Q3 News Archive 2003

The European Seafarer visited Harland and Wolff dry dock from the 27th to the 29th of September for maintenance work to be done to her bow thrusters. She left Larne for dry dock at 1000 on Saturday the 27th after discharging from her inbound Fleetwood sailing. The ship departed from the dry dock at 1500 on Monday the 29th and sailed from Larne with a load for Fleetwood at 1900 later that same evening.

European Seafarer leaving Belfast for Larne on the 29th of September 2003. Photo: Jimmy Dowey

The European Seafarer carried out a windmill charter run over the weekend of the 20th and 21st of September. She left Larne shortly after 1130 on Saturday 20th of September to load in Campbeltown. She then took the load to Mostyn discharged there and returned to Larne at 2045 on Sunday 21st. The European Seafarer returned to normal service with her afternoon Fleetwood sailing on Monday the 22nd.

The European Mariner took what is expected to be the final Campbeltown to Mostyn windmill charter for this year over the weekend of the 27th and 28th of September. She arrived back in Larne from Mostyn at 1220 on Sunday 28th and restarted her normal Troon schedule with the 1900 service that evening.

The European Leader restarted service from Larne after being away since the 6th of August covering the Dublin to Mostyn service during the dry docking of the European Envoy and then having her own dry docking with A&P Birkenhead.

The European Leader's first sailing from Larne was at 2255 on Wednesday 16th of September. The European Seafarer moved from the Leader's roster back onto her own with the 1600 ex Larne on the same day bringing the Fleetwood route back to a 3 ship service once again.

Superstar Express finished her summer season sailings as planned with the 2125 service from Troon to Larne on Monday the 15th September. The vessel remained in Larne all night before sailing at 0830 on the 16th to lay up for the winter in the wet basin at A&P ship repair, Birkenhead.

At this stage the vessel is confirmed to return to service at Larne next summer from the 8th of April to 15th of September 2004.

The European Mariner paid a quick visit to dry dock in Belfast over the weekend of the 13th and 14th of September. She left Larne at 0824 on Saturday the 13th and returned in time for her 1900 sailing from Larne to Troon on the 14th of September. The vessel was in dry dock to get a bow thruster changed, this has been out of action since July 2003.

The dry cargo vessel Alexandra S arrived at Larne on the 10th of September. She berthed at Olderfleet Quay to discharge her cargo of limestone chippings. The vessel departed again on the 11th of September.

The Alexandra S last called at Larne only two months ago on the 7th of July, again with a cargo of limestone chippings. Scroll down the page to see the previous details about her visit.

The European Mariner undertook her second windfarm charter sailing last weekend with a trip from Campbeltown to Mostyn on Saturday the 6th of September. The vessel sailed light from Fleetwood at 0300 direct to Campbeltown to load the wind turbines. She returned to Larne late on Sunday 7th and went to lay up on Curran Quay.

Instead of recommencing Larne to Fleetwood sailings on Monday the 8th the European Mariner returned to her usual route on the Larne to Troon freight service. This route had been suspended from the 28th of July 2003 while the European Mariner was working as the third vessel on the Larne to Fleetwood service. The first sailing on the Troon freight route after the period it was suspended was the 1900 service from Larne on the 8th of September.

The Larne to Fleetwood route drops down to a two ship service while the European Leader remains in dry dock. The Fleetwood route is being maintained by the European Pioneer on the 1000 service ex Larne and the European Seafarer on the 2200 service ex Larne.

See photos of the European Leader in dry dock at Birkenhead on Irish Sea Shipping:

For the record the enhanced Sunday service on the Larne to Cairnryan route ended on the 31st of August 2003. Sunday sailings are now:

During August there was an additional 1030 departure from both ports and the 1200 departure from Larne was retimed to 1330.

The Northern Lights Vessel Polestar arrived at Larne late on Sunday the 31st August. She was returning home after tending to navigation lights in Lough Foyle and Rathlin Island for the Irish Lights. The vessel was in Larne to do some routine maintenance to number 5 buoy.

P&O and Stena agreement goes to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission
24th August 2003

The Memorandum of Understanding signed by both P&O and Stena Line regarding the transfer of routes and ships to Stena Line has been passed to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission.

The stumbling block is the central corridor deal. This involves Stena Line taking over P&O's Dublin to Liverpool and Larne to Fleetwood route plus the 5 ships engaged on those routes as well as the closure of P&O's Dublin to Mostyn service with the two vessels on the route being chartered to Stena.

The Northern Corridor deal which sees P&O and Stena Line sharing Cairnryan port for their Northern Ireland services is unchallenged and will proceed as planned.

Another trip from Campbeltown to Mostyn was carried out over the weekend of the 23rd to 24th of August. With the usual vessel for the job, the European Seafarer, committed to the Larne to Fleetwood route the European Leader was initially pencilled in for the run.

Unfortunately the European Leader could not be released from the Dublin to Mostyn run. The Larne based European Leader was covering the European Envoy at Dublin while that ship was in dry dock at Birkenhead. Before she got back in service it was found that the European Envoy had a problem with a seal on her stern thruster and needed to be dry docked again, this time the dry docking was to be in Belfast.

With both the European Leader and European Seafarer now needed in service it fell to the European Mariner to take the trip. She left Larne for Campbeltown at 1400 on Saturday the 23rd of August after she discharged from her inbound Fleetwood sailing.

The European Mariner pictured at Mostyn after her trip with windfarm components on the 24th August 2003. Photo: David Sallery

Meanwhile, on the Fleetwood route the European Pioneer's sailing at 1000 from Larne on Sunday the 24th of August was cancelled for routine maintenance. The European Pioneer arrived at Curran Quay at 0600 to lay up after the European Envoy had vacated the berth at 0530. The European Pioneer was due to take up her run again with the 1000 sailing on the 25th of August.

The European Seafarer was unaffected by these changes and sailed as normal. The European Pioneer's usual evening service from Fleetwood to Larne was taken by the European Mariner, which called in to load at Fleetwood on her way back from Mostyn after her windmill trip.

The windmills transported by the P&O fleet gradually taking shape at Mostyn

Just fresh out of refit at Birkenhead the Dublin - Mostyn vessel European Envoy, looking very neat and tidy after a fresh coat of paint, arrived at Larne on the morning of Friday the 22nd of August. She berthed on Curran Quay for a dive survey after a faulty seal was found on her stern azimuth thruster. Subsequently, it was found she would require dry docking again to fix the problem and this was arranged for 0800 on Monday the 25th of August at Harland and Wolff, Belfast.

The European Envoy remained at Curran Quay until 0530 on Sunday the 24th of August when she left for anchorage in Belfast Lough to await dry docking.



Four views of the European Envoy at Larne all taken on the 23rd of August except top left which was the evening of the 22nd of August. Click on thumbnails to enlarge.

The last time the European Envoy paid a visit to Larne was in summer 1998 (I think) under the name Ibex, the second time during her career she held that name. On that occasion she laid up on Ballylumford Oil Jetty for half a day and set the record for the largest ferry to enter Larne at 18653 gross tons. This record is now held by European Highlander. Before that she did a working trip from Larne to Fleetwood in August 1995 as the Norsky. She was just fresh back in the Pandoro fleet from her period operating for North Sea Ferries and at that time she didn't have the third freight deck. Old hands at Larne of course remember her in the pale blue colours of Pandoro from 1979 to the early 1980's when she operated Larne to Fleetwood under her original name Ibex before her transfer to North Sea Ferries.

Larne man, Captain Jim McMullan, latterly senior master of the European Highlander has recently retired bringing to an end a long career on the Larne ferries.

Jim has served on the Larne to Cairnryan ferries for many years and was senior master on the Pride of Rathlin during the 1990s. He subsequently became the senior master on both the new P&O ferries for the Larne to Cairnryan route firstly the European Causeway from 2000 - 2002 and then on the European Highlander.

As well as serving as senior master on both vessels Jim also had the task of delivering both vessels to Larne for the first time. He took over the European Causeway on her delivery voyage at Suez from Captain Brian Beckley and took over the European Highlander's delivery voyage from Captain Chris Dodds at Singapore.

Captain Jim McMullan receives a painting of the Giant's Causeway from Mrs Penelope Harding on the occasion of the naming of the European Causeway in Larne on the 22nd August 2000.

The dry cargo vessel Amica arrived in Larne on Sunday the 17th of August at around 1630 with a cargo of limestone chippings for Kilwaughter limeworks. She berthed on Olderfleet quay and discharging the vessel began the next day at 0800 using a mobile grab crane.

The vessel departed again at 2015 on the 19th of August in ballast heading for New Ross.

Gross tonnage: 2400
Type of ship: General dry cargo
Year of build: 1993
Flag: Antigua and Barbuda
Registered owner: TAINUI Address: 38, Am Weserdeich, Brake GERMANY
Ship manager: ZIRKEL Address: 38, Am Weserdeich, Brake GERMANY

The European Pioneer suffered a further failure of her stern door on the 13th of August. This time the failure occurred after arriving at Fleetwood from Larne at 1600. There was a problem with the hydraulics on the vessel which prevented the stern door from being opened until the problem was rectified. The repair was complete by 2015 allowing the trapped vehicles to be released. A similar 4 hour delay was encountered at Larne when the stern door failed on the 7th of August on her first trip into Larne after dry docking.

The event got some media coverage when a passenger informed the BBC all about the incident via their mobile phone. The local TV news in the north west of England and Northern Ireland both featured the news story with the Northern Ireland news including library footage of Larne favourite Pride of Rathlin. The full text of BBC's website report is included below:

Passengers have been freed from a ferry from County Antrim after the doors failed to open when the vessel docked off the coast of England. The European Pioneer ship docked at Fleetwood near Blackpool at about 1600 BST on Wednesday. A spokeswoman for the ferry company, P&O, said there was a problem with the hydraulic pump which opens the doors. The crew got the doors open at 2015 BST, but they did not have to cut them open.

With the overhaul season on the P&O freight routes on the Irish Sea in full swing a surprise move occurred when the expected departure of the European Leader to dry dock was aborted on the 4th of August. Instead she was due to be transferred to the Dublin to Mostyn route in place of the European Envoy which has been rescheduled to go to dry dock before the Larne based European Leader.

The European Pioneer was due to sail direct from dry dock in Birkenhead to Fleetwood on Monday the 4th of August and allow the European Leader to go to Mostyn. The morning Fleetwood and Larne sailings were cancelled to allow the European Pioneer to pick up her usual sailings.

Over at Larne the European Seafarer, which was sailing on the usual schedule of the European Pioneer (morning ex Larne and evening ex Fleetwood), remained in Larne all day on the 4th of August and was to have sailed in the evening in place of the European Leader (evening ex Larne and morning ex Fleetwood). Once the ship was fully loaded and she was being prepared for sea one of the European Seafarer's engines broke down. Her master stood the ship down and recalled the shore crew to discharge the ship, that evening's sailing being cancelled. The European Seafarer then went to anchor overnight and was repaired ready for the 2200 service from Larne on the 5th of August.

Back at Fleetwood, the European Pioneer was subsequently delayed in dry dock and instead the European Leader took her sailings until the 6th of August. The European Leader and European Pioneer switched over at Fleetwood on the evening of the 6th of August allowing the European Leader to sail south and take her place on the Mostyn route. The European Leader paid her first visit to Mostyn for berthing trials early on the 7th of August. She is under the command of one of her usual Larne masters, Captain Brian Gordon.

The European Pioneer made her first sailing from Fleetwood after dry dock on the 6th of August, and arrived in Larne the next day at 1030. The stern door then developed problems and wouldn't open. It was 1400 before the door was repaired allowing her load to be discharged, she than lay in Larne all evening, missing a trip before taking up her run once again on the 8th of August.

The European Mariner continues on the afternoon departure from Larne to Fleetwood and was relatively unaffected by this upheaval. She did however begin her usual weekend lay up a day early on Friday the 8th of August rather than the following Saturday.

European Mariner Transfers to Fleetwood Route
28th July 2003 (amended 1st August 2003)

The European Mariner, which usually sails on the Larne to Troon freight route has been withdrawn from that service and placed on the Larne to Fleetwood route.

The last Troon sailing carried out by the European Mariner arrived in Larne at 0700 on Monday the 28th of July. The vessel then waited until the afternoon before taking up the afternoon sailing to Fleetwood, departing at 1430 hours.

[added 1/8/03] She subsequently missed her trip on Tuesday 29th of July due to a fault with her bow thrusters and she remained at Curran Quay for repairs, initially suspected to take 4 - 5 days to complete. This wasn't the case however and she was back in action on Wednesday the 30th of July taking her scheduled 1500 sailing to Fleetwood.

This Fleetwood sailing is normally operated by the European Seafarer and is normally cancelled for July and August while the European Seafarer covers refits. Currently the European Seafarer is on the morning sailing from Larne in place of the European Pioneer which is in dry dock in Birkenhead for annual overhaul and replacement of part of her vehicle deck by the new lightweight sandwich panel treatment [see 7th July story below].

Currently there is no replacement vessel for the Larne to Troon freight route and it appears to be suspended for the foreseeable future. Timings for the European Mariner on the Fleetwood route is; arrive Larne 1200, depart for Fleetwood at 1500.

The sailings by Superstar Express on the Larne to Troon crossing are unaffected by these changes.

The Cairnryan service finally returned to normal on Sunday 27th July after the recent dry dockings of the European Causeway and European Highlander.

The European Causeway returned to service on Sunday the 20th of July after dry docking, but she and the European Highlander ended up on the wrong rosters. The two ships finally got back on the correct sailing pattern on Sunday the 27th of July when an extra trip was carried out departing Larne at 1030 with the usual trip departing at 1200 delayed until 1330.

The return of the European Causeway finally allowed the European Seafarer to end her spell on the Cairnryan run. Her first week on the run was spoiled by engine trouble and the European Mariner was called in from the Troon run to substitute. Over the 12th of July holiday period this engine trouble was sorted out and the European Seafarer was able to sail as originally had been planned.

The European Seafarer completed work on the Cairnryan run on the 19th of July and then did another windfarm charter sailing from Campbeltown to Mostyn over the 19th and 20th of July. She returned to Larne and took up service on the Fleetwood route sailing from Larne in the morning and taking over from the European Pioneer which has went to dry dock in Birkenhead.

Continued on a two ship operation as it has been doing since the 5th of July 2003. European Pioneer and European Leader's sailings unchanged.

With the European Mariner deputising on the Cairnryan route the 1900 Troon sailing on the 11th of July was put back to 0600 on the 12th of July. This was taken by the European Mariner on return from her 2000 ex Larne to Cairnryan (and 0130 return) on the night of the 11th of July. She returned to Larne at 1730 on the 12th of July and then continued on the Cairnryan run. Next scheduled Troon freight sailing is at 1900 on the 14th of July.

The European Seafarer spent the holiday period laid up on Curran Quay undergoing engine repairs. Her next scheduled sailing is on the 14th of July and her crew managed to make complete repairs on the morning of the 13th of July when the engines were tested on full power on the berth, well done guys! During the holiday the European Highlander and European Mariner covered freight sailings.

Two views of the European Highlander turning to get underway for her 1630 service to Cairnryan on 12/7/03 under the command of Captain Doyle. She is just fresh out of refit on the 10th of July. Photos: LFW

0130, 0730, 1630 all by European Highlander and 2000 by the European Mariner

0730, 1630 & 2259 (European Highlander)
2000 (European Mariner arrived from Cairnryan at 1000 and after discharging on MacKean Quay spent the day laid up on Continental Quay)

Two views of European Mariner shifting from lay up on Continental Quay to load up on MacKean Quay for her 2000 sailing to Cairnryan on 13th July 2003.

Timetable then reverts to the one given on the 5th July news posting until the European Causeway returns from dry dock, hopefully on the 18th of July and assuming the European Seafarer can manage now with her engines back in top condition.

The Troon and Cairnryan fast ferry sailings of the Superstar Express were unchanged during the holidays. She was picking up lots of traffic transferred from those sailings normally taken by the European Causeway.

The European Highlander locked out of the Belfast Dry Dock at Harland and Wolff early on the morning of the 10th of July. She returned to Larne and immediately took up service on the Cairnryan route allowing older sister ship European Causeway to take her place in the dry dock for her own overhaul.

The Cairnryan route continues on a temporary timetable while the conventional ferries are undergoing dry dockings. The European Seafarer is having engine problems so through the day the European Mariner is making a round trip to Cairnryan and the European Highlander is doing four round trips to make up for the missed trips by the European Seafarer.

Depart Larne	Ship	Notes
0130	Highlander	Daily
0730	Highlander	Daily
1030	Mariner	2½ hour crossing returns to Larne 1730 then to Troon
1330	Highlander	Daily
1730	Seafarer	On one engine only returns to Larne 0500 next day
1930	Highlander	Daily

The Larne to Cairnryan route suffered some disruptions over the period 6th - 8th July. The new temporary timetable introduced since the European Highlander entered dry dock on the 5th of July was further complicated when the relief ship European Seafarer encountered problems on the evening of Sunday 6th July.

She missed a trip on Sunday evening and on Monday the 7th she missed further trips but, once crewing arrangements were sorted out, the European Mariner was called in from her usual day time lay up to substitute while the European Seafarer covered her Troon trip for that evening only.

Even more disruption was caused by a security alert onboard European Causeway as she was about to depart Cairnryan at 1030 on Tuesday the 8th of July. A man approached the captain of the ship with concerns that his car had been tampered with. Dumfries and Galloway police were called to the ship with both crew and passengers being questioned. The man and his car were eventually removed from the European Causeway which then departed for Larne just over 4 hours late at 1445.

The coaster Alexandra S arrived at Larne's Olderfleet quay at 2030 on Monday 7th July

The Norwegian owned Alexandra S passing into Larne on 7/7/03. She is classified as a general cargo vessel, built 1972, gross tonnage 1431 and registered in Nassau. Photo: LFW

Forthcoming dry dockings of 3 P&O Irish Sea ferries at the A&P Birkenhead shipyard will involve a unique new treatment for relaying corroded vehicle deck plates. The Larne based European Leader and European Pioneer along with Dublin based European Envoy will have extensive areas of their vehicle decks replaced with the new treatment.

The new sandwich panel system bonds new steel plate over the old structure using an elastomer injected into the cavity between the new plate and the existing deck. Once the elastomer sets the new "sandwich panel" provides comparable structural strength to steel in under half the time of a conventional repair involving cutting out the corroded decking and welding new plate in.

From maritimetoday.com

P&O Euro Ferries Puts 3 Ships With A&P

Posted 7/7/03 at 8:17:AM

A&P Birkenhead has won a three-ship contract from P&O European Ferries for passenger/car ferries operating across the Irish Sea. The ships involved are the 14,426 grt European Pioneer, the 18,653 grt European Envoy, and the 12,879 grt European Leader. All three ferries will be drydocked over the coming weeks, the first due to arrive in Birkenhead on July 21.

The principle work on all three is deck renewals using the "Sandwich Plate System", patented by UK's Intelligent Engineering. Other scheduled repair work will also be carried out, with the yard remaining very flexible over the requirements of P&O. Intelligent Engineering (IE) has designed and patented the revolutionary technology called Sandwich Plate System (SPS).

SPS is a composite materials technology in which two metal plates are bonded to a compact elastomer core. The elastomer provides continuous support to the plates and stops local plate buckling and eliminates the need for stiffeners. The flexural stiffness and strength of the sandwich plate is tailored to meet particular static and dynamic structural requirements by selecting appropriate thickness for the sandwich elements. SPS replaces conventional stiffened metal plates in maritime, offshore and civil engineering structures providing benefits in fabrication, performance, safety and cost for both civilian and military applications. It is used for new construction and also, as SPS Overlay, for repair and conversion. SPS Overlay bonds a new top plate to the existing structure in a process that is simple, safe, non-disruptive and fast.

SPS was invented by Intelligent Engineering and has been developed together with BASF, which provides the core material. Major ship Classification Societies and regulatory authorities have approved SPS and there are many applications already in service. SPS is available around the world in partnership with BASF.

During the P&O ships stay at A&P Birkenhead, a total of over 2,723 sq m of decks will be repaired on all three ships using the SPS Overlay technology. The breakdown includes the European Leader (a total of 1,936 sq m), European Envoy (202 sq m) and European Pioneer (585 sq m). P&O has used SPS Overlay on eight previous projects and were the launch customer for the technology some two years ago.

Three 1970s-vintage P&O Ferries ro-ro operating in the Irish Sea will benefit from top deck and car deck refurbishment involving the overlaying of lightweight sandwich panelling on stripped down sections of deck.

Work is due to begin on European Pioneer (14,426 gt and dating from 1975), European Leader (12,879 gt) and European Envoy (18,653 gt, 1979) on July 21.

A&P Birkenhead managing director Andy Mort said: "The three vessels will enter the yard back to back, with each taking about two weeks to complete."

He said that the operation would be achieved in "under half the time" needed for a conventional deck renewal project. A&P Birkenhead forebear Cammell Laird pioneered the first application of the SPS approach, where hollow panel sections are filled with a polyol and isocyanate elastomer devised by BASF operation Elastogran.

Once the injected elastomer is set, the SPS provides structural strength comparable to that of steel without requiring stiffeners.

An initial three-ferry job saw renewal of decks on the ferries European Seafarer, European Navigator and, as now, Pioneer.

On the demise of Cammell Laird, the renewal programme was taken on by A&P Falmouth, which undertook renewal of 773 sq m of high load bearing deck, ramp and an area below aboard European Envoy.

The new project involves 1,936 sq m of deck renewed aboard European Leader, 619 sq m aboard Pioneer and 202 sq m more aboard Envoy.

It represents further endorsement for a concept whose time appears to have come. On top of the renewal of 12,000 sq m of deck aboard three 1970s-vintage Stena ferries by Szczecin Ship Repair Yard Gryfia, finished in February, this year SPS was used to renew 1,300 sq m of deck aboard Marine Atlantic's Atlantic Freighter, at the New Dock, St Johns.

A conventional bulk carrier tanktop damaged by grabs aboard a ship owned by Teco is being overlaid with SPS in New Orleans.

The technology has also been used at the Richards Drydock, Great Yarmouth to renew the stern deck section of Pearl, an offshore support vessel controlled by Seacor Smit.

Meanwhile, concerns over space limitations and vibration prompted DFDS to specify SPS for funnel casings of the five ferries it has under construction at the Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft.

Most recently, IE has been collaborating with ConocoPhillips and ABS over how to reinstate FPSO hulls using SPS in a bid to avoid hotwork.

IE commercial manager Guy Turner said that sandwich panelling offered the potential to reinstate hull strength below the waterline without drydocking or using divers and cofferdams.

While SPS installation aboard ro-ro vessels used welding bars, this was for the sake of convenience Mr Turner said, and the same structural integrity could be achieved using bonding alone, implying that there was no need for the holds concerned and those adjacent to be flushed of gas.

For A&P Birkenhead, the job will follow hard on the heels of the short but highly prestigious afloat project to add the finishing touches to Stena Adventurer.

At 44,400 gt, the 210.8 m long, 29 m beam, 22 knot ship has 148 cabins and offers capacity for 1,500 passengers, plus 3,400 lane metres of freight. It becomes the largest (and Stena says the "most luxurious") ship on Irish Sea services, leaving A&P yesterday bound for an official launch in Dublin on July10.

The Hyundai Heavy-built ferry was delivered in need of slight modifications to make it suitable for calls at Dublin and Holyhead.

The job entailed the alteration of the starboard aft mooring equipment and cargo winches, plus providing assistance to MacGregor in installing a secondary aft loading ramp.

It symbolises the return of the former Cammell Laird facility to mainstream activities, although the yard has actually drydocked over 30 ships since it was reopened for business by its new parent in August 2002. Mr Mort said the number of jobs involving high-speed catamarans through Birkenhead had "now moved into double figures", while general refits had included Irish Continental Group's Normandy and the four P&O ferries European Ambassador, Norbay, Norbank and European Navigator (the last now sold on).

To cover the dry docking of the Cairnryan conventional ferries, European Highlander and European Causeway, the Fleetwood based vessel European Seafarer was transferred to the Larne to Cairnryan route to deputise.

The European Seafarer finished with the Fleetwood route on the 5th of July after arriving from her last trip at 1030. She then discharged and loaded up to sail to Cairnryan at 1130 from Continental Quay.

Meanwhile, the European Highlander proceeded to dry dock in Harland and Wolff. She departed Larne at 1045 after discharging from her 0730 trip from Cairnryan. This is European Highlander's first dry docking after one year of very successful service to date.

Four views of the European Highlander passing into Belfast Harbour and entering dry dock at Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast on the 5th of July 2003. Click on images to enlarge. All Photos: Steven Brown.

The new Cairnryan schedules to take into account the European Seafarer being on the service is as follows.

Depart Larne	Ship	Notes
0415	Seafarer	Tue - Sat only
0730	Causeway / Highlander	Daily
1130	Seafarer	Daily
1630	Causeway / Highlander	Daily
2000	Seafarer	Daily
2359	Causeway / Highlander	Mon - Fri only not Sat dep 2259 Sun

The European Causeway and European Highlander will swap when its time for the European Causeway to go to dry dock on the return of the European Highlander. This schedule is similar to the weekend schedule operated before the departure of the European Endeavour and European Pathfinder last summer. The European Seafarer is, to my knowledge I hasten to add, the first of the Siestas sisters to operate to Cairnryan. As ever please feel free to contradict me if you know otherwise.