More holiday chaos as Irish Ferries ship out of action

IRISH Ferries operator ICG has announced that its Ulysses ship will be out of service for up to another two weeks.

The ship, which operates on the Dublin to Holyhead route, reported technical difficulties with a propeller on June 24.

The vessel entered drydock in Belfast a few days later, and the investigation and repairs to the vessel were initially expected to take no longer than five days.

However, in a statement yesterday ICG said that it had now been informed by engineers that the issue is more serious than originally anticipated, and the engineers expect the vessel will be out of service for a further period of one to two weeks.

In the meantime, ICG said it would adjust the schedules of its other vessels to minimise the disruption to customers as much as possible.

The Dublin to Holyhead route will operate with the Epsilon on the Ulysses schedule alongside the Dublin Swift, which will operate additional evening sailings.

According to Davy analyst Stephen Furlong, the delay, during what is peak summer season, is likely to hit revenue at ICG by around €2m per week.

The news follows an announcement from ICG last month of another delay to the delivery of the WB Yeats ship.

The ship is now set to debut this autumn on its Dublin-Holyhead route. Davy Stockbrokers has now reduced their financial year estimated earnings for ICG from €74m to €68m.