Following a period of weather disruption due to gale force winds exceeding port limits, the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company has taken action to bring sailings back on schedule.
Today’s (14th March) departure from Douglas to Heysham has been delayed until 1200, with the return leg cancelled. The 1915 departure from Douglas has also been cancelled. Manxman will depart Heysham at 0145 as scheduled, bringing the services back to the originally timetabled timings.
While the Company never takes the decision to cancel a sailing lightly, it is hoped this will minimise disruption to passengers and freight as much as possible, by avoiding an ongoing, and increasing, slip away from the scheduled timings.
The Company would like to apologise to any passengers affected by today’s changes. The Reservations Team has been contacting passengers on affected sailings to notify them of the changes.
Passengers on the 1915 departure are able to transfer to the rescheduled 1200 free of charge, rebook to another sailing depending on availability, or receive a full refund.
Passengers on the 1400 departure are able to transfer to the 0145, or any other sailing depending on availability, or receive a full refund.
James Royston, Isle of Man Steam Packet Company’s Head of Operations commented: “We are truly sorry for any disruption to travel plans, but when we assessed the ongoing delay we could see that we had to take decisive action in order to avoid causing more disruption through the week.”
“Despite the best efforts from all at the Company, afloat and ashore, the degree of slippage had increased to the point where we were at risk of being outside our window of availability for Dockers in Heysham. This would have had a major effect on loading and unloading times, meaning we’d not be able to catch up to schedule without taking action.”
Coaches will still be available for foot passengers wishing to transfer between Heysham and Liverpool terminals as previously notified.
