Stena Line revises its Rosslare-Fishguard timetable
Stena Line has revised the timetable on its Rosslare – Fishguard ferry service from May 22, with a much earlier morning arrival at the Europort one of the key changes.
The company said that following an evaluation of extensive customer research and feedback, it had reviewed the existing schedule and had decided to introduce three, ‘more customer friendly 3 hour 15-minute daytime crossings, making Rosslare – Fishguard the shortest and fastest crossing between Ireland and South Wales.’ From Monday, May 22, Stena Line will operate the following revised sailing schedule between Rosslare and Fishguard:
Departing Rosslare at 8 a.m., arriving at Fighguard at 11.15 a.m.; Departing Fishguard at 1.10 p.m., arriving at Rosslare at 4.25 p.m.; Departing Rosslare at 6.10 p.m., arriving Fishguard at 9.25 p.m.; Departing Fishguard at 11.45 p.m., arriving at Rosslare at 4 a.m.
Ian Davies, Stena Line’s Trade Director, Irish Sea South said the new timetable will reduce the crossing times on some of sailings by 15 mins and provide a greater choice of convenient sailing times and better arrival times.
‘ The recent investment in the Stena Europe ship has further enhanced our service offering for 2017, providing new opportunities which currently do not exist in the market for our travel and freight customers,’ he said.
‘We have conducted a lot of research and spoken with many of our freight and travel customers, listening to what they had to say about our current sailing timetable and ways in which we might improve the service in the future.
‘We believe we have now addressed the points raised and our staff are constantly engaging with customers to ensure a smooth transition,’ he said.
However, not everyone is impressed. Cllr Ger Carthy said that to be best of his knowledge Stena had not consulted with the local community about the changes.
‘I’d be concerned about the impact on local business.. there aren’t many local businesses open at 4 in the morning. It’s Ok to change the schedule to facilitate road haulage and trucking companies, but this is a big upheaval,’ he told this newspaper.