!  All quite possible of course.

Look at it this way, ULYSSES reliability for her first 16 years was legendary.  She’s just taking all the time she would have had off over those 16 years now 😜

Remember, Norbank and Norbay are 8 years older than Ulysses! From 1993 - 2001, the Norbank and Norbay operated from Hull - Rotterdam Europoort, and the berthing etc requires tight maneuvers. Likewise in Liverpool, they have to do quite elaborate maneuvers going into the docks.

The real issue is how Irish Ferries has handled this whole scenario. The issue with Ulysses has been causing problems for months, yet the latter decided to push out repair work until W.B. Yeats had arrived. It was quite reckless given the importance of Ulysses to the whole Irish Sea operation. Surely they could have chartered a vessel (even a freighter) for a few weeks while this problem was sorted? P&O seemed to have no problem chartering from Stena RoRo during refits, and if I recall correctly, Stena Carrier was berthed in Dun Laoghaire for about two weeks...

You could blame Flensburger to a degree. If W.B. Yeats had been here, could she not have provided cover for Ulysses? But then you could argue putting that much dependence on a brand new vessel, which could have potential tech problems or be delayed is highly reckless.

I personally think a substitute vessel could have been brought in to cover for Isle of Inishmore. The latter could cover for Ulysses, true she is much smaller, but at least it would be something.

Well colour me surprised!

https://www.niferry.co.uk/irish-ferries-ulysses-further-delayed/

Well colour me surprised!

https://www.niferry.co.uk/irish-ferries-ulysses-further-delayed/

To be fair to them, and I try to make the point in the article (thanks for the share btw), she could still make it within the up to  2 weeks they said in their statement.  However at the moment it looks as though it will be the 24th (as already posted on FB by the same person who posted the 17th which turned out to be true) or even later.  I imagine some sort of sea trials will need to take place, then there’s the trip back to Dublin.  We are probably looking at the 25th or 26th for back in service I would have thought.

I genuinely feel for the Irish Ferries staff who are having to take the brunt of people’s frustration and anger.  It can’t be easy given they are really down by two vessels for much of July!

I’ve been updating the NIFS article as things become clearer https://www.niferry.co.uk/irish-ferries-ulysses-further-delayed/ .  Irish Ferries put out a statement yesterday for freight customers.

"Work continues on Ulysses in dry-dock and it is expected that the repairs are going to take the full two week period as advised. This being the case the Dublin/Cherbourg/Dublin service will likely be cancelled on Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd July.

Without question I understand that the absence of Ulysses from the Dublin/Holyhead/Dublin route is causing huge frustration and pressure on your business, your customers business, your teams in offices and professional drivers on the road. Be assured that Ulysses return to service is a top priority for Irish Ferries and my commercial team is heavily focused on trying to assist with your daily requirements although I know we are not giving you the service you either require or deserve. For that I apologise unreservedly and I thank you for your genuine tolerance of us at this time. Ulysses has been a champion in our industry for going on two decades and I am confident that her dependable service and relentless reliability will be proven again before long."
 
Irish Ferries Freight Manager

I hear The Delay is because they are waiting for a Bespoke part to be delivered ,once that arrives they will have a better idea of here departure date

Well colour me surprised!

https://www.niferry.co.uk/irish-ferries-ulysses-further-delayed/

To be fair to them, and I try to make the point in the article (thanks for the share btw), she could still make it within the up to  2 weeks they said in their statement.  However at the moment it looks as though it will be the 24th (as already posted on FB by the same person who posted the 17th which turned out to be true) or even later.  I imagine some sort of sea trials will need to take place, then there’s the trip back to Dublin.  We are probably looking at the 25th or 26th for back in service I would have thought.

I genuinely feel for the Irish Ferries staff who are having to take the brunt of people’s frustration and anger.  It can’t be easy given they are really down by two vessels for much of July!

So much of the frustration and anger that people feel would be eliminated if Irish Ferries management cared about its customers and understood how to communicate with them.  I have found out information from 3 sources;

1) Here and NI Ferries, both excellent resources, thanks!
2) The Irish Stock Exchange (as a plc they must report significant issues)
3) Reports here of information provided to Irish Ferries trucking customers, via their own channels.

NONE of this has been targeted to me, as a car / tourist customer, or even to the broader public who may be customers in the past future - or who have an interest in a large Irish brand.

The one thing, communication, that is entirely within Irish Ferries' control, they have failed at totally and utterly.  That is what is so unacceptable. A golden opportunity existed here to make customers warn to Irish Ferries, has been lost.  We understand that new ships might not be built to schedule and we understand that existing ships break.  We feel very upset and concerned when these things coincide, especially at peak season.  But when the operator hides in a corner and refuses to deal with it customers - that's utterly inexcusable.

Technical blog. 
Irish Ferries should have their engineers, in conjunction with Harland & Wolff telling us what is going on with the ship.  It would be interesting for those of us with a technical bent.  Regardless of your technical skill, information is always good.  Information helps calm people and it would definitely give the sense that all effort that can be brought to be bear is being put into the Ulysses work.  A simple blog site - updated daily - explain the issue, explain to people who don't know what dry docking is.  Information, information, information, you cannot have too much! A YouTube channel. An engineering Twitter account

Media
No one was available from Irish ferries to appear on Six-One, the radio or anywhere else.  I haven't seen a single bit of footage of anyone!.  Compare this to the opening of Terminal 5 in London Heathrow.  An absolute balls up of monumental proportions - people separated from their luggage, at times for weeks.  The BA CEO at time, Willie Walsh literally camped in T5 and jumped in front of any and every TV camera he could find.  By day 3 you could actually see the man was haggard and looked like he hadn't slept at all.  Guess what?  He looked like he cared - like BA cared and that no how bad things were - he was there, doing everything he could.  It wasn't pretty, people still moaned - but people like Willie Walsh stood there - and said "I'm to blame" and took it.

Irish Ferries management could learn a lot - but I genuinely must believe at this stage that they don't give a toss about customers.  They certainly don't care for their staff.  Anger festers, lack of information makes people feel powerless and that just leads to frustration - and it boils over.  The management should be out front and centre. Not leaving their staff, who appear to be equally uninformed, doing the dirty work.

Go n-éirí an bóthar leat!

To be honest, the only reason I’ve been covering this on NI Ferry Site (thanks for the compliments btw) is that she’s in Belfast.  Had she gone to Birkenhead or Falmouth for example she’d only have got a passing mention rather than the coverage she’s been getting.  It’s a shame there hasn’t been more information, though I suppose they might have one eye on their shareholders.  Still it’s no excuse for not keeping customers up to date.  Most wont care what is actually wrong with the vessel but will care about getting short notice on a change to their plans, or insensitive handing of such.  Not for the first time this year it appears ICG have valuable lessons to learn. 

From IF Freight website out of action until at least the 23rd July

"Irish Sea Service

Ulysses update 16-07-2018

Owing to technical difficulties Ulysses will be out of service for a further period of 1 week.

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 daily

Depart Pembroke 02.45 hours and 14.45 hours daily

Dublin/Cherbourg/Dublin Service

From Dublin to Cherbourg – Saturday 21-07-2018 – cancelled

From Cherbourg to Dublin – Sunday 22-07-2018 - cancelled"

Adventurer  and Sfx  stuffed and making  a killing  and also holding  on to a lot of Irish  Ferries  customers 

Press reports continue to slam IF

https://amp.independent.ie/irish-news/its-cost-us-a-mortgage-payment-irish-ferries-leave-family-of-four-stranded-in-france-37132700.html

Press reports continue to slam IF

https://amp.independent.ie/irish-news/its-cost-us-a-mortgage-payment-irish-ferries-leave-family-of-four-stranded-in-france-37132700.html

The Independent seems to have taken a particular dislike to ICG this year.  Just saying

Very good point that sgraIRL is making that no Irish Ferries representative has went on camera or behind a microphone during any of this. They don't seem to want to face the music, which puts fuel on the fire. The communication/PR is a disaster and I can see how it would really annoy people. It's very different to how other travel companies operate. For example, Ryanair are facing disruption at the moment due to IR issues and they go on TV/radio to communicate with their customers and the public. Even CIE companies like Dublin Bus and Irish Rail face the music when things go wrong and they do PR quite well.

Then again, if you recall from previous times when IF have been in the news, I don't think they do communications well when they go before the cameras. Maybe that's why they don't do it anymore.  They could hire third party professional PR firms to do a communications plan for them. Would make sense.