Ferry ‘cross the Mersey? No thanks, I can’t swim!

The 66 year-old MV Royal Iris of the Mersey

stewartb

In so many different places, ferry services seem to be ‘problematic’. in some way. Below gives an insight into Mersey Ferries:

The current fleet consists of two vessels, the Royal Iris of the Mersey and Snowdrop. They entered service in the early 1960s on the Mersey – under different names – after being being launched in 1959 and received refits as long ago as 2002 and 2004, (according to Wikipedia)

The Mersey Ferries company website confirmed (in 2023) a plan to build “the first new Mersey Ferry for more than 60 years’’.

The plan has a longish history though. Back in 2019 (13 November) the BBC News website had this headline: ‘Plan for new Mersey ferries halted over ‘Brexit delay’’

‘Plans to build the first Mersey ferries for 60 years have been halted due to “market uncertainties” around Brexit, transport bosses have said.’ And added: ‘But Merseytravel said the UK’s delay in leaving the EU had “brought uncertainty to the bidding process”.Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram agreed it would be “irresponsible” to proceed.

In the 2019 article, ‘Merseytravel said, although the 60-year-old vessels were operating “beyond their expected lifespan”, paying for their replacements had been halted due to rising costs.

A BBC News article published earlier, on September 6, 2019 – under the headline ‘First new Mersey ferries in 60 years approved’ – reported:

‘Two new vessels, new bridges and an updated landing stage at the Seacombe terminal are part of a “priority list” of projects by the Combined Authority. It is part of a £172.5m package of sustainable transport improvements being appraised in the next five years.

‘Mayor Steve Rotheram said the existing ferries hold “a special place in our history and musical heritage” but “the time is ripe for investment”.

‘He added: “At 60 years old, and on one of the fastest flowing tidal rivers in the world, they are operating beyond their expected lifespan.”

Șo finally c.6 years later, Mersey Ferries will see the addition of just one new vessel – not two as was the original commitment. This new ferry will join the existing two ferries which entered service c.64 years ago.

7 thoughts on “Ferry ‘cross the Mersey? No thanks, I can’t swim!”

  4. OT John, did you read the ” No case for nuclear power in Scotland, international experts say ” https://www.thenational.scot/news/24587473.no-case-nuclear-power-scotland-international-experts-say/ ?

    I was surprised by ” It highlighted the fact that China is now installing wind and solar technology, which has the same energy-producing capacity to five new nuclear reactors, every week “, that is massive expansion by any measure, and I presume these to be full blown reactor installations like Hinkley, not the mini/micro/pico/teeny-weeny non-existent version the State of a Secretary for Scotland Murray was attempting to foist on the gullible…

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  5. Calmacs ageing fleet falls within the average age of the world’s merchant fleet which is 22.5 years. 68% of that fleet is over 15 yrs old. The ship building industry world wide doesn’t have the capacity to meet the merchant fleets renewal needs, the blame for this lies squarely with governments failing to support the industry. The UK government being a prime example, Harland and Wolfe could be the next casualty. The average age of the merchant fleet has been rising year on year for the last 20 yrs, Calmacs new additions will put their fleets average age well below the world average.

    Took about 5 minutes to find that info and theirs lots of it.

    2020 witnessed the loss of 200 merchant ships at sea, so far this year their have been 48.

    Calmac has an exemplary and enviable safety record.

    Golfnut.

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