John Luxton
Established Member
On Thursday June 18th I was in Penzance for a last trip on RMV SCILLONIAN III and happened to be in the right place at the right time to see the arrival ot the end of a delivery voyage from Vietnam via Brittany of the Isle of Scilly Steamship Company’s new cargo vessel MENAWETHAN which also has some passenger accommodation.
Yesterday July 13th after just three weeks of trials and crew training, public open days and an official naming ceremony, she has made her first revenue earning voyage.
This ship has to enter and leave a tidal dock and navigate waters much more challenging than the River Mersey.
Thus one wonders why ROYAL DAFFODIL has been running trials for over two and a half months and still has not entered service?
Could it be a private company has to get their assets earning quicker than something funded by the council tax payer?
Given the increasing unreliability of the SNOWDROP one would think Mersey Ferries would be endeavouring to get ROYAL DAFFODIL into service - there have been days when no service has been operated due to technical problems with SNOWDROP. The ROYAL IRIS was decommissioned at the end of March and the one vessel has been struggling alone. Consequently there are no special cruises nor Manchester Ship Canal cruises this season.
When the Isle of Man Steam Packet took delivery of MANXMAN testing, trials and crew training only took around 6 weeks.
Yesterday July 13th after just three weeks of trials and crew training, public open days and an official naming ceremony, she has made her first revenue earning voyage.
This ship has to enter and leave a tidal dock and navigate waters much more challenging than the River Mersey.
Thus one wonders why ROYAL DAFFODIL has been running trials for over two and a half months and still has not entered service?
Could it be a private company has to get their assets earning quicker than something funded by the council tax payer?
Given the increasing unreliability of the SNOWDROP one would think Mersey Ferries would be endeavouring to get ROYAL DAFFODIL into service - there have been days when no service has been operated due to technical problems with SNOWDROP. The ROYAL IRIS was decommissioned at the end of March and the one vessel has been struggling alone. Consequently there are no special cruises nor Manchester Ship Canal cruises this season.
When the Isle of Man Steam Packet took delivery of MANXMAN testing, trials and crew training only took around 6 weeks.