Ben-my-Chree future should be reviewed - minister

The island's ferry firm now has a fleet of four vessels

The future role of the Ben-my-Chree should be considered in a review of the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company's service contract, the treasury minister has said.

The island's former main passenger ferry became a back-up to newer vessel the Manxman when it entered service in August.

Giving evidence to a Tynwald committee that was set up to review the Sea Services Agreement (SSA), treasury minister Alex Allinson said questions should be asked about the need to retain the older ferry after the purchase of the freight vessel MV Arrow.

He also said he believed the agreement should be simplified to make it easier for the government, the firm and the public to understand.

Drawn up in 2020 and due for it's five-yearly review in 2025, it includes conditions on fares, routes and the frequency of sailings.

The government-owned ferry firm is run at arms-length by a board of directors, with the Treasury as its only the shareholder.

'Complicated textbook'

Dr Allinson said although he saw his role as focussing on the financial management of company, he had called on the Department of Infrastructure to include a review of its fleet strategy in the SSA "reset".

He said the validity of the "necessity to keep the Ben-my-Chree as back-up", which is a condition of the SSA, had been questioned in meetings with the firm, following the addition of the MV arrow to the fleet after the 2020 agreement had been drawn up.

However, he said the company would be expected to keep the vessels they have until a new agreement had been drafted.

When questioned about the effectiveness of the document, Dr Allinson described it as an "incredibly complicated textbook about how a government department interacts with a private company".

He said it needed a "huge amount of simplification" to make it "far easier to understand" what the ferry firm "is mandated to do".