Ben-my-Chree has undergone emergency repairs overnight after colliding with the Linkspan while berthing in Douglas yesterday evening.
The collision caused damage to the vessel’s usual King Edward Pier Linkspan, Number 5 berth, and the vessel itself. There were no injuries reported.
The Ben was moved to the Douglas Bay side of Victoria Pier, Number 3 berth, with Manannan docking at its usual Number 1 berth on Victoria Pier.
Manannan operated the Ben’s scheduled Heysham sailing last night and will operate her normal schedule today. Those booked to travel on the Ben will be transferred to the scheduled Manannan sailings to and from Liverpool. Foot passengers will be transferred to Heysham as required. We have made every effort to contact affected passengers and freight customers to advise them of these alternative arrangements.
Steam Packet Chief Executive Mark Woodward said: ‘We are working with the Department of Infrastructure to assess the damage to the Linkspan and whether this will impact on the Ben’s sailings from that berth. It is too early to say how long it will take to repair. We will, of course, be launching an internal investigation into the incident.
‘The Ben was damaged approximately four metres above its water line and emergency repairs were started overnight. These are expected to be completed before this evening’s scheduled 19.45 sailing to Heysham.
‘We will assess what long-term repairs are required to Ben-my-Chree before making any decision on when those repairs might take place and the timescales involved. At this point we do not expect there to be any impact on the Ben’s schedule during TT fortnight.’
