This month's Notes from the Larne Ferry Web's Archive looks back at a defining event the harbour's history; the withdrawal of the Larne - Stranraer service.  The other story looks into the European Seafarer's time in the southern hemisphere.

8 Years Ago, November 1995....

As the saying goes, you never value something until it is lost and Larne lost something very close to all its inhabitants lives when the Stena Sealink Line service to Stranraer was pulled out of the port in favour of Belfast.  

From 1872 both Larne and Stranraer had been linked with its sea service - a bond that two world wars couldn't break.  The two ports shared in the entrepreneurial drive and ambition of the original managers in the early years as they fought and struggled to gain valuable mail contracts to cement the route's establishment.  They shared tragedy when the route lost its flagship, Princess Victoria (IV) in the Great Storm of January 1953.  They shared the boom that the route brought to both communities when traffic ballooned beyond all expectations on the back of the success of the Caledonian Princess.  Throughout the 1960's, 1970's and 1980's the route was constantly needing more sailings and more ships - the company didn't even have to try, the traffic just flocked to it making it one of the gems in the whole Sealink route network.

Despite this history and the prospect of continued growth, Stena decided in 1995 that they would find a better home for their North Channel route in Belfast.  Promised for 1996 was a new high speed service to Stranraer to run in conjunction with a two ship conventional ferry service.

The Larne service was closed on the evening of the 11th of November while the Belfast service began the following day. The last ever departure from Larne was taken by the Stena Antrim on the 2000 service to Stranraer.  The Stena Cambria completed formalities with the last inbound service on the 2045 departure from Stranraer.  Local ferry expert Gary Andrews joined the Stena Cambria for the trip and the following few paragraphs are excerpts from his article on the route's closure for the Larne Gazette newspaper, published on the 15th of November 1995.

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"Sad Affair as the final whistle blows for Stena in Larne
By Gary Andrews

When Stena announced in September that they would cease sailing from Larne in November, it was presumed this would either happen at the beginning or end of the month.

But, in the end, it turned out to be November 11.  Quite why this date was chosen, remains to be seen.

I planned to travel on the last sailing from Larne.  However, as this was the 2000 sailing which sits in Stranraer harbour all Saturday night, this was impossible.

I then decided to travel on the last sailing from Stranraer, which would have been the 2045.  But all of Stena's brochures declared that there was no 2045 Stranraer - Larne sailing on November 11.

This would have left the 1900 Stranraer - Larne sailing as the last sailing to Larne from the Scottish port.

Then a Stena staff member told me that there would be a 2045 sailing on November 11.

Several weeks later, and many confusing telephone calls to the company's headquarters in Ashford, I was finally booked on what was to be the last ever sailing on this historic route.

Every autumn, for three weekends, one of the ships is taken out of service for a "maintenance weekend."  To prepare the vessels for the Belfast route the ships were instead to receive their full overhauls between October and December instead of the spring of next year.  Thus a relief vessel, the Stena Cambria, had been put on the service and the 2045 service was operating.

On the day of the pull out, the port of Larne was surrounded by sadness as many remaining at the port knew they would never see old friends again.

A large removal van loading all of Stena's office furniture added much to make everyone realise the end was finally here.

I arrived a little early for the 1700 sailing to Stranraer, which I had to travel on if I was to return on the last sailing which was the 2045 from Stranraer.

Arriving at 1600 I noted that the 1530 service hadn't left and it didn't actually depart to Stranraer until 1625 as the gangway had become stuck on board.  The joke around the harbour was that this was Larne's last attempt to keep Stena in Larne!

My ferry for the night, the Stena Cambria, arrived in at 1635, having been anchored off the Larne coast as she was not sailing that day until her 1700 departure from Larne.

I boarded the Stena Cambria just before 1700 having been taken onboard by the Stena mini-bus as there were only 4 foot passengers and it was not worthwhile using the walkway.  The penultimate Larne - Stranraer crossing finally departed albeit late at 1720.

The Stena Cambria is a relief vessel replacing the usual Stranraer based vessels while they are being overhauled.

She is a sister ship of the former Larne - Stranraer vessels and is similar to the Stena Antrim internally.  She operated on the Dover to Calais route until 1991 and until October 1995 she was employed on the Holyhead - Dun Laoghaire route.  She has a full retail complex to allow her to offer duty free on her usual route.  The ship was undergoing refurbishment and several lounges were closed while this was taking place.

The captain warned the passengers of stormy conditions and he sailed the ship away from the centre of the storm.  Although this made our journey more comfortable it did mean a longer crossing time and we arrived in Stranraer at 2045 instead of 1920.

However due to the low passenger numbers and freight load, it was not long until everyone was off the ship and 600 passengers had boarded, mainly football supporters returning from the Rangers v Aberdeen match.  At 2110, with a full load of Rangers fans, the final ferry bound for Larne departed Stranraer.

Rather interestingly, while at overhaul before joining the Stranraer service the Stena Cambria's "Dubliner" Bar had been renamed the "Cambria" Bar.  I couldn't help but ask myself what the Rangers fans would have thought if it was still called the Dubliner bar!

Around the mouth of Loch Ryan the Stena Antrim passed by on the final sailing from Larne.  On her final departure from Larne at 2000 crowds of people lined the promenade at Larne to wave her farewell or toot their car horns in salute to the ferries that were not going to return.  Near the Maidens lighthouse off the Larne coast the Stena Galloway could be seen heading for Belfast.  She had arrived in Larne at 2200 and had loaded Stena's port services vehicles used for baggage and loading trailers to take them to Belfast.

We finally docked in Larne at 2350, a crossing time of 2 hours and 40 minutes, although the weather had improved.

Arrival in Larne was very sad, knowing that the Stena Cambria would be the final Stena ferry to dock at the Chaine Quay.  The last sailing was something less than low-key.

No mention was made of the fact that it was the last sailing and the only indication of a move was the the boarding cards which already had Belfast on them.  Ashore at Larne the Stena offices were quickly being emptied of their final contents.

The final ticket and boarding cards for the last Larne - Stranraer round trip stamped with the Stena Cambria's stamp and already with Belfast - Stranraer on them.  Gary Andrews Collection

While a celebration or ceremony may have been inappropriate, it was even more inappropriate that 123 years of history should have ended in such inglorious fashion.

Turning into the berth I knew I would never again, at least in the short term, arrive in Larne from Stranraer, after using the service several times a month for the past few years.

After all the football supporters had left the ship followed by a dozen drunks, the ship had no passengers left except for myself.  I then left the Stena Cambria.  I was the last passenger off the Stranraer - Larne ferry.  

Standing outside the terminal catching the last glimpse of a Stena ferry at Larne, all I could think of was ... "don't look back in anger."  Despite how things were handled we were blessed with the service for 123 years.  

It has, in the past, provided work for many local residents and given the town an identity.  The decision to move to Belfast was just a business decision - life will go on at Larne Harbour.

We still have P&O European Ferries operating to Cairnryan and such a good port will not have a gap for long.

The Stena Caledonia, freshly returned from dry dock in full Stena Line livery, later sailed from Belfast for the first time at 0715 on November 12, the Stena Cambria at 1015.

The Stena Cambria had left Larne around 0600 for Belfast, marking the end of Stena, and its predecessors, at Larne.

The Larne - Stranraer ferry service may be gone, but its certainly not forgotten."

(Thanks to Gary Andrews for permission to use his article)

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Every sign and reference to Sealink, Stena Line and the Stranraer service in Larne harbour was very quickly removed by a squad of dockers early the next morning.  In a few hours it was almost as if the route had never existed.  Only the memory of the Stranraer ships in the harbour lived on, ingrained in the minds of local people.  The ships had all earned their place in history as the service and its vessels were an institution here.  Still, 8 years after their last departure their presence at Larne is keenly missed.

An excerpt from the final Larne - Stranraer timetable showing the fares and timetable of the route at the time of its closure in November 1995.  Click to enlarge.  Scan from Dougie McIntyre's Archive.

The first advance edition brochure for the Belfast - Stranraer service showing fares and timetables.  This applied for the period of operation before the HSS arrived on the route.  The route was served by 3 Saint Class ships (Stena Antrim, Stena Galloway and Stena Caledonia) at this time and also the Marine Evangeline was called in for freight back up.  Click to enlarge.  Scan from Dougie McIntyre's Archive.

First advance edition of the Belfast to Stranraer brochure showing the times of the HSS service scheduled to begin in June 1996.  Click to enlarge.  Scan from Dougie McIntyre's Archive.

So then, what has happened to Larne in the intervening years?  Despite losing its biggest customer and the generator of the majority of the traffic through the port Larne harbour didn't come off the worst in the whole affair as we shall see.

The most devastating loss was the high profile and high paying passenger traffic which slumped considerably and the modern terminal building at Larne became a ghost town overnight.  The remaining P&O passenger service between Larne and Cairnryan was no where near as attractive as the Stranraer service was for foot passengers in particular.  

Where Larne did steadily grow was in the freight end of the market.  In 1995 the Stranraer service was in the ascendancy, after its move to Belfast a sizeable chunk of the Stranraer traffic switched allegiances to P&O on the near-by Larne - Cairnryan service.  

Stena badly miscalculated the crossing time between Stranraer and Belfast.  Initial quotes in their literature put the crossing time "from 3 hours."  In practice the Saint Class ships managed the crossing in 3 and a half hours.  Indeed, speed trials prior to the move with the fastest ship running light ship gave a crossing time of 3 hours 10 minutes.  This was much less attractive than the 2 hour 15 minute crossing from Larne to Cairnryan.  P&O drafted in an extra vessel, the European Endeavour, enabling them to match Stena's old Larne - Stranraer schedule of 9 round trips per day.  This proved to be a real winner for the freight customers and the European Endeavour became a popular ship with lorry drivers.

Stena stopped the rot with their HSS fast ferry which they introduced in the summer of 1996, but freight capacity on the Belfast - Stranraer route has decreased while at Larne - Carinryan it has increased - the sums speak for themselves:

Notes for Calculations: Saint Class capacity quoted as 62x12 metre trailers (744 lane metres per voyage).  Pride of Ailsa and Pride of Rathlin capacities quoted as 60x15 metre lorries (900 lane metres per voyage).  Stena Voyager's capacity quoted as 50x15 metre lorries (750 lane metres per single voyage).  European Causeway's freight capacity is 107x13.5 metre trailers (1444 lane metres per single voyage) and European Highlander's freight capacity is 116x13.5 metre freight units (1566 lane metres per single voyage).  Since the European Causeway and European Highlander rotate on their rosters each day I have used an average capacity of 1505 lane metres per single voyage.

Sceptics first question may well be are P&O really filling this capacity?  The simple fact is they just need to fill half of it to be around Stena's current capacity for full loads, if they weren't getting that then economics would certainly mean that ships the size of the European Causeway and European Highlander quite simply would not be here.

Although Larne Harbour doesn't have the high profile passenger throughput it once had as you can see its very much holding its own on the freight side.  When Stena move their service between Cairnryan and Belfast, will this see another turn in the tide?

25 Years Ago, November 1978.....

The Larne to Fleetwood received a new ferry in the form of the Union Melbourne.  Replacing the smaller Jaguar (ex Stena Timer) the Union Melbourne at the time was the largest ferry to operate the route and also became the longest ferry to enter Larne harbour.

The Union Melbourne was sub-chartered by Pandoro for use on the service from the Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand.  Built in 1975 the vessel had been chartered to the Union Company on the 5th of September 1975 for 5 years from Northern Coasters (a subsidiary of Stena Line) after being lengthened by 16.8m in Hamburg.  

While in the Southern Hemisphere the Union Melbourne operated on the USSCo Trans Tasman route across the Tasman Sea between New Zealand and Australia from Auckland / Tauranga (New Zealand) to Melbourne / Sydney (Australia) from the 20th of October 1975.  

There was a huge surge in the Trans - Tasman trade at the time which also saw her making calls at Lyttleton and Wellington (New Zealand) and Adelaide (Australia) as need arose.  One interesting cargo was the transportation of 35 railway locomotives from Wellington to Adelaide for re-conditioning.  The locomotives were lifted onto her upper deck in wooden cradles by a floating crane.

A drop in trade across the Tasman Sea saw the ship laid up in December 1977, a brief return to service in February 1978 was short lived and the vessel was sent to Singapore on the 13th of May 1978 to be placed on the world charter market.  

P&O took up the charter and after getting a stern ramp fitted the ship left Singapore on the 22nd of September 1978 for the Irish Sea.  She ship began operating for Pandoro between Larne and Fleetwood in November 1978 just before beginning a new Larne to Liverpool service.

The ship was bought out right by P&O in 1980 and renamed Puma she still serves Larne and Fleetwood as European Seafarer.

Thanks to Clive Jackson, Ian Faquhar, Captain Mike Pryce and Mike Triplett for info used to complete this article on Union Melbourne.

Links:

European Seafarer at Larne Ferry Web
European Seafarer in dry dock
Trip to Fleetwood on European Seafarer

Updated: 07/10/05

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