Wightlink is reaching the end of its £5million annual programme of maintenance and refit for its fleet of 8 ships and catamarans, ready for the expected lifting of lockdown restrictions later in the year.
The last ship to be dry-docked at the A&P Shipyard in Falmouth is Wight Sun, which will return to her homeport of Lymington on Tuesday 30th March.
Wightlink’s engineers and superintendents have been busy over the winter making sure the fleet is in the best possible condition to welcome Islanders and mainlanders who will be travelling for pleasure again after a year of restrictions.
Tasks have included overhauling engines, hydraulics and air conditioning, painting and deep cleaning. All the work has been carried out in COVID-secure conditions in shipyards in Cornwall, Dorset and Portsmouth.
This was the second dry-docking for Wightlink’s flagship Victoria of Wight, which joined the fleet in 2018.
Keith Greenfield, CEO of Wightlink, explains:
“It has been a challenging year with many of our vessels laid-up and far fewer customers than usual on board our services.
Article continues below this advertisement “We are ready for summer 2021 and hope the Government will be able to relax restrictions according to the roadmap so things can start to get back to normal.
“We have been working with the Isle of Wight Council, VisitWight and our fellow cross-Solent operators to provide a lifeline service during the pandemic and will be reintroducing sailings when the time is right, in line with increasing demand.”
Looks like a lot of Sellotape holding the hull together!
Still, good to know there won’t be any unscheduled maintenance this season. Could be a lesson for a certain Floating Bridge operator.
What restrictions? All and sundry have been allowed over. All ships ready to bring over God knows What.
I realy do feel for island businesses and we should support them all we can. They do not need another lock down.
Some sort of system must be in place to stop any further outbreak of covid. It aint rocket science surely.
Personally, I hope everyone has a UK holiday when it is safe to do so – it would be a useful boost to the economy. The last thing we want is people flying around the world and bringing back all sorts of worrying variants of covid.