First ferries leave new Stena terminal
November 21, 2011
Ferries have today begun operating from Stena Lines’ new £200 million port in south-west Scotland.
The operator’s last sailings from Stranraer took place at the weekend, before it completed the move to the new facility nearer the mouth of Loch Ryan.
The site was chosen to help to save costs and transit times to Northern Ireland.
Stena is also using two new ferries, Superfast VII and Superfast VIII, which it said were the largest ever to sail between Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Irish Sea route director Paul Grant said there was a “great sense of excitement” about bringing the facilities into use.
“It is going to be a great operation and a great service,” he added.
The move, however, leaves a significant void at Stranraer and marks the end of the line for the high-speed ferry, Stena Voyager.
It is the end of an historical link that lasted for around 150 years, but the rising cost of fuel and the need to use bigger ships have led ultimately to Stranraer’s demise.
The HSS Stena Voyager (pictured) was used by the ferry operator on the route to augment the smaller conventional ships. But this had to slow down when it entered the loch because of its wash and the shallow channel.
There is so little water at low tides that even the conventional ferries had to slow down or their sterns and propellers could hit the bottom.
For this reason Stranraer was limited to smaller ships which have become increasingly uneconomical to use.
The HSS couldn’t carry enough freight to make it pay. So it was time for a major change, said Stena.
Courtesy of IFW
