King Edward VIII Pier work cause of sailing delays

Tidal restrictions affecting boats docking on Queen Victoria berth

Ongoing work to upgrade the King Edward VIII Pier is behind the delays experienced by the Steam Packet Company this week.

Several sailings between Douglas and Heysham have been affected by 'tidal restrictions in Douglas Harbour'.

This afternoon's Heysham to Douglas sailing is the latest one impacted, with a later departure time of 3pm, rather than 2pm.

It appears the cause of the issue is the Manxman using the Queen Victoria Pier whilst the work is taking place.

Alterations are currently being made to the King Edward VIII Pier to accommodate the Manxman, which is 8m longer and 3m wider than the Ben-my-Chree and weighs almost twice as much - 24,161 tonnes compared to 12,504 tonnes.

On-site activity is taking place around the Packet’s twice daily sailings. 

We are currently in a 'three-week spell of favourable tidal conditions' that was identified 'to allow the vessel in service to berth at Victoria Pier and provide the contractors with exclusive access to King Edward VIII Pier during that time' - the team are believed to be working 12-hour days.

When the project was announced back in August, we were told sailings would be unaffected by the works.

However, that appears not to be the case.

A spokesperson from the Steam Packet has told Manx Radio: "Unfortunately work on King Edward VIII berth would always have an effect on schedules due to the Queen Victoria berth being slightly shallower. However, we have done our best to reduce impacts on customers as much as possible.

"Thanks to some good work from our colleagues at DoI the tidal restrictions are now, hopefully, in the past and we are able to resume operations in accordance with the published schedule."