Notes from the Larne Ferry Web Archive

A few unexpected but very welcome visitors made their way to Larne in January 2001. First to arrive on the morning of Friday the 5th was Stena Line's HSS Stena Voyager which was visiting the port to allow divers to do an underwater hull survey - the water in the River Lagan was deemed too murky for the divers. She arrived in Larne at 1045 from Stranraer after discharging her 0740 sailing from Belfast. This was an impressive piece of sailing given that the 0740 service from Belfast isn't scheduled to reach Stranraer until 0925 and it during normal operations it departs again at 1000.

Under the command of Captain Chris Kane, Stena Voyager made a neat turn at the south end of the harbour - almost on the spot before sliding over to berth at Curran Quay. Yokahama fenders were deployed to protect the vessel from any bumps and scrapes - the usual piling along the berths at Larne not being suitable for a ship like the Stena Voyager to buffer up against with her high sides and flared hull. Without her dedicated ramp and berthing arrangements she tied up using ropes - going back to the tried and tested way instead.

The vessel had her hull survey and departed Larne again at 1515 for Belfast where she had the rest of overhaul carried out afloat at her berth. The Stena Galloway and Stena Caledonia kept operations running on the Belfast - Stranraer route until Stena Voyager re-entered service with the 1220 sailing from Belfast on the 7th of January.


Two views of the Stena Voyager berthed at Larne's Curran Quay undergoing an underwater hull survey on the 5th of January 2001. This berth is designed to take a ferry of beam up to 30 metres, with a beam 40 metres Stena Voyager makes it look tiny. Click on photos to enlarge. Left photo Gary Andrews, right photo Dougie McIntyre.

Above, Above right and right: Three views of the HSS Stena Voyager departing Larne on the 5th of January 2001 after her hull survey at Larne. Already well up to speed in the right hand photograph the vessel is only 5 minutes off the berth, quite a contrast to the slow haul out of Belfast Lough that lasts 50 - 60 minutes before the Captain can get the handles down and let the high powered craft really show her paces. One is left wondering just what she could have done if she had operated from Larne? All three photos Gary Andrews.
	Bringing the tale up to date left, below left and below are a few views of Stena Voyager in the Belfast dry dock at Harland and Wolff undergoing annual overhaul on the 12th of January 2004. Photos: LFW

Next visitor to Larne was Seatruck Ferries and their vessel Moondance on the evening of the 5th of January (The HSS and Seatruck in one day weren't we lucky??). The Seatruck route from Warrenpoint - Heysham was transferred to Larne after the ramp in Warrenpoint failed on Wednesday the 3rd of January. The expected repair time for the ramp was estimated to be 4 - 6 weeks.

The Moondance was brought into Larne for the first time with a load from Heysham and berthed at Curran Quay with no problems. She sailed later that evening back to Heysham and her operating partner Riverdance arrived the next morning. Very quickly the two vessels established the route into its temporary home on the following schedule:

All crossings times were scheduled for 9 hours and Curran Quay was used for all arrivals and departures.
Riverdance laid up in Larne from 0930 Sunday to 2300 Sunday
Moondance laid up from 0930 Monday to 2300 Monday.


Two views of Seatruck Ferries' Riverdance departing Larne in January 2001. Sister ship Moondance with her mainly night time arrivals and departures managed to evade the camera. Photos: Gary Andrews (click to enlarge)

The service ran pretty much without incident during its spell in Larne, interestingly it did reunite the 3 sister ships Moondance, Riverdance and European Highlander (I) all now operating from the same berth in Larne.

The European Highlander (I) normally laid up on Curran Quay each day had to go to anchor to free the berth for the Seatruck vessel arriving at 0930.

The Warrenpoint berth was repaired by early February and Seatruck returned to their normal sailing schedule out of Warrenpoint on Monday the 5th of February.

The final stranger to turn up in Larne was the cable laying vessel Havila Champion reported berthed at Continental Quay on the 7th of January.

Havila Champion at Continental Quay Larne on the 7th of January 2001. European Trader can be seen in the background just to the right of the Havila Champion's funnel tied up at Ballylumford Power Station's oil jetty undergoing winter maintenance. Photo: Gary Andrews.

After a disagreement between Belfast harbour and P&O the Belfast - Ardrossan service operated by the P&O ferry Belard was transferred to operate from Larne instead of Belfast from the new year of 1993.

The Belard leaving Belfast on the 21st of April 1989 for Ardrossan. The ship became a Larne based vessel in January 1993 when the Northern Irish port for the service was switched from Belfast to Larne. Photo: Aubrey Dale.

The service, operated by Northern Ireland Trailers Scotland Ltd. (part of the P&O group), was brought into the Pandoro umbrella after its transfer to Larne - amalgamating it with Pandoro services from Larne to Fleetwood and Dublin to Liverpool.

Built as Mercandian Carrier II in Frederikshavn, Denmark the Belard was an interesting vessel with an interesting history. The previous Larne - Ardrossan ro-ro service closed in 1976, this was operated by Burns and Laird Lines (part of P&O) using the multi-purpose ferry Lion which sailed in passenger mode through the day into Belfast and completed a overnight round sailing from Ardrossan to Larne for freight. With the troubles in Northern Ireland taking hold at that time the passenger trade dropped off so the Lion was withdrawn by P&O and transferred to Dover.

With freight levels remaining healthy the route into Belfast was kept going with the ro-ro freight ferry Isartal which was renamed Pointer. By 1985 the Pointer, with capacity for only 30 trailers was struggling to cope with the freight traffic so P&O scoured the second hand market for a larger ferry that could also cope with the small harbour at Ardrossan. Among the ferries inspected was the Merchant Valiant but she was rejected and instead the Mercandian Carrier II was obtained.

The Mercandian Carrier II could accommodate 51 trailers but only had a single engine and propeller - no where near good enough for manoeuvring in Ardrossan. Before entering service Mercandian Carrier II was refitted with Vectwin rudders (quoted once to me as being the size of a barn door) and a directional water jet to to allow her to keep sailing if her single main engine failed. Her enhanced manoeuvrability now allowed her to sail at 15 knots forward, 8 knots astern and 5 knots sideways. Finishing off the £1 million refit was the installation of an internal ramp to the upper deck in place of the vehicle lift. She entered service on the Belfast - Ardrossan route in February 1986 renamed Belard - a name generated from the first three letters of the two ports she would serve.

After her move to Larne in January 1993 the Belard was replaced in towards the end of that year by the Merchant Valiant, yes, the same ship P&O inspected back in 1985 for possible use on the route. She was later purchased and renamed Lion, she now sails between Larne and Troon under the name European Mariner. After a nomadic career on various charters, some of which brought her back to Larne to cover overhauls the Belard eventually found her way to the Hebrides. Under her new name Muirneag the former Belard has been sailing between Ullapool and Stornoway since summer 2002 for Caledonian MacBrayne.