Flagship ferry sailings resume after delays

Manxman had been out off service since Monday morning

The Isle of Man's flagship ferry has been brought back into service, putting daytime sailings to Lancashire back on schedule.

It follows severe delays to crossings between Douglas and Heysham on Wednesday as damage to firefighting equipment onboard back-up vessel Ben-My-Chree was fixed.

That vessel had been brought into action after a technical issue caused smoke in a machine room on the Manxman on Monday, temporarily triggering an emergency response onboard and putting it out of service.

The Isle of Man Steam Packet Company said the Manxman had successfully completed sea trials in Douglas Bay on Wednesday evening following repairs.

The Ben-My-Chree's final back-up passenger journey from Lancashire arrived back in Douglas at 12:45 BST.

The vessel has now been scheduled to resume freight-only sailings for the remainder of the Manx Grand Prix and Classic TT period.

Steam Packet managing director Brian Thomson said: "While we have largely managed to maintain continuity of services, the scheduled times have proven impossible to maintain".

The government-owned ferry firm had "tried to mitigate this as much as possible, but fully accept that cancellations or changes to schedules have a major impact on travel plans", he added.