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Ferry passengers have been warned of further disruption to sailings from the Isle of Man as work continues to fix an issue with the flagship vessel.
The Manannan’s 07:00 BST crossing to Dublin was delayed by almost two hours.
It comes as the Ben-My-Chree’s departure to Heysham was pushed back by four hours to 12:30 due to “ongoing repairs to essential fire fighting equipment”, the firm said.
It said that fire drencher pipework on the vehicle deck had been damaged overnight, during freight loading operations at Heysham but an exemption was made to allow the sailing to depart.
‘Safety critical’
Permanent repairs had “taken longer than anticipated” in Douglas, the firm said and there would be disruption to the remainder of the day’s schedule.
As the equipment was “safety critical” the repairs needed to be carried out before the vessel could sail, the firm continued.
It followed delays to the vessels arriving back in Douglas after overnight sailings by both vessels to deal with a growing backlog caused by Monday’s disruption to Manxman’s sailings to Lancashire.
The flagship vessel remained out of action as engineers worked to deal with an issue that led to smoke in a machine room, which triggered an emergency response onboard.
As a result, the Manxman’s daytime sailings were cancelled, which meant back-up vessel Ben-My-Chree and fast craft Manannan were drafted in to carry freight and passenger respectively on the route overnight.
It marked the latest spell of disruption for the Isle of Man’s Steam Packet Company’s vessels.
It also came as the influx of visitors to the island for the Manx Grand Prix and Classic TT has risen ahead the bank holiday weekend of racing.
